, 2006) the degree an individual may function can be affected by accessibility, situational factors, and subjective perception (Axup, 2004). Usage philosophy is influenced by cultural differences that can cause acceptance problems or rejection (Zuhlke, 2006)
The most important elements to be discussed at this stage include the drivers and inhibitors of customer acceptance of online banking in Oman. Some ideas for inhibitors: Omani customers are more traditional and prefer the personal attention of a bank worker to the computer The reduced computer, internet and technology experience characteristic for the Omani customer also makes them prefer traditional services (Al-Hajri and Tatnall, 2008) Omani customers perceive online operations as synonymous with low levels of security Ides for enablers: increased convenience due to the removal of temporal and geographic barriers or the lack of necessity to stand in line user-friendly interfaces making as such the online applications easy to use by any interested customer Sources used in the preparation of this section refer to those already presented
The most important elements to be discussed at this stage include the drivers and inhibitors of customer acceptance of online banking in Oman. Some ideas for inhibitors: Omani customers are more traditional and prefer the personal attention of a bank worker to the computer The reduced computer, internet and technology experience characteristic for the Omani customer also makes them prefer traditional services (Al-Hajri and Tatnall, 2008) Omani customers perceive online operations as synonymous with low levels of security Ides for enablers: increased convenience due to the removal of temporal and geographic barriers or the lack of necessity to stand in line user-friendly interfaces making as such the online applications easy to use by any interested customer Sources used in the preparation of this section refer to those already presented
Employees and even customers often feel reticent to engaging in open communications. In order to reduce this reticence and stimulate cooperation, the following actions will be undertaken: construction of the questionnaire and the interview questions in such a means that they are easy to understand and easy to respond formulation of the questionnaire and the interview questions in a means that their completion does not take more than 10 minutes allowing the respondents to maintain their anonymity by not demanding them to put in their names, unless they want to; however, the respondents will have to state their relationship with the bank -- manager, staff member, current customer or prospective client the interview will be conducted only with the employees of the bank and the customers coming in throughout the five days spent within the bank; nevertheless, it is important to make the questionnaire available to a palette of individuals as wide as possible; it is as such necessary to send the questionnaires to the homes of the Omani citizens and ask them to complete them and then send them back to ensure that the completion of the questionnaire does not represent an unpleasant, time and money consuming task for the respondents, while in the same time protecting the anonymity of the respondents, I will send an envelope containing the efficiently structured questionnaire to the home of the Omani citizens; the envelope will also include a statement reassuring the confidentiality of the information as well as another envelope, already stamped, to be returned to me, free of any charge for the respondents (Harris and Benson, 2006) The essence of the questionnaires and the interviews will be based on the model used by Sabah Abdullah Al-Somali, Roya Gholami and Ben Clegg, revealed in the following diagram: Source: Al-Somali, Gholami and Clegg The explanation for the methodology model: there are six nods, each representing a category of factors influencing consumer acceptance of internet banking the first nod stands for customer awareness of the online service and its perceived benefits, which generally impact customer acceptance in a positive manner (H1) the second nod stands for security, which also impacts customer acceptance in a positive direction as it increases the perceived ease of use (H2) the third nod is given by the quality of the internet connection, which also increases the perceived ease of use and increases customer acceptance (H3) the fourth nod represents the trust customers have in the bank and the customer acceptance is highly sensitive to trust, evolving in the same direction (H4) the fifth nod is represented by demographic characteristics and is important due to the following attributes: consumers of younger ages are more likely to accept online banking (H5); consumers with higher levels of annual incomes are also less likely to accept online banking (H6); in terms of gender, males are more likely to adopt internet banking (H7); better educated consumers will adopt online banking, whereas less educated individuals will prefer traditional operations (H8); the last set of connections brings into discussion the ease of use and links it to other values: the ease of use impacts the perceived usefulness of online banking (H9); perceived usefulness of online banking positively impacts the usage of internet banking (H10); perceived ease of use positively impacts the attitude towards online banking (H11) a favorable attitude has a positive influence on the intention to use and accept internet banking (Al-Somali, Gholami and Clegg)
Nevertheless, it has the limitation of relying entirely on the findings of others, possibly coming to biased conclusions and unoriginal findings. Other disadvantages include a lack of familiarity with the data presented by other authors or an increased complexity of the information (Bryman and Bell, 2007)
Employees and even customers often feel reticent to engaging in open communications. In order to reduce this reticence and stimulate cooperation, the following actions will be undertaken: construction of the questionnaire and the interview questions in such a means that they are easy to understand and easy to respond formulation of the questionnaire and the interview questions in a means that their completion does not take more than 10 minutes allowing the respondents to maintain their anonymity by not demanding them to put in their names, unless they want to; however, the respondents will have to state their relationship with the bank -- manager, staff member, current customer or prospective client the interview will be conducted only with the employees of the bank and the customers coming in throughout the five days spent within the bank; nevertheless, it is important to make the questionnaire available to a palette of individuals as wide as possible; it is as such necessary to send the questionnaires to the homes of the Omani citizens and ask them to complete them and then send them back to ensure that the completion of the questionnaire does not represent an unpleasant, time and money consuming task for the respondents, while in the same time protecting the anonymity of the respondents, I will send an envelope containing the efficiently structured questionnaire to the home of the Omani citizens; the envelope will also include a statement reassuring the confidentiality of the information as well as another envelope, already stamped, to be returned to me, free of any charge for the respondents (Harris and Benson, 2006) The essence of the questionnaires and the interviews will be based on the model used by Sabah Abdullah Al-Somali, Roya Gholami and Ben Clegg, revealed in the following diagram: Source: Al-Somali, Gholami and Clegg The explanation for the methodology model: there are six nods, each representing a category of factors influencing consumer acceptance of internet banking the first nod stands for customer awareness of the online service and its perceived benefits, which generally impact customer acceptance in a positive manner (H1) the second nod stands for security, which also impacts customer acceptance in a positive direction as it increases the perceived ease of use (H2) the third nod is given by the quality of the internet connection, which also increases the perceived ease of use and increases customer acceptance (H3) the fourth nod represents the trust customers have in the bank and the customer acceptance is highly sensitive to trust, evolving in the same direction (H4) the fifth nod is represented by demographic characteristics and is important due to the following attributes: consumers of younger ages are more likely to accept online banking (H5); consumers with higher levels of annual incomes are also less likely to accept online banking (H6); in terms of gender, males are more likely to adopt internet banking (H7); better educated consumers will adopt online banking, whereas less educated individuals will prefer traditional operations (H8); the last set of connections brings into discussion the ease of use and links it to other values: the ease of use impacts the perceived usefulness of online banking (H9); perceived usefulness of online banking positively impacts the usage of internet banking (H10); perceived ease of use positively impacts the attitude towards online banking (H11) a favorable attitude has a positive influence on the intention to use and accept internet banking (Al-Somali, Gholami and Clegg)
These impediments can be organized into two categories, each pegged to the type of research conducted, as selected in the methodology section. In this order of ideas, the primary research method could raise the following impediments: the direct discussions with the bank managers, employees and customers are only scheduled for the duration of one working week; this might prove insufficient time employees might feel reticent to answering the questions of the researcher due to their fear of repercussions from the managerial team if they do not praise the organization and its achievements (this is even more so relevant when the Omani economy is challenged by a 15% unemployment rate and people struggle to maintain their positions) managers could offer slightly biased information; this is not to accuse the representatives of banks of illegal operations, but it is highly probable for them to diverge the conversations in the direction desired by their biased interests; this could impact the final results of the research report current and prospective bank customers might find no utility in wasting their time filling in surveys and questionnaires and could as such refuse to support the research process despite the perceived ability to construct a particular model tailored to the unique needs of the research topic (Stage and Manning, 2003), primary research has the impediment that its model is generally untested and could easily fail to support the research process in the most adequate means The limitations which could be posed by the secondary method of research include: biased findings of the previous authors conflicting conclusions between two or more works studied references to tertiary documents containing evidence, but a lack of ability of accessing these documents it is often possible to come across well written and strong documents, which however have no relevance to the topic studied (McDaniel and Gates, 1998); a best example in this case is constituted by the abundance of articles on the impediments Omani managers encounter in implementing online banking within their institutions; despite the interesting elements, the actual relevance to a researcher looking to find how customers respond to online banking is fairly limited finally, in terms of online sources, the search engines will retrieve large numbers of results, but will not state the quality of the information retrieved (Strouse, 2004); this means that the information used in a research might be biased; the best solution to this problem is that of ensuring only the usage of peer-reviewed articles, or whenever other sources are used, ensuring that the same evidence is present in peer-reviewed works 9
For instance, more vendors decide to retail their products online and as such benefit from the advantages of lower costs with operating the store and an easy and rapid customer accessibility. Clients on the other hand benefit from an avoidance of crows, a better respect of privacy and the elimination of geographic and temporal boundaries (Sullivan and Adcock, 2002)
These impediments can be organized into two categories, each pegged to the type of research conducted, as selected in the methodology section. In this order of ideas, the primary research method could raise the following impediments: the direct discussions with the bank managers, employees and customers are only scheduled for the duration of one working week; this might prove insufficient time employees might feel reticent to answering the questions of the researcher due to their fear of repercussions from the managerial team if they do not praise the organization and its achievements (this is even more so relevant when the Omani economy is challenged by a 15% unemployment rate and people struggle to maintain their positions) managers could offer slightly biased information; this is not to accuse the representatives of banks of illegal operations, but it is highly probable for them to diverge the conversations in the direction desired by their biased interests; this could impact the final results of the research report current and prospective bank customers might find no utility in wasting their time filling in surveys and questionnaires and could as such refuse to support the research process despite the perceived ability to construct a particular model tailored to the unique needs of the research topic (Stage and Manning, 2003), primary research has the impediment that its model is generally untested and could easily fail to support the research process in the most adequate means The limitations which could be posed by the secondary method of research include: biased findings of the previous authors conflicting conclusions between two or more works studied references to tertiary documents containing evidence, but a lack of ability of accessing these documents it is often possible to come across well written and strong documents, which however have no relevance to the topic studied (McDaniel and Gates, 1998); a best example in this case is constituted by the abundance of articles on the impediments Omani managers encounter in implementing online banking within their institutions; despite the interesting elements, the actual relevance to a researcher looking to find how customers respond to online banking is fairly limited finally, in terms of online sources, the search engines will retrieve large numbers of results, but will not state the quality of the information retrieved (Strouse, 2004); this means that the information used in a research might be biased; the best solution to this problem is that of ensuring only the usage of peer-reviewed articles, or whenever other sources are used, ensuring that the same evidence is present in peer-reviewed works 9
cia.gov; the country's economy is a middle income one, based primarily on the revenues from oil and with little diversification; it would be interesting to identify if and how this economic structure impacts the banking sector For the recent developments made in the financial and banking sector in Oman, the article on Oman's Brighter Banking Sector in AME Info (2004) will constitute a valuable source It would also be interesting to reveal the stand and efforts of the international community in supporting the development of the Omani banking sector; a good starting point in this endeavor would be constituted by the website of the International Monetary Fund, with their articles on Oman 5
V. (2001) and from Security Flaws in Online Banking Sites Found to be Widespread, Newswise (2008) For the analysis of online banking services and operations in developing countries, a valuable source is offered by Sabah Abdullah Al-Somali, Roya Gholami and Ben Clegg with their article on Internet Banking Acceptance in the Context of Developing Countries: An Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model, Webintec 4
V. (2001) and from Security Flaws in Online Banking Sites Found to be Widespread, Newswise (2008) For the analysis of online banking services and operations in developing countries, a valuable source is offered by Sabah Abdullah Al-Somali, Roya Gholami and Ben Clegg with their article on Internet Banking Acceptance in the Context of Developing Countries: An Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model, Webintec 4
The following lines present some of the sources to be used at this level of the research report: Since the topic is a relatively new one, large works have yet to be composed; nevertheless, there are numerous books which refer to the matter on online banking in Oman. One such work is in Lee's Electronic Business: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications (2009), Nidal Rashid Sabri's Financial Markets and Institutions in the Arab Economy (2008) or the Report Oman, printed in 2009 under the aegis of the Oxford Business Group
The following lines present some of the sources to be used at this level of the research report: Since the topic is a relatively new one, large works have yet to be composed; nevertheless, there are numerous books which refer to the matter on online banking in Oman. One such work is in Lee's Electronic Business: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications (2009), Nidal Rashid Sabri's Financial Markets and Institutions in the Arab Economy (2008) or the Report Oman, printed in 2009 under the aegis of the Oxford Business Group
The following lines present some of the sources to be used at this level of the research report: Since the topic is a relatively new one, large works have yet to be composed; nevertheless, there are numerous books which refer to the matter on online banking in Oman. One such work is in Lee's Electronic Business: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications (2009), Nidal Rashid Sabri's Financial Markets and Institutions in the Arab Economy (2008) or the Report Oman, printed in 2009 under the aegis of the Oxford Business Group
The following lines present some of the sources to be used at this level of the research report: Since the topic is a relatively new one, large works have yet to be composed; nevertheless, there are numerous books which refer to the matter on online banking in Oman. One such work is in Lee's Electronic Business: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications (2009), Nidal Rashid Sabri's Financial Markets and Institutions in the Arab Economy (2008) or the Report Oman, printed in 2009 under the aegis of the Oxford Business Group
The following lines present some of the sources to be used at this level of the research report: Since the topic is a relatively new one, large works have yet to be composed; nevertheless, there are numerous books which refer to the matter on online banking in Oman. One such work is in Lee's Electronic Business: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications (2009), Nidal Rashid Sabri's Financial Markets and Institutions in the Arab Economy (2008) or the Report Oman, printed in 2009 under the aegis of the Oxford Business Group
The following lines present some of the sources to be used at this level of the research report: Since the topic is a relatively new one, large works have yet to be composed; nevertheless, there are numerous books which refer to the matter on online banking in Oman. One such work is in Lee's Electronic Business: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications (2009), Nidal Rashid Sabri's Financial Markets and Institutions in the Arab Economy (2008) or the Report Oman, printed in 2009 under the aegis of the Oxford Business Group
It is suggested that there are a significant number of factors that are used when people are deciding if they want to adopt and use a new type of technology (Workman, 2007). However, the two most significant factors that are considered by end users are whether the technology is easy to use and whether it will be useful (Bagozzi, 2007; Chuttur, 2009; King & He, 2006)
Among the arguments was that SaaS is already declining in popularity even though it is very new. The majority of the arguments that lean in that direction have been made by individuals who believe that SaaS is not offering the level of value that was originally expected of it (Benlian & Hess, 2011)