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Introduction
Technology innovations have been a major force driving changes within distribution in banking. It first began to alter banks distribution channels in the 1970s with the introduction of ATMs, followed by telephone banking in the 1980s, internet banking in the 1990s and mobile banking 1990s-2000s (Devlin, 1995; Hoehle et al. , 2012). For the purposes of this study mobile banking is defined as:
An interaction in which a customer is connected to a bank via a mobile device, such as a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, (PDA)
(Laukkanen and Kiviniemi, 2010, p. 373).Due to the ubiquity of mobile phones, the increasing popularity of the mobile internet, advancement of mobile technology and increasing consumer demand for mobile services, mobile banking is an important service innovation, extending the current multi-channel strategy and requires further investigation (Laukkanen et al. , 2008; Pouttschi and Schurig, 2004). Currently, 0.8 billion individuals use mobile banking primarily driven by smartphone adoption. With an estimated future customer base of 1.8 billion by 2019, banks therefore cannot ignore mobile banking (Juniper Research, 2014). Moreover, mobile banking is presumed to evolve into an important future distribution channel within bank's multi-channel distribution strategy by providing potential competitive advantage (Tiwari et al. , 2007). In developing countries mobile banking even has the potential to become a primary distribution channel, impacting upon economic development and increasing financial inclusion (Agwu and Carter, 2014; Mutsune, 2015).
Understanding influences upon bank adoption is important since mobile banking has, to date, not fulfilled its promise (Bhatt, 2016). Despite the availability of technology and benefits for banks and customers mobile banking remains in the early phase of adoption, even where high mobile phone penetration exists (Moser, 2015).
Based upon a review of the literature, a lack of stakeholder investigation and diffusion of innovation (DOI) studies is acknowledged. Coupled with the potential importance of mobile banking for banks, this study investigates "What are the factors influencing bank adoption of mobile banking?" This enquiry explores the drivers and barriers influencing bank adoption of mobile banking. It uses Rogers (1995) definition of adoption namely "the decision of any individual or organisation to make use of an innovation" (as cited in Frambach and Schillewert, 2002, p. 163).
The study makes several contributions. It extends...