STUDYING ACCEPTANCE OF ONLINE BANKING INFORMATION SYSTEM: A STRUCTURAL ...

269 Pages·2011·1.75 MB·English

STUDYING ACCEPTANCE OF ONLINE BANKING INFORMATION
SYSTEM: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODEL

A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

by

FIDA HUSSAIN CHANDIO

Brunel Business School, Brunel University London

June 2011
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

“Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds; Most
Gracious, Most Merciful; Master of the Day of Judgment; Thee (alone)
we worship; Thee (alone) we ask for help; Keep us on the right path;
The path of those whom Thou hast favoured; Not the (path) of those
who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray”.

(Holy Quran 1:1-7)
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DEDICATIONS

I would like to dedicate this thesis to my family, especially to my lovely
mother and father, who always believed in their children, and to my
brothers, with love and deepest appreciations.

iii
DECALARATION

I declare that the ideas, results, analysis, findings and conclusions
reported in this thesis are entirely my own efforts, except where
otherwise acknowledged. I also declare that this work is original and has
not been previously submitted for any degree award.

iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude and thank all who helped and supported me
during my PhD.

First of all, I thank ALLAH the Almighty from the core of my heart for guiding and
inspiring me. All good and nice things that I have had in my life are due to His Help,
Love and Mercy.

I am greatly indebted to my first supervisor, Professor Zahir Irani, for his guidance
and support, valuable advice, and perceptive suggestions throughout the research and
writing-up process of my PhD. I also wish to extend my thanks to Professor Amir
Sharif, my second supervisor, for his support throughout my Ph.D. studies.

I am greatly indebted to Dr. Sarwar Shah for his constant help and support. I am
extremely thankful to you “Sain” for all your help.

I am sincerely thankful to my most special friends Muhammad Aslam Shahani,
Muhammad Sharif Abbasi, Abdul Fatah Soomro, and Hyder Ali Nizamani, for their
best wishes, help and support, and encouragement, whenever things got tough for
me.

Last but not the least; I am indebted to the University of Sindh for funding my PhD.
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ABSTRACT
Acceptance of information technology (IT) has remained a topic of interest for a last
few decades. Several theories, specifically over the conceptualisation of the
technology acceptance model (TAM) have emerged and they have been applied in
different contexts to investigate new insights into the acceptance behaviour at
individual and organisational levels.

However, despite TAM’s maturity and validity in different contexts, very little
published literature strives to extend its capability to predict individuals’ acceptance
behaviour about an online banking information system (OBIS). A possible rational
for this gap may be conceptualisation of the TAM under which individuals’
acceptance behaviour can only be predicted with two beliefs: perceived ease of use
(PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU). The evidence in literature shows that PU
and PEOU beliefs are not sufficient; hence, they may not explain individuals’
acceptance behaviour in emerging contexts, such as online banking information
systems, especially in developing economies such as Pakistan. There is therefore a
need for inclusion of any additional factor that can enhance prediction of acceptance
of online banking information system by potential users.

Extending research on the TAM, this study developed and tested a model of OBIS
acceptance. The proposed model integrated key constructs from the information
systems acceptance research stream into the theoretical frame of the TAM and other
theories from social psychology, such as the theory of reasoned action (TRA), theory
of planned behaviour (TPB) and the TAM2.

According to the proposed conceptual model, OBIS acceptance was determined by
eight main factors, which included perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trust,
technological self-efficacy, response time, output quality, accessibility, and
terminology clarity. In this model, PU was hypothesised to be affected by PEOU,
trust, technological self-efficacy (TSE), output quality (OQ) and response time (RT).
In addition, PEOU was hypothesised to be determined by three external factors:
TSE, accessibility and terminology clarity (TC).

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The model was tested on a sample of 353 Internet banking users in Pakistan. Using
structural equation modelling with Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS)
software, data analysis showed considerable support for the extended hypothesised
model. The result indicated that, in order of importance, PU, PEOU and trust
explained 45.7 % of the variance in the acceptance behaviour. The trust and the TSE
predicted 28.1 % of the variance in the PU. However, the hypothesised relationships
between the PU and the PEOU, OQ and RT were found to be not significant. While
in the PEOU, 21.8 % of the variance was predicted by the TSE, accessibility and TC.
TSE was found to be a more influential determinant of the PEOU than the PU.

The consideration of factors that have a significant influence on the acceptance of
OBIS, as identified in this research, is important for the managers in the banking
sector, especially in developing countries, in order to increase wider acceptance and
use of these systems, which provide benefits to both the customers and the service
providers.
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Table of Contents

DEDICATION iii
DECLARATION iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v
ABSTRACT vi
Table of Contents viii
List of Tables xii
List of Figures xv
List of Formulas xvi

CHAPTER ONE: Introduction
1.1 Theoretical background and research problem 1
1.2 Research Aims and Objectives 4
1.3 Significance of the Study 5
1.4 Research Boundaries 6
1.5 Research methodology used in this thesis 6
1.6 Context of study: Pakistan 8
1.7 Structure of the Thesis 10
CHAPTER TWO: Literature Review
2.1 Introduction 12
2.2 Theoretical Models Used in Technology Acceptance and Usage 13
2.2.1 Theory of Reasoned Action 14
2.2.2 Theory of Planned Behaviour 16
2.2.3 Technology Acceptance Model 17
2.3 Extensions and integration of models with TAM 21
2.4 Review of technology acceptance studies in different contextual 23
settings
2.5 Relative importance of external variables in acceptance of IT/IS 33
technologies
2.6 Online banking information system acceptance and use 35
2.7 Relative importance of trust in technology acceptance 46
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2.7.1 Definition of trust 49
2.7.2 Trust and TAM in the online context 50
2.8 Critical Assessment of TAM studies 51
2.9 Conclusions 53
CHAPTER THREE: Conceptual Framework
3.1 Introduction 55
3.2 Model development and research hypotheses 55
3.3 Dependent variable – behavioural intentions 58
3.4 Factors affecting online banking information system acceptance 58
3.4.1 Perceived Usefulness 58
3.4.2 Perceived Ease of Use 59
3.4.3 Trust 60
3.5 Technological Self-efficacy 62
3.6 Antecedents of perceived usefulness 63
3.6.1 Output Quality 64
3.6.2 Response time 64
3.7 Antecedents of perceived ease of use 65
3.7.1 Accessibility 65
3.7.2 Terminology clarity 66
3.8 Conclusions 67
CHAPTER FOUR: Methodology

4.1 Introduction 69
4.2 Philosophical Perspectives 70
4.2.1 Positivist approach 72
4.2.2 Interpretivist approach 73
4.2.3 Research approach adopted in this study 74
4.3 Design of the Study 75
4.4 Sampling Strategy 77
4.4.1 Population 77
4.4.2 Sampling frame 78
4.5 Sampling 79
4.5.1 Probability sampling techniques 81
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4.5.2 Non-probability sampling methods 83
4.6 Sample Size 84
4.7 Data Collection Procedure 85
4.8 Survey Questionnaire 87
4.8.1 Development of survey questionnaire 88
4.8.2 Response formatting 91
4.8.3 Scale development 91
4.8.4 Operationalisation of variables 97
4.9 Pre-test and Pilot Study 101
4.9.1 Pre-testing the questionnaire 101
4.9.2 Pilot study 102
4.10 Data Analysis 105
4.10.1 Preliminary data analysis 106
4.11 Factor analysis 109
4.11.1 Exploratory factor analysis 110
4.12 Structure Equation Modelling 114
4.12.1 Measurement model 114
4.12.2 Reliability 118
4.12.3 Validity 118
4.12.4 Structural model evaluation and hypothesis testing 120
4.13 Ethical Considerations 120
4.14 Conclusions 123
CHAPTER FIVE: Results
5.1 Response rate and non-response bias 126
5.1.1 Response rate 126
5.1.2 Non-response bias 126
5.2 Demographic characteristics of participants 127
5.3 Descriptive statistics of construct items 131
5.3.1 Behavioural intentions 131
5.3.2 Perceived usefulness 132
5.3.3 Perceived ease of use 132
5.3.4 Trust 133
5.3.5 Technological self-efficacy 134
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