E-banking in Colombia: factors favouring its acceptance, online trust and government support

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the adoption of e-banking in Colombia, including a comprehensive analysis of consumer trust in this type of transaction and of the impact of the current government policy to promote e-commerce. Design/methodology/approach An empirical investigation based on the UTAUT2 model collected data from throughout the country to develop 600 online questionnaires. Findings The proposed model was validated in that the factors hypothesised to build trust in the use of electronic banking were shown to be significant: trust, performance expectancy and effort expectancy had a positive impact on the use of financial websites in Colombia, while government support did not have a significant impact. Research limitations/implications The study explains the antecedents to trust, as well as the government support variable, and concludes by producing a model that is highly successful in predicting financial customers’ online behaviour. Practical implications The results can help Colombia’s Government and private banks to further develop trust and other conditions necessary for e-banking. Social implications Studies on the adoption of electronic banking provide users of these services solutions for their needs. Government policies to support the development of e-banking are not viewed favourably by Colombians. Originality/value This study is one of the first to present empirical findings on the acceptance of e-banking in Latin America; it further presents a model that integrates the most important variables needed for an analysis of the acceptance of e-banking.