An investigation into the factors affecting mobile banking adoption in Zimbabwe

Abstract

As mobile technology has become an increasingly important element in the services industries, managerial interest in understanding pre and post-adoption user perceptions of customers as adopters has led to a call for more academic research.This empirical study sought to investigate the factors affecting mobile banking adoption in Zimbabwe. It also sought to ascertain the applicability of the extension of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Technology Use (UTAUT2) model to explain mobile banking adoption in Zimbabwe.

A qualitative in-depth interviewing design was adopted to gain knowledge and understanding on mobile banking adoption among users in Zimbabwe. Through purposive sampling,fifteen in-depth interviews were conducted to obtain data from respondents. The data were analysed using thematic analysis and discussed.

The results indicated that cost, facilitating conditions, security, hedonic motivation, and facilitating conditions affected users’ intention to adopt mobile banking while performance expectancy, social influence and market awareness were the major factors affecting adoption. It was therefore recommended that service providers must improve customer awareness through intensive advertising and utilise current customer base to spread awareness thus improve uptake.

This study also provides a basis for further refinement of frameworks to predict technology adoption, in particular the inclusion of loyalty as a predictor of behavioral intention in Zimbabwe.