Challenges of adoption of internet banking service in Yemen

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors that influence individuals’ intention to adopt internet banking in the Republic of Yemen. The current study found that a lack of empirical studies have been conducted in this field in Arab countries, in general, and in Yemen, in particular. Design/methodology/approach – The theory of reasoned action (TRA) was extended by relative advantage, perceived risk, mass media, family’s influence, innovativeness, skepticism and technology readiness (TR). Paper survey was used to collect data from 1,500 bank customers. Structural equation modeling was employed to investigate the relationships between variables. The TRA was extended by relative advantage, perceived risk, mass media, family’s influence, innovativeness, skepticism and TR. Paper survey was used to collect data from 1,500 bank customers. Structural equation modeling was employed to investigate the relationships between variables. Findings – Customer’s behavioral intention was significantly influenced by attitude, subjective norms and TR. Overall, the results indicate that the model provides a good understanding of factors that influence the intention to use internet banking service. The model explained 63.8 percent of the variance in the behavioral intention. Practical implications – The findings are of great use to banks already offering internet banking but of even greater use for those banks which are planning to offer internet banking services. The results of the study could serve as a guideline for bank managers in understanding the factors and strategic market planning that needs to be initiated to increase internet banking adoption among current and potential customers. Originality/value – Factors such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and relative advantage have been found to be the determinants of internet banking adoption in previous studies. Along with the above variables, a new variable called TR has been analyzed in the present study. This kind of study has not been conducted in the Middle East context previously.