Factors affecting the Adoption of Mobile Banking by Rural People: With special reference to Kalutara District

Abstract

Financial services are not easily accessible to people in remote rural areas. In a contemporary business environment, financial institutions close bank branches in difficult areas due to the costs associated with maintaining branches. As a result, people in these rural areas are excluded from joining the financial sector. Mobile banking allows individuals to access banking services anywhere, anytime. Despite the existence of mobile banking, those who need financial services do not follow it. Although people in rural Sri Lanka have access to mobile phones, this does not lead to mobile banking. This study examines the factors influencing mobile banking among the rural population in the Kalutara district of Sri Lanka. Accordingly, a survey questionnaire was prepared and used to collect data from 399 respondents in five rural divisional secretariat divisions in the Kalutara district using cluster sampling method. The results of the study contribute to knowledge by illustrating that it is not essential for individuals to adapt to mobile banking, whether they own or use a mobile phone. The study revealed that people's context as well as awareness, usefulness, cost, complexity, trust, and relative advantage influence mobile banking adoption in rural areas. As the mobile banking system is in its infancy in the rural market, users are more sensitive to the cost, ease of use of the system and trust in the bank than the information and service quality that the system can provide. Therefore, banks can devise appropriate strategies with the current demand of the users and future changes.