Factors Affecting Customers...
Li [9] points out a low level of awareness in China as far as mobile banking was concerned. In view of the same, Laukkanen [10] tested the impact of information and guidance offered by the bank. They found that the information and guidance offered by a bank has the most significant effect on perceived functional usability of mobile banking and also significantly increases the positive image associated with the innovation. The results also suggested that information and guidance significantly increase the perceived value added provided by mobile banking and decrease the perceived risks related to the innovation. However, information and guidance have no significant impact of psychological barriers like tradition.
CUSTOMER’S ADOPTION OF TECHNOLOGY IN BANKING
There are various studies which highlight the customer adoption of technology in banking and map their satisfaction levels thereof. A study done by Polatoglu [22] indicates that early adopters and heavy users of internet banking were more satisfied with this service compared to other customers. Others also argued that the delivery of technology services appears to be correlated with high satisfaction where these services were most important to customers [23]. Efficiency, convenience and safety were viewed as desired end-state goals when using mobile banking [24]. Chung [25] found that system and information quality significantly influenced customer satisfaction, while information presentation did not significantly influence customer satisfaction. Also, trust can play a crucial intervening role in the relationship between perceived value (system and information quality) and customer satisfaction. In a recent study conducted on adoption of m-banking in China among customers of four state owned banks of China, ease of use was found to have significant impact on trust [26]. Chen [27], in their attempt to examine the effect of perceived risk on the adoption of Mobile Banking, found it as the key factor affecting attitude. Perceived usefulness has been found to have a significant positive effect on both attitude and usage intention toward use of Mobile Banking Services [11,28].Thakur [29] found that mobile interface usability (quick response time and easy navigation) and service had a positive effect on customer satisfaction. The results also confirmed that loyalty of m-banking customers was directly affected by satisfaction from m-banking services. On similar lines, a study by Deb [30] also found that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and social influence were related to positive attitude towards m-banking. Moreover, a positive relationship existed between attitude towards m-banking and intention to adopt m-banking. These results coincided with the findings of Chen [27] who reported that consumers who enjoyed wireless banking transactions and those who found mobilebanking services easy to use displayed a positive attitude towards usage of mobile banking. Lee et al. [31] point out that once service providers are able to deliver user friendly, and consumer-satisfying services, then Mobile Banking will be adopted by consumers [32].
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
The major reasons behind non-usage of mobile banking were security concerns and technical problems of getting the MPIN [8]. Similar results were noted by Li [9], who stated that among security concerns, hackers and fraud were responsible for non-adoption of online and mobile banking in China. This is also proved in studies done by Brown [31], Luarn [33], Chen [27]. Moreover, Chen [27] claims that frequent users of mobile banking were more concerned with psychological risks and the infrequent users were more concerned with financial risk as well as psychological risk. Previous studies indicate that perceived financial cost [33] and perceived complexity [34] inhibits the use and adoption of mobile banking services. Suoranta [1] found that mobile services were not used since they were perceived as impractical and not sufficiently diversified. In the case of the mobile phone, the small screen with small amount of information makes the device very difficult to use in fund transfer [35]. According to a study conducted by KPMG [21], respondents mentioned that their decision to use m-banking in future would depend on security or privacy and ease of use.
CONCLUSION
The market for mobile phones, especially the smart phones is assuming great heights and the banks want to ride on this growth by offering mobile banking as an alternative channel of providing services. However, consumers are wary of the new technology and literature is replete with papers which discuss the initial resistance exhibited by consumers towards technological developments. As a matter of fact, the usage pattern reveals that people frequent ATMS more than using internet banking or mobile banking. In light of this, the current study offers insights on the perceptions of mobile banking users and tries to unearth the factors which could influence more people into adopting mobile banking. The factors brought out from the study are labelled as Time-effective, Safety, Convenience, Operational simplicity and Ease of navigation. Additionally, it was revealed that users who were females, engaged in private sector, belonged to high income class, and were married stated time-effectiveness to be a critical factor for influencing the usage of m-banking. Respondents holding accounts in private banks could relate to all the factors as being important for adoption of m-banking. Similarly, frequent users of mobile banking could also identify with the above-mentioned factors and agreed that these could be the driving forces for increasing the reach of m-banking in the region. Hence, spreading awareness about m-banking based on these factors would certainly help the banks.