Abstract
In the last decade, more and more service providers have realized the advantage of self-service technologies (SSTs), and, therefore, the number of SSTs has grown at an enormous rate. The infusion of SSTs is dramatically changing the nature of the service encounter because it allows (or forces) consumers to produce their own service encounters by interacting with machines rather than by interacting with a firm’s service personnel (Lee and Allaway, 2002). Examples of SSTs are Internet banking, airline ticketing machines, automated teller machines (ATMs), computer-based shopping from service providers, and self-scanning checkouts in grocery stores (Lee and Allaway, 2002). The SST under investigation in this thesis is Internet banking. Although it is evident that Internet banking is gaining in popularity, it is less clear what the drivers are for consumers’ continued use of Internet banking (Yen and Gwinner, 2003). Before the development of Internet banking, the success of a distribution channel mostly depended on the location. However, as a result of this development, many of the old principles associated with the success of distribution channels have become irrelevant. New technologies are expected on the horizon; mobile Internet, broadband, and digital television all may serve as new distribution channels between service firms and their consumers. Independent of how far we have developed technologically and which distribution channels are being used today, new and even more powerful and promising solutions await just around the corner. Previous research on Internet banking use has mainly focused on antecedents of attitude toward and corresponding behavioral intentions to use, but has not linked these variables to the use (Weijters, Schillewaert, Rangarajan, and Falk, 2005). In this dissertation, a comprehensive model of Internet banking use that integrates several of the technology choice theories is presented. This dissertation not only integrates concepts of the technology acceptance model (TAM), innovation diffusion theory, and the expectation-confirmation model, but also takes into consideration several influential, albeit often ignored, factors (e.g., social influence, knowledge, and consumer demographics) to explain individuals’ continued use of Internet banking.