Factors Influencing People’s Intention to Adopt E-Banking: An Empirical Study of Consumers in Shandong Province, China

E-Banking is growing at an unprecedented rate and has become a truly worldwide phenomenon, offering convenience, flexibility and interactivity for those that can, and know how to access it. This is clearly evidence in China. However, despite such growth and popularity, some users still have reservations about using Information and communication technology (ICT) in their daily banking activities, perhaps due to deep routed cultural factors that cause consumers to question the efficacy of such changes. Through the application of a technology acceptance framework, and empirical evidence from 52 E-Banking user questionnaires and four key market segment interviews, the research explores the factors that influence consumers’ intention to adopt E-Banking in Shandong Province of China. The findings highlight that perceived usefulness and perceived credibility are significant factors which have a positive influence on consumers’ intention to utilise E-Banking, while perceived ease of use and perceived cost are less significant. Unpacking the reasons for resistance to the use of E-Banking highlighted that “difficult to operate”, “unnecessary to use it” and “worry about the security” are key drivers and therefore challenges for the service providers. Based on the results, recommendations are drawn for banks, involving focusing on the significant factors, avoiding weaknesses and optimising strengths of E-Banking and ultimately developing more accurate market positioning strategies to align and manage consumer expectations and maximise potential acceptance

The College Students’ Behavioral Intention to Use Mobile Reading Apps in Sichuan, China

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the college students’ behavioral intention to use mobile reading applications in Sichuan, China. The key variables include perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived value, perceived enjoyment, attitude, social influence, and behavioral intention. Research design, data, and methodology: The target population is 500 students from three universities in Sichuan. The quantitative research method used in this study was based on a questionnaire. The sampling technique contains judgmental, stratified random and convenience sampling. The content validity was confirmed by the index of item-objective congruence (IOC). The pilot test involves 50 participants to ensure reliability by Cronbach’s alpha. The data were analyzed by Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: The social influence presented the strongest effect on behavioral intention and proved that attitude directly influenced behavioral intention. The significant influences that support attitude are perceived ease of use, usefulness, value, and enjoyment. Conclusions: The research can help developers to develop effective mobile reading apps related to excellent traditional Chinese cultural knowledge. Educators can promote the dissemination of excellent traditional Chinese cultural knowledge can consider improving the influence of mobile phone reading content and software in society to help college students improve their learning efficiency

China’s social credit systems and public opinion: Explaining high levels of approval

A variety of commercial and local government social credit systems (SCSs) are now being implemented in China in order to steer the behavior of Chinese individuals, businesses, social organizations, and government agencies. Previous research finds that these SCSs are employed by the Chinese state as “surveillance infrastructure” and for social management. This article focuses on a different angle: the public’s opinion of SCSs. Based on a cross-regional survey, the study finds a surprisingly high degree of approval of SCSs across respondent groups. Interestingly, more socially advantaged citizens (wealthier, better-educated, and urban residents) show the strongest approval of SCSs, along with older people. While one might expect such knowledgeable citizens to be most concerned about the privacy implications of SCS, they instead appear to embrace SCSs because they interpret it through frames of benefit-generation and promoting honest dealings in society and the economy instead of privacy-violation

Implementation plan of health and safety processes

An auditor was asked to review an organisation’s Health and Safety procedures to assess compliance with the new legislation imposed by The Health and Safety Act 2015. Then the organisation approached an internal source to conduct a strategic plan in order to target issues of health and safety risk. An implementation plan will be designed to achieve the auditors recommendations and improve the organisation’s Health and Safety practices. Research and audit of the current policies and procedures used at the organisation must be conducted in order to gain a better understanding of the current issues and from there develop action plans and a strategy on how to reach those action plans. Current documentation of policies and an interview with management will be analysed to detail the potential action plans.Once the research has been conducted, results will be used to determine conclusions

The implications of tax on a small business in New Zealand

Small businesses have little resources but must pay tax, so this investigation reports on the implications of tax on a small business. Literature is to be searched to identify the implications for small businesses

A strategy for a university cafe during holidays

With no existing strategy for a cafe business and a highly competitive market, the organisation requires a planned strategy. This research proposes to research a café to determine the best strategy for the organisation. A questionnaire will collect quantitative and qualitative data and the organisation will be observed to determine business strategies

Identifying successful sales and marketing strategies that affect customer loyalty in a coffee shop

.Most small businesses such as coffee shops are concerned with customer loyalty and satisfaction, and increasing profitability. Marketing strategy becomes important when customer loyalty is low. The aim of this research is to identify sales that affect customer loyalty in a small coffee shop and to investigate the relationship between effective marketing strategies and customer loyalty, using a survey of customers

Rating system in Food delivery

A small business in food delivery has much competition. The organisation delivers food in food trucks at local markets. The aim of this research is to examine how a rating system will impact on the quality of goods and services and customer satisfaction levels. This research will accomplish the aim in three steps: examine the current state of food trucks, investigate the potential of a rating system, and identify further avenues to use rating systems efficiently. A survey of customers will be used to gather quantitative data and an interview to gather qualitative data

The Determinants of Behavioral Intention to Use Mobile Reading Apps of Collage Students in Chongqing, China

Purpose: This research examined the determinants of behavioral intention of college students in Chongqing who have mobile reading experience of excellent Chinese traditional culture. The conceptual framework proposed causal relationships among perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived value, perceived enjoyment, attitude, social influence, and behavioral intention. Research design, data, and methodology: 500 students from three universities in Chongqing were selected. The researcher used the questionnaire as a tool. The sampling technique contains judgmental, stratified random and convenience sampling. The content validity was confirmed by the index of item-objective congruence (IOC). The pilot test involves 50 participants to ensure reliability by Cronbach’s alpha. Results: The social influence presented the strongest effect on behavioral intention and proved that attitude directly influenced behavioral intention. The significant influences that support attitude were perceived value and perceived enjoyment. Nevertheless, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness had no significant influence on attitude. The factors of perceived value and perceived enjoyment indirectly impacted behavioral intention. Conclusions: The research can help developers to consider these factors that affect users more when developing mobile reading apps related to excellent traditional Chinese cultural knowledge

Big Data’s Role in Expanding Access to Financial Services in China

General consumer and business finance companies have had limited success in serving the needs of economically active low-income families and micro-enterprises cost-effectively and sustainably in emerging economies such as China. Recent advances in computing and telecommunications technology are dramatically transforming this landscape by changing the way the financial industry operates. A key mechanism underlying this transformation concerns the use of big data in assessing, evaluating and refining the creditworthiness of potential borrowers and reducing the transaction costs. While China’s internet-only banking industry is currently small and some activities of players in this industry are akin to those in the shadow banking, this industry has potential to cause a major disruption in the Chinese financial market. A main objective of this paper is to examine the role of big data in facilitating the access to financial products for economically active low-income families and micro-enterprises in China. A second objective is to investigate how formal and informal institutions facilitate and constrain the use of big data in the Chinese financial industry and market. The paper also investigates how various inherent characteristics of big data – volume, velocity, variety, variability and complexity – are related to the assessment of the creditworthiness of low-income families and micro-enterprises. Case studies of big data deployment in the Chinese financial industry and market are discussed. The paper also looks at various categories of personal financial and non-financial information that are being used as proxy measures for a potential borrower’s identity, ability to repay and willingness to repay. Various business models involving the sources of data (internal vs. external to the big data organization) and providers of credits (big data organization vs. external partners or clients of the big data organization) are investigated. The analysis of the paper indicates that the main reason why low-income families and micro-enterprises in China and other emerging economies lack access to financial services is not because they lack creditworthiness but merely because banks and financial institutions lack data, information and capabilities to access the creditworthiness of and effectively provide financial services to this financial disadvantaged group