Key success factors for digital personal banking in the iLembe District : a consumer perspective

Abstract

The study provides insight into the constructs that influence the use of digital banking within the iLembe District, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Financial technology improvements have made personal banking simpler, allowing a range of services to be accessed anytime and anywhere. It is known that financial technology advances have drastically improved the ways in which consumers bank, but it has not yet been established what impact the growth of financial technology has on the perception and use of digital personal banking among people in developing economies. The aim of this study was to identify the key success factors for digital personal banking among consumers in the iLembe district, KwaZulu-Natal. It clarifies the link between financial technology developments, and the perception and use of digital personal banking by consumers. The objectives of the study were to: (1) investigate consumers’ level of adoption of digital personal banking, (2) establish the constructs encouraging the use and growth of digital personal banking, and (3) assess the relationship between consumers’ level of adoption of digital personal banking and the constructs encouraging digital banking. At the conclusion of this study, the relationship between financial technology and the different constructs of digitisation in consumer banking were identified. Income is shown to have the highest level of significance of all demographic variables influencing preference for digital personal banking, followed by the age variable. Gender and education had no significant influence. Although all the independent variable constructs had significant relationships with preference of digital personal banking, online service quality, usability and consumer experience were the most important. Branch service quality relationship was negative, while all the others were positive. How this can influence consumers in a developing economy such as South Africa is discussed, as are recommendations for banks on how better they can promote digital personal banking, and to which type of consumers. Further empirical research is suggested to further understand this situation in a developing economy.