Comparative analysis of mobile and online banking use in South Africa
Date
2014-01-21
Authors
Ntsimane, Mpho
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Abstract
Online and mobile banking are both channels with potential to make
banking accessible to the majority of people, and in particular in South
Africa where there is a high uptake of mobile communication usage. Yet
the adoption of both these channels has been very low, especially when
one compares the rate at which mobile communication devices continue to
grow.
The purpose of this study was to identify and compare the factors that
influence the adoption of mobile and online banking in South Africa using
the Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and to develop
a deeper understanding of the antecedent factors that influence the
adoption of one service over the other in South Africa. The aim was to
understand these factors and test and verify these factors in the South
African context.
The research data was collected by using self-administered questionnaires
that were distributed to mobile and online banking customers and
prospective customers, and in addition, interviews were conducted with
both digital banking experts and thought leaders. A total of 215 responses
was collected from the survey questionnaire administered with 177 usable
responses. A further 6 interviews were conducted with digital banking
experts and thought leaders in order to cross-examine the quantitative
results from the surveyed population.
The demographic information as well as technology usage is useful to
understand the type of customer profile that the banks have to focus their
marketing efforts on in order to improve on the adoption of both online and
mobile banking services. Principal component analysis was applied on the
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surveyed data to test whether the proposed factors are applicable in the
South African context.
The factors that were identified to influence the adoption of mobile and
online banking are performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social
influence and facilitating conditions as per the unified theory of acceptance
and use of technology (UTAUT) model. Effort expectancy was not an
influential factor in online banking contrary to the UTAUT model.
Furthermore, the study tested how factors like age and gender moderate
some of these factors in order to further understand the adoption influence
across some groupings.
In comparison, the identified factors were more influential on online
banking than mobile banking, highlighting the relationship that might exist
between factors and the product lifecycle. The study further showed that
there are multiple factors that influence the adoption of technologies.
Some of the factors are more influential than others under certain
circumstances; and some of the factors could even be more influential to
certain technologies than others. It is therefore important for organisations
to continuously study these factors throughout the technology lifecycle as
this will enhance decision-making and increase successful technology
implementation.
Description
MBA thesis
Keywords
Mobile banking, Online banking, Banks and banking