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

An inquiring framework for changing project management practice: A qualitative method study

This research is designed to advance the theoretical and practical knowledge in the area of project management through the development of an inquiring, integrative project management framework. The methodological framework used in this work is based on an interpretivist philosophy using grounded theory building within a systems thinking framework. This research is based on a qualitative methodology resulting in an in depth analysis of data provided by interviews. The data collected and analysed in this research shows that project management is a very complex and multifaceted issue, context dependent and in a continual state of flux. People are a major cause of complexity and the case for an inquiring approach is introduced by a study of project management literature and supported by the results of the analysis of the data sets acquired in this work. The research is concerned with the development of an inquiring, integrative project management framework that allows for a high degree of contextualization to take place during its application to reflect the real world nature of projects. The concept of a project system is used to underpin the framework. The project system used to underpin the framework, supports the dynamic, contextual and iterative nature of project management. A comparison of the framework with the real world view of project management practitioners was carried out (validation), resulting in some refinements of the framework, increased confidence that it has practical applicability and some future directions for research. A claimed methodological contribution is the use of grounded theory for construction of new knowledge within a systems thinking framework. The inquiring, integrative project management framework developed in this work contributes to project management practice and a user guide is provided to support its application. The framework, which represents the outcome of this research, can be seen as a useful instrument to aid project management practitioners. The framework can be utilized to carry out inquiry with varying levels of detail and it offers the flexibility necessary for contextualization of projects to support decision making. Project management is treated as a human activity, where the central idea is that people and context are key to the success of the project and not, for example, the project management method

Towards using a systems approach in project management practice

The purpose of this paper is to advance the theoretical and practical knowledge in project management through the development of an inquiring project management framework. The data collected in this research shows that project management is a very complex and multifaceted issue, context dependent and in a continue state of flux. The research results in the development of an inquiring project management framework that allows for a high degree of contextualization to take place during its application, to emulate closely the real world. The concept of project system is used to underpin the inquiring project management framework