Adoption of internet banking theory of the diffusion of innovation

The innovation diffusion theory (IDT) could be considered as one of the earliest theories that attempts to explore factors that influence an individual to adopt an innovation or a new technology. The theory suggests five key beliefs that influence the adoption of any innovation: relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, trialability, and observability. The purpose of this study was to test part of IDT’s attributes empirically. We used Internet banking as the innovation or the targeted technology. We surveyed 1164 business and MBA students in four public universities in Malaysia. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. The results showed that relative advantage, compatibility, and trialability have a significant effect on att itude. Consequently, attitude significantly aff ects the intention to use Internet banking. Based on the findings, implications to practice are offere

Internet banking: segmenting elderly by latent class cluster

The present study aims to explain the Internet banking use in the elderly capturing the heterogeneity according to socio-demographic and psychological variables. A sample of 415 individuals older than 55 years has been analyzed using the latent class cluster model. The results show that there are three clusters with different levels of Internet banking use. Sex, level of education, cognitive age, self-efficacy and anxiety act as significant covariates

Entrepreneurship and market size. The case of young college graduates in Italy

We analyse empirically the effects of urbanization on Italian college graduates' work possibilities as entrepreneurs three years after graduation. We find that doubling the population density of the province of work reduces the chances of being an entrepreneur by 2-3 percentage points. This result holds after controlling for regional fixed effects and is robust to instrumenting urbanization. Provincial competition, urban amenities and disamenities, cost of labour, earning differentials between employees and self-employed workers, unemployment rates and value added per capita account for more than half of the negative urbanization penalty. Our result cannot be explained by the presence of negative differentials in returns to entrepreneurship between the most and the least densely populated areas either. In fact, as long as they succeed in entering the most densely populated markets, young entrepreneurs are able to reap the benefits of urbanization externalities: doubling the population density of the province of work increases entrepreneurs' net monthly earnings by 2-3 per cent.Labour market transitions, urbanization

The research on customer structure characteristics and marketing measures of regional bank agency: a case from the Agricultural Bank of China

With intensified opening degree and increasingly fierce market competition of commercial banks, commercial banks innovate their products constantly and improve their service quality at the same time. The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) is a state-owned commercial bank that has built branches in all county-level districts. Instead, branches of ABC in county-level have become the weakest links that reduce ABC’s competitive power. If the flaws in customer and market maintenance in the county-level branches are ever to be repaired, in my opinion, meeting customer perceived service quality and customer demands efficiently based on understanding of customer needs should be put in the first priority currently. Firstly, this part studies the customer segmentation of ** branch of Agricultural Bank of China. This thesis puts forward approach to segment bank customers based on the improved k-means clustering. The results show that the improvement algorithm effectively overcomes the defect that traditional k-means algorithm easily falls into local optimal value, increasing the accuracy of customer classification, and contributing to more reasonable clustering results. Secondly, this thesis uses the econometric panel data model to study the relationship between customer structure and bank performance. The results indicate that a good customer structure can bring benefits for banks and improve their competitiveness. Thirdly, this part analyzes different service quality requirements of different types customer in the ** branch of Agricultural Bank of China. We combine service quality evaluation theory and the background of Chinese commercial banks, establishing the SERVQUAL model for the ** branch. The Study has shown that the correlation coefficient between overall perception of service quality and customer satisfaction is positive; the overall perception of service quality and customer willingness to recommend are also positively correlated, but the degree of correlation is lower than the correlation between the overall perception of service quality and customer satisfaction; the correlation of overall perceived quality of service for all samples and willingness to accept the services of other banks correlation was not significant. At the same time, there is still a gap between the customer perceived service quality and customer expectation in the ** branch of Agricultural Bank of China. Finally, according to the results of customer structure classification and service quality survey of the ** branch of Agricultural Bank of China, the marketing strategies for different customer groups are proposed.Com o crescente grau de comercialização da indústria bancária chinesa e a entrada continua de bancos estrangeiros, a competição entre bancos está a tornar-se cada vez mais feroz, e as estratégias dos bancos comerciais com vista a ganhar vantagens competitivas muda gradualmente. Para além do lançamento de uma variedade de produtos financeiros, os bancos comerciais utilizam serviços diferenciados para poder dar resposta á procura do mercado diversificado de consumidores. Estes bancos estão igualmente a começar a entender que para os bancos gradualmente convergirem devem não só atingir uma vantagem competitiva através da oferta de produtos financeiros bem como serviços diferenciados de alta qualidade. Este meio tornou-se na única forma forma que o banco dispõe para poder vencer a sua competição. Portanto, para os bancos comerciais, estamos num período de inovação onde o aumento da qualidade de serviço é inevitável. O Agricultural Bank of China é um banco comercial do estado que possui uma filial em todas as regiões administrativas a nível de condado. Ligações e serviços, citadinos e urbanos tem sido a maior vantagem do Agricultural Bank of China, mas a situação actual não é favorável. A filial a nível de condado tem-se tornado na ligação pior e mais fraca da fundação deste banco. Ao mesmo tempo, bancos privados têm emergido em paridade com o rápido desenvolvimento dos instrumentos financeiros online e, o Agricultural Bank of China, como o representante dos bancos tradicionais está a enfrentar competição feroz. Em especial desvantagem no que toca a recursos ao consumidor e instrumentos online que os outros bancos oferecem. Os bancos comerciais tradicionais, estão desta forma confrontados com a perda de clientes bem como o elevado custo de adquirir novos clientes. O risco operacional do banco aumenta á medida que a estabilidade do mercado consumidor piora. Se querem mudar o status quo das filiais a nível de condado, necessitam entender a actual necessidade da qualidade de serviço ao cliente, analisar as características da procura do consumidor e estabelecer um mecanismo de ciclo virtuoso de mercado-consumidor-beneficio - são as maiores prioridades agora. Baseado nisto, este estudo usará marketing, processo de decisão da gerência, teoria e métodos, mineração de dados, técnicas estatísticas e métodos econométricos para analisar as características de procura do consumidor do Agricultural Bank of China. Primeiro, utilizar a análise de cluster de mineração de dados para efectuar uma estratificação analítica do grupo de consumidores do banco para manter a estrutura da procura dos consumidores e serviços; classificação da informação de procura dos consumidores, acesso ás tendências de procura dos consumidores do banco e tendência de produtos competitivos; na base de quantificar os requerimentos do consumidor, usamos o painel de dados econométricos para efectuar uma análise empírica sobre a estrutura de procura dos consumidores e a performance do Agricultural Bank of China

Electronic transaction of internet banking and its perception of Malaysian online customers

The purpose of this research is to find out significant factors of consumers’ perception on e-banking transaction by Malaysian bank consumers. The study utilizes a combination of theoretical frameworks and quantitative techniques o testify the statistical relationships between consumer perceptions on e-banking transaction. Meanwhile factor analysis was performed to extraction and make initial decision on the number of factors underlying asset of measured variables of interest. Thereafter structural equation mode (SEM) was estimated to anticipate the effects of the explanatory variables. This study shows that only protected transaction, have significant impact on consumers’ perception about e-banking security, followed by service quality and regulatory frame work issues. This study is the first that seeks to ascertain the insight into e-banking in Malaysia, which has not been previously been investigated and much statistical significance makes this study a potential cornerstone for future research. Therefore, this study thus sets an important benchmark for further research in the area

With a little help from abroad: the effect of low-skilled immigration on the female labor supply

In this paper we examine whether and how the inflow of female immigrants who “specialize” in household production affects the labor supply of Italian women. To identify the causal effect, we exploit the family reunification motive and the network effects - i.e. the tendency of newly arriving female immigrants to settle in places where males of the same country already live - as an instrument for the geographical distribution of female foreign workers. We find that the higher the number of immigrants who provide household services the more time native Italian women spend at work (intensive margin) without affecting their labor force participation (extensive margin). The impact is concentrated on the highly skilled women whose time has a higher opportunity cost. These results also hold after a battery of robustness checks. Some further evidence confirms that the impact passes through the substitution in household work rather than complementarities in the production sector. Finally, we show that immigration arises as a substitute to publicly provided welfare services, although this raises concerns about the fairness and the sustainability of this private and informal welfare model.immigration, female labor supply, household production

User perceptions of internet banking

Internetistä ja sen tarjoamista palveluista on tullut luonteva osa kuluttajien arkipäivää. Suomalaiset ovat ottaneet erityisesti verkkopankkipalvelut omakseen, sillä Tilastokeskuksen 2008 tekemän tutkimuksen mukaan lähes yhdeksän kymmenestä suomalaisesta käytti näitä palveluita. Suomi on kulkenut vuosikymmeniä verkkopankkipalvelujen eturivissä suhteellisen korkean teknologisen kehityksensä sekä parisenkymmentä vuotta sitten pankkisektorilla tapahtuneiden rakenteellisten muutosten vuoksi. Tästä syystä suomalaiset verkkopankkipalvelujen käyttäjät muodostivat mielenkiintoisen lähtökohdan tälle tutkimukselle, jossa paneuduttiin käyttäjien näkemyksiin verkkopankkipalveluista ja tarkasteltiin näiden näkemysten perusteella muodostuvia käyttäjäryhmiä. Pankkialaa ja erityisesti verkkopankkipalveluita pidetään pääsääntöisesti hyvin käytännöllisinä, utilitaristisina palveluina. Kuluttajan käyttäytymisessä vaikuttavat kuitenkin käytännöllisyyden ja rationaalisuuden rinnalla merkittävästi myös elämyksellisyys ja mielihyvähakuiset, hedonistiset tekijät, joita ei tässä tutkimusympäristössä ole juurikaan tarkasteltu. Näistä lähtökohdista juontui kaikkiaan kolme kiinnostavaa käsiteparia, joiden välisiä jännitteitä tutkimus purkaa. Nämä käsiteparit käytännölliset vs. elämykselliset palveluominaisuudet, palvelun omaksuminen vs. sen käyttökokemus (tuttuus), sekä mielihyvähakuinen vs. vähemmän mielihyvähakuinen kulutustaipumus muodostivat pohjan tämän väitöskirjan viitekehykselle; jokaiseen näistä paneuduttiin erityisesti omassa osajulkaisussaan. Tutkimuksen tulokset perustuvat 300 aktiivisen verkkopankkipalvelujen käyttäjän tilastolliseen aineistoon. Tulosten perusteella pystyttiin haastamaan itsepalveluteknologiaan liittyviä perusoletuksia. Vaikka käytännöllisyyden ja hyödyllisyyden painotus yleensä olikin selvää, nousi aineistosta esiin suuri käyttäjäryhmä, joka vaati palveluilta käytettävyyden lisäksi myös elämyksellisyyttä ja monimuotoisuutta. Vastaavasti käyttäjien käyttökokemukseen, kulutustaipumuksiin sekä elämyksellisiin ulottuvuuksiin liittyvät löydökset valaisivat sekä jäsensivät näitä jo vuosia sitten esitettyjä näkemyksiä nimenomaan verkkopankkiympäristössä. Mielihyvähakuinen kulutustaipumus osoittautui merkittäväksi kuluttajan ominaispiirteeksi, jonka perusteella määräytyvien käyttäjäryhmien näkemykset verkkopankkipalveluista erosivat merkittävästi toisistaan. Kaiken kaikkiaan tämä tutkimus tarjoaa uusia näkökulmia segmentoinnin perinteisiin, tapaan nähdä ja määrittää käyttäjä. Käyttäjälähtöinen ja yksilöllisiin tarpeisiin perustuva segmentointiajattelu sekä näiden segmentoinnin perusteiden uudenlainen käyttö vahvistavat segmentoinnin asemaa niin markkinointiajattelussa kuin markkinointistrategioissakin. Tämän väitöskirjan tulokset avaavat monia käytännön sovellutusmahdollisuuksia. Tulevaisuudessa palveluiden on vastattava ja oltava valmiita mukautumaan yhä vaativimpiin haasteisiin. Pelkkä peruspalvelu ei kaikille riitä.The internet and services provided via the channel have become a natural part of consumers´ life in the past few decades and are nowadays quite often almost taken for granted in developed countries, soon as well in developing countries. Finland has been in the forefront on internet banking due to the relatively high level of technological development and the structural changes in banking sector occurring nearly three decades ago. The economical recession in the early years of 1990´s forced banks to cut down their dense net of branch banking offices, while new delivery channel offered a cost effective way to provide necessary banking services. Consumers were advised very strongly to access into the world of electronic banking and the penetration rate has been on the top of the world since that. Thus, Finnish users were excellent source for empirical examination. The overall purpose of this research was to examine user perceptions of internet banking services and define user segments on the basis of the perceptions. The underlying rationale was to broaden the way to see internet banking, since the branch in general seemed to imprisoned by very utilitarian by nature. However, the academic research has witnessed tremendous change in the field of consumer behaviour as the experiential dimensions of consumption and the hedonic consumer orientation have gained attention. Thus, altogether three academically interesting pairs of concepts that exhibit tension between each other were identified from the literature. These pairs, i.e. utilitarian vs. experiential service features, adoption vs. usage experience (familiarity), and more hedonic vs. less hedonic consumption orientation, comprised the base for the framework of the dissertation. Each of these concept pairs were analysed in depth in separate articles. As a result of this research, based to the analyses of 300 active user of internet banking, this dissertation contributes to various theoretical discussions. Firstly, it participates in the significant research stream of self-service technologies. In this rather utilitarian service context, the significance of experiential features was evaluated, social dimension in the form of status were acknowledged and the need to reconceptualised convenience was identified. Secondly, contribution is gained to the academic discussion of consumer knowledge. Familiarity was examined as a consumer-related fact and consumption-specific characteristics of a user, which as such, provided suitable base for segmentation. Interesting matter was revealed when moderately familiar users gained the lowest values thus producing U-shaped form of user perceptions. Thirdly, findings relating to customer orientation and experiential dimensions in internet banking affirm, enlighten and structure the views presented a quarter of a century ago in internet banking context. Hedonic consumption orientation was attested as a powerful consumer characteristic distinguishing users to more and less hedonic segments. To sum up the results, the research provides new insights on the principles on segmentation. The innovative use of essential and relative segmentation bases still holds a strong position in marketing thought and marketing strategy. This research opens many implication possibilities also for managerial purposes