Beyond Brick and Mortar: Unveiling the Willingness to Adopt E-Banking Services

Abstract

The banking sector is one of the most essential sectors for the Palestinian economy. Therefore, many researchers are examining recent developments in banking services and clients' attitudes toward accepting or rejecting technological developments in these services and their transformation from traditional services to electronic banking services. This research explores the relationship between performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, perceived risk, and consumer attitudes toward accepting and adopting electronic banking services. It also examined the mediating effect of consumers' attitudes on the relationship between the sum of independent and dependent variables. This study extends the UTAUT framework by implementing it with two additional factors, which are perceived risk as an independent variable and consumer attitude as a mediating variable. We constructed a conceptual model and employed Smart-Pls 3 to conduct structural equation modeling analyses. We implemented a survey-based methodology. A convenience sample technique was followed, and 306 bank customers in Palestine were surveyed using structured questionnaires. The results indicate that Palestinian consumers' acceptance of using electronic banking services is significantly influenced by their attitude toward these services, their expectations, and the availability of facilitating conditions. Furthermore, consumer attitudes are approved to have a positive mediating effect in these relationships.