Banking with a Chatbot – A Study on Technology Acceptance

The implementation of chatbot technology is evolving rapidly in the banking industry, yet customer acceptance is behind. The aim of the present paper is to identify the factors that influence consumers’ intention to use chatbot technology applied in the banking industry. The measurement development and hypotheses were based on the technology acceptance model extended with compatibility, customers’ perceived privacy risk and awareness of the service. The sample contains 287 respondents, out of whom 24% have previously used a banking chatbot. The measure items were validated by a measurement model and hypotheses were tested using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings highlight the importance of perceived compatibility and perceived usefulness in the adoption of banking chatbot technology. Awareness of the service has an effect on perceived ease of use, perceived privacy risk, and it indirectly affects usage intention of banking chatbots through perceived usefulness. Also, perceived ease of use influences perceived usefulness, and perceived compatibility has an effect on both perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. Perceived ease of use and perceived privacy risk show no effect on usage intention.