1、中文 5454字 CONSUMERS ADOPTION OF ONLINE FINANCIAL SERVICES: THE CASE OF TAIWAN Chapter 1 BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM Due to recent advances in the past decade in telecommunication and computer technology, the Internet has become the fastest growing marketplace in the world and has emerged as the leading
2、 medium and innovative distribution channel for businesses. The Internet has transformed the traditional brick-and-mortar retail where companies possess buildings and physical stores for operations into ecommerce. From the marketing perspective, e-commerce is associated with providing deep informati
3、on about products and company, creating consumers brand awareness, facilitating commercial transactions, enabling product distribution, and strengthening relationships with customers on the Web. Hence, the resulting changes brought about by e-commerce are reshaping and revolutionizing all business a
4、reas, including the financial services sector. The financial services sector is one of the business areas that provides a variety of different financial services, including transfer of funds between bank accounts, applications for bank loans, and buying and selling foreign currency, stocks, bonds, m
5、utual funds, and insurance (health, life, or auto insurance). Previous studies have indicated that the financial services sector has been largely driven and most affected by developments of Internet and e-commerce. Financial institutions are opting to providetheir financial services over the Interne
6、t since financial institutions can enjoy distinct benefits of providing online financial services, for example, reduced operating costs, fast market expansion, effective customer relationship management, and service quality enhancement. In Taiwan, traditional brick-and-mortar retail financial servic
7、es remain the most widely accepted method for buying and using financial services. However,Taiwan financial institutions are facing growing pressure to cut operating costs and strengthen relationships with customers since Taiwans further financial deregulation, following the entry into the World Tra
8、de Organization (WTO) in 2002, has helped foreign financial institutions with strong advantages of technology, and financial innovations accelerate the entry into Taiwan financial services sector. For several years and to cope with such situations, Taiwanese financialinstitutions have made great eff
9、orts to build Int ernet-based online financial services systems and have tried to provide a wide variety of online financial services for the purpose of stimulating consumers adoption of and use of online financial services. Despite Taiwan financial institutions huge investments in online financial
10、services systems, Taiwan consumers adoption of online financial services has been slower than anticipated, that is, in Taiwan, online financial services systems were not used as much as they could or should have been. Some online financial services are still in their infancy, while others are more m
11、ature. According to the latest survey conducted by MIC in 2005, the most used online financial service is theonline transfer of funds (30.6%), followed by online investment services (23.6%), online insurance buying (11.1%), and then online bank loan applications (4.2%). So far, online financial serv
12、ices research in Taiwan is still in its infancy stage and has received little direct academic attention. This suggests a need to understand Taiwan Internet users adoption behavior of online financial services and the need to identify the potential factors that may motivate or impede Taiwan Internet
13、users acceptance of online financial services. Purpose of the Study and Research Questions The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that may affect Taiwan consumers adoption of online financial services. Both theoretical and empirical studies associated with the adoption of information t
14、echnology (IT) provide a framework to examine the Taiwan consumers adoption of online financial services technologies. Based on previous literature related to the general adoption of IT, those potential factors are (a) perceived usefulness, (b) perceived ease of use, (c) perceived privacy protection
15、,(d) perceived security, (e) convenience, (f) previous Internet-related experience, (g)company reputation, and (h) consumer innovativeness. Following the above purpose, the research questions of this study are the following: RQ1: What are the relationships between those theoretical factors and Taiwa
16、n consumers intention to use online financial services? RQ2: Are there any significant differences in theoretical factors between online financial services adopters and non-adopters? RQ3: Are there any significant differences in Taiwanese intention to use online financial services between online fin
17、ancial services adopters and non-adopters? RQ4: Can the theoretical factors in Research Questions 1,2, and 3 predict future online financial services adopters or non-adopters? Importance of the Study As noted, Taiwan financial institutions are facing growing pressure to cut operating costs and stren
18、gthen relationships with customers since Taiwans further financial deregulation, following the entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2002, has helped foreign financial institutions with strong advantages of technology, and financial innovations accelerate the entry into Taiwan financial s
19、ervices sector. In spite of Taiwan financial institutions great efforts to provide easier and more useful financial services systems, Taiwan consumers adoption of some online financial services has been slower than anticipated (MIC, 2005). Currently, online financial services research in Taiwan is s
20、till in its infancy stage and has received little direct academic attention. Therefore, more academic attention should be paid to the study, helping to understand the potential factors that may motivate or impede Taiwan Internet users adoption behavior of online financial services. Once these factor
21、s are understood and identified, it may be possible to help Taiwan financial institutions and other interested parties formulate appropriate marketing strategies and design effective online financial services systems so that Taiwan financial institutions can accelerate the diffusion of online financ
22、ial services in the future. In addition to the important practical contributions to online financial services, this study could be modified and applied to other online services for example, online education, online auction services, and online publishing services by adopting the theoretical factors
23、presented in this research. Definitions of Terms Consumer Innovativeness refers to the predisposition to buy new and different products and brands rather than remain with previous choices and consumption pattern. Consumer innovativeness can be used as a predictor to measure the extent to which an individual is relatively earlier in adopting an innovation. Convenience refers to how easy customers can conduct transactions and denotes
