Multidimensional constructs influencing mobile banking continuance intention in South Africa

Abstract

The arrival of technology-based commerce has led to leadership and strategy research streams, as well as other kinds of multi-media strategies, and prevalent amongst these is mobile banking (m-banking). Businesses conducted through m-banking technologies are rapidly growing and becoming highly competitive. With global mobile telephone penetration being greater than personal computer usage these days, organisations need to better understand both the motivating and deterring key customer behaviours for this phenomenon. To be able to withstand this competition, stakeholders worldwide have invested in the various mobile commerce technologies and applications, and South Africa is no exception. M-banking is being viewed as an extremely powerful concept due to its high coverage of the rural population in South Africa, and the Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG) 2015 m-banking report which positioned South Africa as the number two after China in terms of global adoption epitomises this trend. As of January 2016, 49 percent of South Africa’s total population of 54.73 million were active Internet users. There were 85.53 million mobile connections, which means that there were quite a number of people with more than one connected SIM card linked to them, which augurs well for this phenomenon. Nevertheless, only 26 percent of these were doing m-banking. This clearly demonstrates that acceptance is not the same as continuance usage. This study was meant to explore the multidimensional constructs influencing mobile banking continuance intention in South Africa, to help unravel the mysteries surrounding acceptance and continuous usage. To this end, the researcher embarked on an Internet data collection process throughout the country to obtain 1262 responses, and performed a scientific analysis using structural equation modelling (SEM) with SmartPLS 3.0. The results showed that the factors influencing m-banking in South Africa are multi-polygonal, besides small devices being the preferred instruments for this phenomenon. The issue of trust of e-vendor (online bank) also arose as a major challenge confronting this novel concept. It is therefore recommended that financial institutions conduct research into the degree of trust that is expected of them by their clients, protect their m-banking customers from cyber-attacks by configuring layers of securities before customers log in to their accounts from mobile device software applications, and enlist the services of third-party warranties as an assurance for doubting clients. M-banking, as “banking on the go” has come to stay. Join in and be on the move, stay out and stay queued.