The study plans to bridge the gap of knowledge in the acceptance and adoption of mobile banking among the consumers. The research will be an exploratory research. The reason for the choice of this methodology is due to its innovation of novel ideas that is required in the mobile banking market. Through exploratory study will provide new and clear concepts explaining the dynamics of mobile banking consumption.
Research problem
The realization that the technology plays a critical role in the development of banking have adverse effects on the performance of the banking institutions and has led to reorganizations of the operation process and as well as the way banking processes are conducted. The most affected process is the customer services.
Technological developments have caused banks to move from the traditional queuing services to the modern day where customers can reach banks at any place and at any time. In fact technological development has revolutionized the banking industry. One of the areas that have been affected is the communication. Technology is utilized by banks to enhance connectivity and communication as well as in other business processes including customer services.
Mobile technology is one of the technological developments used by banks to increase the customer services. Currently, banks utilize mobile technology to allow their clients pay bills, receive updates in, plan payments as well as other aspects of consumer services while in their private life.
The major issue is whether the consumers have adopted the technological developments in banking. Banks have not established whether the consumers have adopted the new electronic payment services as in mobile banking. In addition, it has not been established what factors affect the mobile adoption. These are the problems and relations that will be examined in this research study.
Research objective
The research study has the following objectives:
- To investigate the adoption of mobile banking by the consumers
- To establish specific factors affecting the mobile banking adoption by the consumers.
- To formulate appropriate recommendations to the banking institutions and the industry regarding strategies that may enhance the adoption of mobile banking.
Research hypothesis
This study will test the following hypothesis:
- H1: mobile banking is effectively adopted by the consumers and not influenced by many factors
- Ho: mobile banking is not effectively adopted by the consumers and influenced by many factors
Research plan
For this research to meet its obligations, it will be an exploratory research. The reason for the choice of this methodology is due to its innovation of novel ideas that is required in the mobile banking market. Through exploratory, the research will come up with new and clear concepts explaining the dynamics of mobile banking consumption, set up main concerns, build up on operational explanations and improve on the final research design.
The study is both qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative part will be based on the literature review while the quantitative will be based on data collected through a survey. The survey will consist of a questionnaire that will be administered to the sampled population of both mobile banking users and non-users.
Data collection
As a field survey, the information concerning mobile adoption and the factors afecting the adoption will be collected through administering properly designed research questionnaires, observation alongside conducting well-structured in-depth interviews to the unbiased selected users and non-users of mobile banking.
The well-designed research questionnaire will be administered to 60 users and 40 non-users. Each part of the questionnaire will constitute key items that suitably attend to the research questions. For instance, part one will constitute whether the consumer have embraced the mobile technology in banking services while part two will elicit factors that may have contributed their adoption or not of the mobile banking.
Other parts will generate insights amidst offering recommendations to the organization to adopt or abandon the employees training strategy to augment success. Some items in the questionnaire will throw light on the mobile banking services and its impact on the consumers along with the consumer knowledge of existence of such services.
The questionnaire will thus be made of both open and closed ended research questions and this is believed to be of great significance to the researcher since it will assist in performing data analysis. Minor research tools namely direct observations, personal in-depth interviews and occasional conversation will be used to collect primary data.
Conversely, secondary research data will be acquired from the banking institutions, industry records, and other documents, which contain mobile banking information as well as its successes. For this particular case, the researcher intends to trace the mobile banking history and its adoption successes over the past years from the research secondary sources. Different scales will however be applied in the survey questionnaire during data collection to ensure the scales reliability and validity of some research questions.
For example, ordinary scale will be applicable in various research questions given that most questions will measure knowledge, feelings and experience. In contrast, the scale reliability will be made certain via applying the repeatability and internal consistency concepts. This implies that, the questionnaire will comprise of different questions asking about the same thing yet in a very different way. Finally, split half technique will be applied to attain internal consistency.
Data analysis
In order to ensure logical completeness as well as response consistency, the acquired data will be edited by the researcher each day to be able to identify the ensuing data gaps or any mistakes that needs instant rectification.
When data editing is completed, the collected research information will definitely be analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. For example, any data that will have been collected through in-depth interviews and secondary sources such as the mobile banking files and the banking organizations documents will be analyze by means of content analysis along with the logical analysis techniques.
Furthermore, from the acquired independent variables values such the number of customers using the mobile banking services and the institutional success measured in terms of total output or general productivity, regression analysis will be applied to establish the correlation that exist between mobile banking services and the success of those institutions.
To obtain the best correlation approximation values, the study quantitative data analysis will be carried out by utilizing the integrated approach. Further quantitative data analysis techniques including percentages, frequency distribution and deviations will be used to determine the research respondents’ proportions that chose various responses.
The method will be applied for each group of items available in the questionnaire that ideally corresponds to the formulated research question and objectives. Line graphs, tables as well as statistical bar charts will be used to maker sure quantitative data analysis is simply comprehensible.
The findings indicate mobile bank services, in delivering the services to the clients, try to eliminate the impediments that the customers face from the conventional banking delivering of the services. The obstacles were identified to be from a diverse combination of items that are replicated from the obstacles in supply part of services. In addition, the hurdles are reflected from the obstacles associated with the purpose of cell phones as a means of conveying information from the part of the client in the delivery of services.
The study also indicated that mobile banking has achieved tremendous acceptance among consumers compared to other ways of banking such as internet banking that is still at its developing phase. Consequently, consumers have perceived mobile banking as the best way of carrying out banking transactions. According to the institutional studies, 80% agree that the mobile banking sector has made major strides in the delivery of services due to the rapid acceptance by majority of consumers.
However, the approval pace of mobile banking among consumers is not equivalent to the rate at which technology advances. Therefore, many factors were found to have a strong influence on the way consumers perceive and adopt mobile banking.
The impact of the increased technological advancement has compromised the proficiency of service superiority because services are initiated in the premature phases due competitiveness as well as outlay constraints. Consequently, the clients’ responses to the consumption of services are low because they think their needs are not considered. For instance, the customers feel that the adaptability of sustaining item services is inadequate.
Moreover, emphasis on expertise has an impact of overlooking basic requirements for approval in the provision of services. Technology has enabled mediums of creating new supply channels as well as communicating attributes of technology. Conversely, delivery involving technical knowledge comes with its own shortcomings. For example, there is lack of composition of service delivery and worth creation. In addition, customers have to know how to use technology-based electronics to achieve optimal usage.
An additional drawback in mobile banking is the functionality of cell phones in transacting banking services. Customers feel that the mobile phones are not effective in banking because for example, the cell phones have small keyboards leading to errors while accessing the services.
Further, studies show that consumers are dissatisfied by the confusing nature of the mobile phones while transacting banking services. Moreover, increasing concerns by consumers about transacting banking through wireless ways due to safety as well as significance of the services has had negative impacts acceptance of the service.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Results show that service providers must recognize the importance of client requirements when devising innovative services and products. Additionally, execution of information from familiarity of wireless banking should not be directed to the clients. As a result, banks have been able to make well-versed judgments in distributing assets as well as reduction of expenses.
It is evident that cell phones bear a huge ability of enabling success in accomplishing monetary operations and has led to the attainment of expansion in the financial sector with ease and less expenses. Therefore, it is essential for banks to expand their banking services to enable accessibility of their services.
As a result, government, supervisory bodies, service providers and all the stakeholders have easy access to the banking services from all regions. Further, implementing mobile banking services will bring on board non-bankers in the financial system. In addition, through creation of the understanding of mobile banking services among the people, they are able to embrace its use for personal gains.