Relative advantage of interactive electronic banking adoption by premium customers: The moderating role of social capital
ISSN: 1066-2243
Article publication date: 24 September 2019
Issue publication date: 6 April 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a nuanced understanding of premium customers’ intent to adopt an interactive electronic channel (IEC) and the moderating role of social capital on perceived relative advantage (RA) in adoption.
Design/methodology/approach
Study findings are based on a field survey that investigates the launching of an IEC by a leading international bank in Hong Kong.
Findings
Among social capital dimensions, cognitive capital significantly weakens the relationship between efficacy of information acquisition and IEC adoption, while relational capital enhances the relationship between trust and adoption.
Research limitations/implications
This paper provides a theoretical lens based on social capital theory for evaluating the moderating effects of social capital on the relationship between RA and IEC adoption by premium customers in the banking industry.
Practical implications
Findings provide insights for the practice of banks when trying to deliver financial services via an IEC to the premium customer segment.
Originality/value
This research extends the channel choice theory to the context of banking channel adoption of premium customers; provides a better understanding of the IEC and its adoption in the more complex setting of financial consultation services; and offers insights for a better understanding of fragmented findings on the relationships between adoption intention and its antecedents in response to calls for studies on contingent factors.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the associate editor and the anonymous reviewers for their invaluable guidance and insightful comments. Special thanks go to HSBC Asia Pacific in supporting this research, and granting access to a number of internal documents, and to City University of Hong Kong in encouraging the authors to publish this research which is part of the doctoral thesis of the first author. The third author thanks for the support of grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Project Nos 71571155, 71601027, 71772022, 71431002 and 71421001), the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (Project No. CityU 11502116) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Project No. 2016M600206).
Citation
Chan, C.K., Fang, Y. and Li, H. (2020), "Relative advantage of interactive electronic banking adoption by premium customers: The moderating role of social capital", Internet Research, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 357-379. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-06-2018-0280
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited