Adoption of mobile banking services: A comparative analysis of four competing theoretical models

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate which of four well-established theoretical models (i.e. technology acceptance model, theory of planned behavior, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, decomposed theory of planned behavior (DTPB)) best explains potential users’ behavioral intentions to adopt mobile banking (MB) services. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on data from 931 potential users in Greece, the structural equation modeling method was used to examine and compare the four models in goodness-of-fit, explanatory power and statistical significance of path coefficients. Findings Results indicate that the best model is an extension of the DTPB with perceived risk (PR). Customers’ attitude, determined by three rationally-evaluated MB attributes (usefulness, easiness and compatibility), is the main driver of consumers’ intentions to adopt MB services. Additionally, consumers’ perceptions of availability of knowledge, resources and opportunities necessary for using the service, and the pressure of interpersonal and external social contexts toward the use of MB are the other two, less important, adoption drivers. Finally, PR negatively affects attitude formation and inhibits willingness to use MB services. Practical implications Findings can help marketers of financial institutions to select the more parsimonious model to develop appropriate marketing strategies to increase adoption rates of MB services. Originality/value This is the first study that compares the performance of four well-known innovation adoption models to explain consumers’ behavior in the MB context.