Drivers leading firm adoption of internet banking services

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify factors influencing firm adoption of internet banking services (IBS). While previous literature has primarily focused on the individual consumers’ adoption, we aim to shed light on the adoption of online banking by firms. We investigate the propensity and speed of IBS adoption and offer recommendations to providers of IBS and firm users. Design/methodology/approach To attain the above purpose a conceptual model was based on research about IBS adoption in the firm context that derives primarily from technology acceptance model and diffusion of innovation. We use data from 5,002 firms located in 239 counties, encompassing 52.1% of firms users of IBS of a financial service provider and 47.9% of non-user firms. All sampled firms received an offer to adopt IBS from the financial service provider. Such unique data set was analyzed using logistic regression to assess propensity and a survival analysis model to assess IBS adoption speed. Findings Results revealed that firms, with high propensity to adopt IBS, operate with a diverse management board, are large and young, and compete with a large number of firm users. The survival model showed that the diverse composition of management board also speeds up IBS adoption. Practical implications Several implications are drawn from our findings. For instance, managers in firms adopting IBS should invest in recruiting and retaining a diverse set of board members (e.g. internal and external with full decision power), which allows for thorough assessment of pros and cons of any relevant decision to be made. We also highlight implications for managers in financial service providers (e.g. Bank) that offer IBS to automate the relationship with customer firms. Managers should consider our study as a template for the selection criteria of firms that are likely to accept the IBS offer. Originality/value This is one of few empirical studies to investigate the adoption of IBS in a firm context. Previous studies focused on the individual consumer adoption of IBS. We show that adopting diverse set of board management, growing in size, young firms and facing the competitive environment positively influence firm´s propensity to adopt IBS. We also analyze the time spent by firms from the IBS offering to the adoption, which shows that management decision context play a key role in adoption speed. Our research contributions add to the scarce ongoing discussion about firm´s adoption of IBS.