Title: Understanding the effects of relationships on the intention of a firm to adopt e-banking

Authors: Feng-Yang Kuo, Fan-Chuan Tseng, Ding-Yuh Liou

Addresses: Department of Information Management, National Sun Yat-Sen University, 70 Lien-hai Rd. Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan. ' Department of Information Management, National Sun Yat-Sen University, 70 Lien-hai Rd. Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan. ' Department of Information Management, National Sun Yat-Sen University, 70 Lien-hai Rd. Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan

Abstract: Recently, many banks have adopted the e-banking system as a way to expand their range of available financial products and services, so that they can increase their competitiveness. Unlike the popular view that advanced information technology would automatically lead to adoption, this paper considers the nature of relationships in the banking industry and argues that stronger relationship ties and greater relationship advantages will influence technological strategies. Based on the social embeddedness theory, we investigate how several relationship factors may affect the intention of a firm to adopt an e-banking system that is initiated by its trading bank partner. Our findings show that both relationship benefits and relationship trust beliefs can lessen the concern about possible risks and increase the intention to adopt e-banking. Apparently, relationship is an |invisible| asset that is specific to the bank and its corporate client. As banks wish to employ IT as a competitive weapon, they must become aware that a long-term, reliable relationship cannot be easily replaced by information technology.

Keywords: e-banking; social embeddedness; relationship benefits; trust; commitment; risks; electronic finance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEF.2007.012901

International Journal of Electronic Finance, 2007 Vol.1 No.4, pp.484 - 501

Published online: 21 Mar 2007 *

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