Mittuniversitetet

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between consumers’ emotions towards emerging e-banking technology, perceived risk and subsequent intention to adopt emerging e-banking technology. Design/methodology/approach: An online questionnaire was used to collect data, which were analysed in a quantitative study. The final sample of 224 educated young consumers, familiar with emerging e-banking technology, allowed testing of the research hypotheses by applying confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM). Findings: The empirical results indicate that deterrence emotions and hedonic motivation are associated with consumers’ perceived risk and, subsequently, their intention to adopt emerging e-banking technology. Additionally, analysing the moderating role of hedonic motivation in the association between consumers’ deterrence emotions towards emerging e-banking technology and their perceived risk highlights the significant association of deterrence emotions with perceived risk, regardless of the presence of hedonic motivation. Originality/value: This study demonstrates the association between consumers’ emotions, perceived risk and subsequent intention to adopt emerging e-banking technology whilst underscoring the importance of distinguishing between different types of emotions and their corresponding appraisals. 

Känslor påverkar våra beslut avseende riskbedömning och anpassning i förhållande till det omgivande samhället i högre grad än vad vi hittills känt till. Syftet med denna rapport, skriven av Masoome Abikari vid CER, är att beskriva och analysera olika samband mellan unga välutbildade bankkunders känslor, deras riskupplevelser och anpassningen till framväxande tekniska lösningar. Det empiriska underlaget består av enkätsvar från 224 bankkunder som alla är bekanta med digitala banktjänster. Studien påvisar olika samband mellan dessa bankkunders känslor och riskupplevelser samt, i förlängningen, deras intentioner att använda nya digitala banktjänster. Forskningsresultaten har tidigare publicerats i den internationella tidskriftsartikeln "Emotions, perceived risk, and intentions to adopt emerging e-banking technology among educated young consumers" (Abikari, 2024).

Banks appear to be interested in enhancing their effectiveness and efficiency by developing e-banking technology, i.e., the provision of banking products and services through electronic channels. However, the successful implementation of e-banking technology depends on how consumers perceive such technology and how they are probably provoked to adopt it. Considering emerging e-banking technologies, knowledge of the salient influential factors affecting consumer adoption is crucial for banks. Studies have analysed these factors from different perspectives, such as attribute- and barrier-based perspectives. Attribute-based factors pertain to the perceived or expected characteristics of e-banking technology, whereas barrier-based factors refer to factors that can hinder or delay the adoption of e-banking technology. Despite the absence of consensus on these factors, there is a predominant focus on the functional aspects of this technology, often neglecting the emotional experience of consumers. 

Consumers’ emotions in the e-banking context mainly refer to hedonic motivation, defined as positive emotions such as fun, pleasure, and enjoyment arising from the usage of e-banking technology. While examining hedonic motivation has provided valuable insights into the adoption of such technology, further studies are required to examine the relationship among consumers’ emotions, particularly negative ones arising from different kinds of appraisals. Accordingly, this thesis aims to examine the influence of consumers’ emotions towards emerging e-banking technology on their intention to adopt such technology, with a specific emphasis on negative emotions from attribute and barrier-based perspectives. 

Applying Structural equation modelling (SEM), the empirical results draw attention to the influential role of different types of negative emotions in the adoption of emerging e-banking technology. From the attribute-based perspective, the empirical results demonstrate an association between loss emotions and consumers’ behavioural intention to adopt emerging e-banking technology, through effort expectancy and performance expectancy. From a barrier-based perspective, the results indicate that deterrence emotions can be positively associated with consumers’ perceived risk. This, in turn, influences their behavioural intention to adopt emerging e-banking technology. The results also reveal the influence of deterrence emotions on consumers’ perceived risk, even in the presence of positive emotions. These results suggest the importance of considering various categories of negative emotions when examining consumers’ intention to adopt emerging e-banking technology. 

Successful implementation of e-banking technology depends on how consumers perceive the technology and how likely they are to adopt it. Although several studies have analysed the impact of some specific negative emotions, few studies examine a broad range of consumers’ negative emotions (i.e. both deterrence and loss emotions) arising from appraisals of e-banking technology. This study investigates the possible relationships between deterrence and loss emotions, and consumers’ behavioural intention to adopt emerging e-banking technology. Based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to analyse a conceptual model and related hypotheses. The empirical evidence draws attention to the relationship between loss emotions and consumers’ behavioural intention to adopt emerging e-banking technology through effort expectancy and performance expectancy, respectively.