Factors Impacting Senior Citizens’ Adoption of E-Banking Post COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Study from India

Abstract

The global economy and the financial sector have suffered due to the COVID-19 epidemic. The banking industry has seen an increase in digital channels and payments, consumer behavior changes, regulatory and supervisory relief, and new operational resilience challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, seniors have had to adopt new channels and technologies instead of traditional cash and traditional channels. However, older people in India are not tech-savvy and avoid e-banking. Thus, stakeholders (e.g., bank authorities, governments) must focus on variables affecting the older population’s use of e-banking to reduce financial isolation. Thus, this study uses an extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework to examine senior citizens’ intentions to use e-banking. Data from “456” senior citizens from central India were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) techniques. The study identified different significant predictors (e.g., performance expectancy, effort expectancy, perceived risk, self-efficacy, perceived trust, and anxiety) of older users’ intention to use e-banking post-COVID-19. This is the first study from central India to determine elderly people’s intention to use online banking during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings will help bank authorities and other stakeholders increase senior citizens’ financial inclusion in India.