Factors affecting the use of mobile phone banking, a case of Wakiso District

Abstract

The study aimed at determining the factors affecting the use of Mobile Phone banking in Wakiso District, Uganda. The objectives of the study were to; assess the effect of consumer’s behavioral factors on Mobile phone banking usage, assess the effect of facilitating conditions on mobile phone banking usage, assess the cost effect on mobile phone banking usage and assess the moderating effects of age, gender and educational levels on mobile phone banking usage. Primary data was collected from the 6 town councils within Wakiso district and using Yamane’s formula, 324 respondents were identified through three stage stratified sampling technique. The first, second and third stages included geographic representation, financial institution tiers and random sampling of respondents from banks respectively. The data was analyzed at three levels including background characteristics to understand the demographic characteristics, bivariate to understand the relationships between study variables and using a logistic binary model to determine the factors that affect the use of mobile phone banking. From the results, the relationship between Mobile Phone Banking (MPB) usage and gender (p = 0.0429), MPB and age categories (p = 0.0447), and MPB and education levels (p = 0.0357) are statistically significant at 5% level of significance. As well, performance expectancy (OR = 3.741), facilitating conditions (OR = 1.88) and cost of the service (OR = 0.551) are significant. The results also show that among the significant factors, it’s only the cost of the service that is negatively influencing MPB’s usage. While the performance expectancy, was more significant in both genders and facilitating conditions only significant among the females. On the other hand, performance expectancy is significant in both age groups though has a greater effect amongst the youth. Facilitating conditions on the other hand are significant only within the higher education category. The study recommends banks to offer mobile phone banking services that enhances efficiency while increasing user’s satisfaction. However, since youth are more motivated with efficient and clear systems, banks need to offer MPB services that are tailored to cost saving and risk management to boost uptake. For the lower education customers, it’s recommended that MPB service should be effortless and should not cause anxiety to them. Overall banks need to strike a balance between the unit charge and the service cost for operations sustainability.