A study on customers attitudes and behaviors towards technological innovations in electronic banking: The case of Somalia

The rapid development of information technology and the widespread use of internet have brought about fundamental transformations in almost all aspects of life. In the banking sector, it has come in the form of electronic banking, ousting the traditional banking practices and bringing new banking experience to customers. Somali banks are investing significant amounts of money in the provision of electronic banking services, hoping that this could transform into market penetration and higher returns. However, the rapid acceptance of this technology depends on a solid understanding of factors that influence customers' adoption and use of the services. Therefore, this study aims to assess the current level of usage of electronic banking and identify factors influencing customers' attitude towards electronic banking in Somalia. The research constructs were developed based on the extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by incorporating some additional variables and the model was empirically tested by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using data obtained from an online survey administrated to professionals and college students who reside in Mogadishu. The main finding of this study shows that TAM variables- perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have significant effects on customers' attitude towards electronic banking. Awareness of services was found to have significant effects on both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of electronic banking. The findings also show that perceived risk, perceived cost of use, and mobile money transfer have non-significant effects on customers' attitudes towards electronic banking. The implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are presented.