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Introduction
As [91] Sarel and Marmorstein (2003) point out, despite heavy investment by banks in developing online capabilities, many online consumers are inactive or use online banking sporadically, focusing mainly on verification tasks and avoiding more complex transactions. As moving consumers to the online channel has a clear cost savings goal, succeeding in this objective becomes very important for bank services providers, as meaningful savings are only possible with a significant migration of consumers to online banking. Understanding the key drivers that may be slowing adoption has become a relevant topic for the banking sector.
Online banking technology represents a variety of different services ranging from ([65] Kolodinsky et al. , 2004): the common automatic teller machine (ATM), services and direct deposit to automatic bill payment (ABP), electronic transfer of funds (EFT), phone banking and computer banking (PC banking). In this paper we define online banking as an internet portal, through which customers can use different kinds of banking services ranging from bill payment to making investments ([84] Pikkarainen et al. , 2004).
The adoption of delivering financial services through the internet represents a complex interaction between an intangible service and an innovative medium of service delivery. Moreover, E-commerce adoption depends on the profile of the potential consumers, since not all consumers accept an innovation at the same time ([88] Rogers, 1962). The literature review shows that, among other factors, the degree of receptiveness to the innovation and perceived shopping risk are factors which determine how quickly an internet user becomes an online shopper ([19] Citrin et al. , 2000; [102] Vrechopoulos et al. , 2001).
Despite the growing importance of online banking, there are still not enough studies that provide a holistic view of factors driving the extent of use of the internet as a distribution channel for financial services. The special characteristics of financial services (intangibility, non-standardization and complexity) and the higher levels of uncertainty and perceived risk that confront consumers through the internet highlight the importance of effective marketing activity to influence and support consumers' online banking services adoption decision. As [86] Ramaswami et al. (2000) and [67] Lassar et al. (2005) point out, the combination of the service (financial product) and the channel (Internet) make financial services purchased online inherently...