Perceived ease of use, usefulness, trust, information accessibility and acceptance of electronic funds transfer.

Abstract

The study was undertaken against the background that though banks in Uganda implemented Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) system in August 2003 because of its expected benefits, its use was still low compared to the use of the other retail payment instruments such as the cheque and yet for the banks to realize the envisaged benefits of the system, it should be accepted by the customers. The objectives of the study were to establish if the low usage can be explained by the relationships between customers‟ perceptions (in terms of usefulness, ease of use, trust and access to information) on the system, attitude towards using it, intention to use it and acceptance of the system. The study was conducted as a cross-sectional survey using pre-coded questionnaires, administered to a sample of 178 customers selected from 8 of the 15 commercial banks operating at the time of the study. Data was analyzed using SPSS so as to obtain descriptive and inferential statistics. The results have confirmed results of similar studies done in the developed/developing world; that there exist positive relationships between banks customers‟ perceptions about the EFT system and their attitudes towards it. The result also indicated that banks customers‟ attitudes affect their intentions to use the system, which ultimately affect their acceptance. The regression analysis indicated that the predictors could explain up to 39.4 % of the banking customers‟ acceptance of the system. Banks consequently need to carry out public awareness and education campaigns and also train their employees in handling these new banking innovations and products/services so as to improve on customers‟ perceptions and encourage others to use banking facilities including the EFT system. These efforts would specifically facilitate the improvement of banks‟ service delivery and generally promote banking habit in the country.