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Figure 5.1: Main themes of study
As indicated above, this study analyses and compares mobile banking and alternative finance usage in South Africa. Centred on the data gathered, five themes emerged from the participant responses regarding their perceptions on alternative finance and mobile banking, and the impact of their demographics, attitudes, background and other factors on the usage of mobile banking and alternative finance. This confirms the hypotheses that are being tested based on demographics, attitudes, background and other factors on the usage of mobile banking and alternative finance as laid down in the objectives in Chapter One. In addition, these themes also communicate the challenges which the users experience with mobile banking and alternative finance and their views on what the future holds for these two forms of financial control.
The following themes emerged from the data: perceptions, factors of mobile banking and alternative finance, user experience, future projections and recommendations. Future projections and recommendations are further discussed in detail in Chapter Five.
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5.4.1 Perceptions on mobile banking and alternative finance
Figure 5.2: Perceptions on mobile banking and alternative finance
Figure 5.3 Perceptions of mobile banking and alternative finance counts
Figure 5.3 reveals the number of citations obtained for each code. It appears that the code
‘platform efficiency’ has the highest number of references. Therefore, this was the utmost reported perception.
One of the study’s main emphasis is on the participants’ perceptions on mobile banking and alternative financial services. Data gathered highlights participant perceptions related to platform
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PERCEPTIONS OF MOBILE BANKING AND ALTERNATIVE FINANCE
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efficiency, background influence, cost implications, security-related issues, forced digital migration, different forms of alternative finance, channel setting, lack of due diligence, and intergenerational differences. The hypotheses of the study are aligned to these perceptions to test their effect.
Hypothesis: Customer attitude have an effect on the use of mobile banking and alternative finance
5.4.1.1 Inter-generational knowledge differences
Participants in the study indicate the fact that there are information differences between the older people and younger people on mobile banking and alternative finance. This is consistent with the findings by Bidian and Evans (2018) that younger generations gain knowledge in a different manner from their mature colleagues. Furthermore, they have different perceptions on obtaining new knowledge and using technology. For instance, Participant 4 indicates that younger generations are well knowledgeable in alternative finance than older generations. The participant states that,
“The one I will be speaking on is the one which millennials and Gen-Z use the majority of the time. There are sites on the internet for people who receive money for free just by asking for it and they do not have to pay back a single cent. It is not as well known by older generations as it is newer and revolves around technology.”
Hypothesis: Customer background has an effect in the use of mobile banking and alternative finance
5.4.1.2 Background influence
This section reports on the background of the participants in relation to the use of mobile banking and alternative finance. Two aspects were explored, specifically educational and socio-economic backgrounds. Education is principal for the users to be able to use mobile banking and alternative finance. These participants also articulated that having a socio-economic background assists users to understand and use mobile banking and alternative finances. Having acknowledged that an educational background enables or aids the usage of mobile banking and alternative finance, Participant 3 adds that meanwhile, cheques are no longer used like before, hence the background counts for people who do not have bank accounts. The participant states that,
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“Businesses need to operate, regardless of technology trends. Remote workers and people who do not have bank accounts…. The background counts.”
Equally, Participant 2 makes reference to the fact that information is necessary to increase migration to digital banking. The participant claims that,
“He thinks we are transitioning as a developing country. The country has made huge and great strides in terms of empowering the population to make use of these platforms and/or to move into digital banking, but there will always be that percentage that is reluctant but through the lack of knowledge and that requires extra attention in order to migrate them.”
Moreover, participants in this study discovered that social standing and race inequalities in regards to access to new technologies should be pondered on as far as the usage and adoption of mobile banking is concerned. Participant 2 continues to mention the impact of one’s socio- economic background and alludes that,
“It might not be something which banks would like to admit but the background does have an influence in terms of how you adapt to use or how easily you migrate to digital banking platforms. He would not say it is more race related but honestly, our race is black or some of the black or coloured demographics of our population has not yet had access to technology as opposed to other demographics or races. Social standing does have an influence, especially with the entry level banking market where they still believe that one needs to go to the building or structure such as a bank in order to get assistance.”
The above findings confirm the studies by Pankomera and Van Greunen (2018) that literacy at all levels needs to be addressed for successful utilisation of mobile banking. This was confirmed in a study by Mothobi and Grzybowski (2017), where mobile banking usage rose side-by-side with educational level. The same story can be reached with alternative finance as the findings from quantitative analysis show that 46% (see Figure 4.45) of the participants cannot use it, meaning that education is still required for buy-in into alternative finance platforms. Further, there was no significant difference of mean scores across the highest educational qualification on the ANOVA conducted.