Explaining the determinants of continual use of mobile financial services
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/DPRG-09-2019-0074 |
| Pages | 15-31 |
| Date | 16 December 2019 |
| Published date | 16 December 2019 |
| Author | Joseph Kwame Adjei,Solomon Odei-Appiah,Peter Ebo Tobbin |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information policy |
Explaining the determinants of continual
use of mobile financial services
Joseph Kwame Adjei, Solomon Odei-Appiah and Peter Ebo Tobbin
Abstract
Purpose –Information system continuance model has been used in a number of studies to explain
information system continuance in different contexts. However, very little research attention has been
given to continuoususe of mobile financial services (MFS).The purpose of this study is to fill this research
gap by identifyingthe main factors that influencethe continual use of MFS.
Design/methodology/approach –A sample was randomly taken from MFS registered accounts or
mobile wallets. A five-pointLikert scale survey was conducted in Ghana. Structural equation modelling
was used to test the data. Constructs such as continual use, satisfaction, perceived usefulness and
confirmationwere adapted from information system continuancemodel to suit the requirement of MFS. A
pilot study was then carriedout after the questionnaire was developedto gauge the appropriateness of
the surveyquestions.
Findings –Results from the survey indicated that user satisfaction has the greatest impact on the
continual use of mobile financial services. Good agent quality and satisfaction were the second most
influential determinant. Satisfaction was, in turn, confirmed to be determined by perceived usefulness.
Another important contributor to MFS continual use was foundto be perceived ease of use (PEOU) with
an impact surprisinglyhigher than that of perceived usefulness. There wasa significant impact of good
agent quality on satisfaction, which could be attributed to the characteristics of the technology for the
study.
Research limitations/implications –Although a relatively high R2 (71%) was indicated by the
proposed model, thereis need for additional factors to be identified to improve the ability to predictand
explain the continual use of MFS. A longitudinal study would have enhanced the identification of
determinantsand the understanding of theirinter-relationships to influenceMFS continual use.
Practical implications –To ensure continualuse of MFS, PEOU as identified by the study is important to
ensure that customerscan use the service with little effort. Goodagent quality can promote PEOU in the
sense that competent agents can render relevant tutorials to customers’ right after the registration
process.This will address a major barrier to continual use,which is the lack of understanding of how MFS
operate.
Social implications –This study contributesto ensuring financialinclusion such that the unbanked can
have accessto financial services and also improve digitalinclusion.
Originality/value –The study provides empirical evidence to support the substantive differences
between acceptanceand continual use behaviours, integratingthe constructs of good agent quality and
PEOU into our understanding of information system continual use literature. The authors also theorized
and evaluateda model of MFS continual use.
Keywords Expectation confirmation theory, Expectation, Good agent quality, IS continuance model,
MFS, Mobile financial services, Technology acceptance
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Out of the over two billion population who are financially excluded worldwide, 75 per cent
are from developing countries (Evans, 2018;Asktrakhan, 2016;US Federal Reserve, 2016;
CFPB [Consumer Financial ProtectionBureau], 2015;BCG. [The Boston Consulting Group],
2011). Mobile financial services (MFS) have addressed a critical barrier to achieving
Joseph Kwame Adjei,
Solomon Odei-Appiah and
Peter Ebo Tobbin are all
based at the School of
Technology, Ghana
Institute of Management
and Public Administration,
Accra, Ghana.
Received 19 March 2019
Revised 13 September 2019
Accepted 2 November 2019
DOI 10.1108/DPRG-09-2019-0074 VOL. 22 NO. 1 2020, pp. 15-31, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2398-5038 jDIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE jPAGE 15
financial inclusion since formalfinancial institutions find little incentive to bank the unbanked
whose low income is seen as too great a risk, amidst the high cost of establishing and
running “brick and mortar” bank branches (Tinsley and Ertekin, 2017; World Bank, 2012).
As a result, most MFS deploymentsare found in developing countries with the Sub-Saharan
Africa taking close to 50 per cent of the globalchunk (GSMA, 2018).
A GSMA report reveals that there are over 690 million-registered MFS accounts worldwide
as at June 2017 (GSMA, 2018). In spite of the tremendous growth, continuous use of MFS
has been very challenging. For instance, the report also indicates that only 35.8 per cent of
the registered MFS accounts were active (GSMA, 2018;BoG [Bank of Ghana], 2017). MFS
will obviously, not contribute meaningfully to financial inclusion without active accounts and
continuous use of the service (BoG [Bank of Ghana], 2017;Pe
´nicaud, 2012;Pe
´nicaud and
Katakam, 2013). It is thus, important to explore factors affecting continuous use of the
service.
The journey of a customer of MFS from registering to becoming a regular user is very
complicated (FII Financial Inclusion Insights, 2017;Alampay et al., 2017). Unfortunately,
existing studies on MFS havefocused mostly on the adoption of mobile banking and mobile
payment systems. Continuous use of such financial services has not received equal
research attention (Baabdullah et al., 2019; Hepola et al., 2016; Karjaluoto et al.,2019;
Shaikh and Karjaluoto, 2016; Ukpabi et al., 2019). The context of such studies has been
generally from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries in spite
of majority (75 per cent) of MFS users in developingcountries (GSMA, 2018).
Moreover, many of the key post-adoption studies, for example, Bhattacherjee (2001a),
Hong et al. (2006),Venkatesh et al. (2003) were grounded in theories that were used in
adoption studies (Kim and Crowston, 2011;Gebauer et al.,2013). Such studies have
implicitly assumed that technology and context are independent although. However,
Venkatesh et al. (2011) underscored the importance of context in Information Systems (IS)
and other sensitive research. Hence, it is important to focus on the context when theorizing
(Venkatesh et al.,2011).
Bhattacherjee’s (2001a) and Bhattacherjee et al. (2008) IS Continuance Model, has been
used in a number of studies to explain IS continuance in different contexts (Bhattacherjee
et al., 2008). However, very little attention has been given to MFS (Donovan, 2012; World
Bank, 2012; Pe
´nicaud and Katakam, 2013;BCG. [The Boston Consulting Group], 2011;
Tobbin, 2013). This study attempts to fill this research gap, with the aim of identifying the
main factors that influence the continual use (CU) of MFS. This research objective is
achieved by combining Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) from the technology acceptance
model (TAM) and a new construct referred to as good agent quality (GAQ), with the IS
continuance model to develop a theoretical model that explains MFS continualuse.
Mobile financial services
MFS and mobile money have been used interchangeably. However, in this study, we
define MFS as the use of mobile devices and mobile technology for financial transactions
including mobile money, mobile insurance, mobile credits, mobile payments, mobile
savings and mobile banking (Alampay et al., 2017;Gutrierrez and Choi, 2014;International
Finance Corporation, 2011;Tobbin, 2010). In effect, MFS involve electronic financial
transactions with the aid of innovations in mobile technology and mobile devices (Evans,
2018;Tinsley and Ertekin, 2017;GSMA, 2015;CFPB [Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau], 2015). MFS are made possible because of advances in mobile technologies that
offers the possibility for transmission of information irrespective of the spatial and/or
temporal location of parties to transaction (Donnelly, 2009). Given the flexibility of mobile
technology, MFS could be provided by mobile network operators (MNOs), traditional
financial institutions, third party service providers or through a collaboration between such
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