Breaking boundaries: Unveiling hurdles in embracing internet banking services in Sub-Saharan Africa

Despite the gravitation toward Internet banking research in the information systems and information technology literature, scholars and practitioners, particularly in emerging and developing countries, have not fully explored the barriers affecting customers’ intention to engage in e-banking transactions, particularly from a sub-Saharan perspective. There is still a considerable gap in the research on how online risk and socio-economic factors influence customers’ intention to engage in Internet banking activities. To fill this gap, we took an online and socio-economic perspective on Internet banking adoption in an aspiring to-be IT-enabled economy. Our study adopted a quantitative research approach. Intercept surveys were conducted among 672 bank customers in Ghana. Seven hypotheses were developed, and partial-least square structural equation modelling was used to test the relationship between the variables. Our findings revealed that fear of financial loss, fear of reputation damage, avoidance motivation, price of digital devices, perceived knowledge gap, infrastructure gap, and perceived financial charge are significant barriers to e-banking adoption. The novelty of our research lies in the research framework, which is a unique conceptual model presenting online and socio-economic factors preventing e-banking adoption. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.