Research Journal of Science & IT Management - RJSITM - The ...

attribute to the service and accordingly, 82% of the
respondents agreed that e-banking is time saving and 53%
strongly agreed that no queuing at the banks’ branches is
advantageous. Sayar and Wolfe (2007) stated that customers
find IB attractive as it is possible to conduct transactions
anytime and anywhere, faster and lower fees are incurred
compared to using traditional bank branches.
Perceived Ease of Use refers to “the extent to which a
person believes that using a particular system would be free
of effort” (Davis et al., 1989). Rogers (1962) theorised that
perceived ease of use demonstrates the degree to which an
invention is seen as being not too difficult to understand,
learn or operate. One of the attributes of Perceived Ease of
Use as suggested by Taylor and Todd (1995) is the
complexity associated with the innovation, and in their study
the latter was found to have the most significant relationship
with adoption across a broad range of innovation types.
Several other factors apart from Perceived Usefulness and
Perceived Ease of Use, have been identified as influencing
the decision to adopt IB. Davies (1989) refers to them as
external variables. Some examples are: security or safety,
the level of consumer trust, the risks associated with online
banking, the infrastructure available, and eventually
technological knowledge or awareness.
Security or Safety
The banking industry has declared information privacy and
security to be major obstacles in the development of
consumer related electronic commerce (Thomas et al.,
2002). Fear and anguish among the consumers
psychological state that may bar them from using the system
may be intensified if there exists any lapse of security in
internet usage. Customers will not be willing to use the
service if it is perceived as being easily susceptible to fraud
(Al-Somali et al., 2009). This point was corroborated in a
research conducted by Al-Hajri and Tatnall (2007). Most
respondents were concerned about the problem of internet
security as bank customers cannot put their full trust in
internet technology due to possible fraud and privacy
violation problems. In addition, feeling secure in doing
transactions on the Web is often cited by users as a major
factor that removes their concerns about the effective use of
the Internet for making online transactions (Salisbury et al.,
2001).
Trust
The existence of a great deal of scepticism about the
security of online transactions makes the element of trust a
crucial factor when it comes to deciding upon the use of e-
banking. Wai-Ching Poon (2008) confirmed that 69%
respondents agreed that trust is affecting their demand for e-
banking services. There could be a limitation of the
opportunities from web technology if there is a dearth of
trust by the consumers in the system (Rotchanakitumnuai
and Speece, 2003). Customers usually do not have faith in
internet based technology for reasons like security of the
system, distrust of service providers, and anxiety regarding
the dependability and consistency of the internet services
(Rotchanakitumnuai and Speece, 2003). Finally, in a
research by Fassnacht and Kose (2007), the customers‟ level
of trust in e-banking was confirmed to have a considerable
effect on the consumer’s choice of adopting this technology
and for its continued usage.
Awareness of the Service
In general, customers will seek out those financial products
which offer the best value for money and about which they
are educated. Once customers become aware of the
integrated and secure services available somewhere, they are
likely to switch to the providers of such services (Kalakota
and Frei, 1998). El-Nawawy and Ismail (1999) in their study
of e-commerce adoption by SMEs in Egypt reported that the
main factors revolve around awareness and education. An
innovative product will not achieve great heights if
consumers are not aware of its existence and the potential
benefits it presents. An Australian study by Sathye (1999)
highlighted awareness as one of the main factors hindering
the migration of consumers to IB.
Availability of Infrastructure
O’Connell (1996) identified lack of access to computers or
internet as one of the possible reasons for slow adoption of
IB. The study by Wai-Ching Poon (2008) divulged that a
majority of the respondents (81%) agreed that internet
accessibility is an advantage for users’ satisfaction in
adopting e-banking services. Likewise, through observations
and narrative analysis of IB customers, Broderick and
Vachirapornpuk (2002) identified issues like slowness, poor
navigational possibilities, poor interactivity and critical
incidents such as lack of help by the providers of IB service
to be capable of deterring customers from adopting the
service.
Other Factors
Many studies have investigated the effects of the customers’
demographic characteristics; age (Czaja et al., 2001), gender
(Venkatesh and Morris, 2000, Burke, 2002), financial
income (Venkatesh and Morris, 2000), and education level
(Burke, 2002). For example, it was found that older
customers generally have negative attitudes towards
technology and innovations; younger adults on the other
hand were seen to be more interested in using new
technologies (Czaja et al., 2001). Income was found by
Venkatesh and Morris, (2000) to potentially exert a strong
effect on the adoption and diffusion of technology.
Similarly, gender and education level also played a
significant role with regards to attitude towards technology
use (Burke, 2002).
Internet Banking in Mauritius
The banking sector is a major component of the financial
system in Mauritius. The sector is constantly growing and
has attracted new players in the last five years. Presently the
banking industry comprises of 20 banks holding a banking
licence from the Bank of Mauritius, of which 7 are local
banks, 8 are foreign owned subsidiaries, 1 is a joint venture
and 4 are branches of foreign banks. The sector has been at
the forefront of technological innovations offering several
banking channels via telephone / PC / terminal / Internet.
The Mauritius Commercial Bank was the first bank to
launch internet banking services in 1998 followed by the
State Bank of Mauritius in 1999. As evidenced by Table I,
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