The influence of perceived risk in the uptake of self-service technologies within the retail banking sector : a study of customers using the industrial and commercial bank of China in Jilin

Abstract

This study aims to explore the impact of self-service technologies (SSTs) on the behaviour of Chinese banking customers. The research has two purposes: (l) To determine how perceived risk impacts on the use of SSTs for customers with a high and a low technology readiness index (TRI) and (2) To understand the types of perceived risks within the banking industry and which component of risk dominates customer's propensity to use SSTs. The research focuses on the retail bank SSTs services for the reason that the banking industry has the longest development history in SSTs. The research was conducted using a questionnaire containing two service scenarios (bank information search, fund/money transfer) and was distributed to 372 bank customers, of which a valid sample of 307 respondents was analyzed. The test results indicate the effect of perceived risk does exist. High perceived risk influences high TRI customers to lower their propensity to use the SSTs in the funds transfer and money transfer service scenario, whereas customers with low TRI will tend to lower their propensity to use SSTs in the funds transfer, money transfer and other services. Psychological risk was also identified as the dominant influential risk factor among the respondents. The results support the research hypotheses and highlight the importance for companies to manage perceived risk in this technological era.