Consumer preferences for banking technologies by age groups

Purpose – The prevailing mindset is that younger people value and more readily adopt technology. The purpose of this paper is to determine if this is true with respect to banking practices. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted to evaluate the importance of mobile, online, and physical-based banking across multiple age groups. Factor analysis and analysis of covariance were used to evaluate the responses. Findings – The results show that older consumers see more value in traditional, physical-based banking, all ages are equally interested in currently emerging technologies (online), and younger users are more interested in the newest technologies. Research limitations/implications – The stereotype of technology-adverse elderly may be too limiting. Age influences are not absolute barriers enacted by time, but are potentially learned behaviors. Practical implications – Practitioners interested in introducing new technologies to the elderly might consider making their innovations more compatible with existing technologies already in use. Originality/value – This study builds on the concepts of technology adoption and previous work on aging as it relates to adoption. However, it is shown that cognitive declines are not the only factor that can explain age-related differences in technology usage. Cohort differences in experience and resources may also be important. This is of value not only to the banks, but to all businesses that rely on consumer use of technology to maintain the business relationship.