Understanding Internet Banking: An Empirical Investigation of Potential Customers' Acceptance in Mainland China

As China’s accession into the World Trade Organization and opening its financial market, competition in the banking industry is getting throat-cutting in China. Using Internet banking to acquire market shares is critical for banks’ survival and therefore understanding drivers for Internet banking adoption is critical for banks’ success. Applying Davis’s technology acceptance model and incorporating other unique and salient factors for e-commerce adoption in China (i.e., perceived risk, trust and structural assurances), this study develops and tests a research model to investigate factors affecting Internet banking acceptance in mainland China. Results of the data analysis generally support the model as well as six of seven of the proposed hypotheses. In particular, trust toward e-channels, perceived ease of use, perceived risk and structural assurances were found to have significant direct and/or indirect impact on Internet banking adoption. Contributions and implication of the study are discussed.