Going Cashless : Adoption of Mobile Banking in Nigeria

Abstract

The Central Bank of Nigeria recently introduced the cashless policy to reduce the volume of cash used for business transactions and thereby reduce cash handling costs by banks amongst other objectives. The success of this policy is dependent on the development and adoption of alternative payment options by bank customers, one of which is mobile banking. However, in spite of the potentials of the use of M-banking in Nigeria, its usage is still low; This study investigates the determinants of the adoption of mobile banking in Nigeria using Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory in addition to age and educational background as framework. A total of two hundred copies of a questionnaire were distributed to bank customers in Lagos to elicit data on and determine the effect of relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, observability, trialability, age and educational background on adoption of mobile banking. Using simple frequency count, Cronbach’s alpha and multiple regression analysis, it was discovered that each of these dependent variables influence the adoption of mobile banking. It was therefore recommended that relevant stakeholders should pay adequate attention to the relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, trialability and observability of the use of mbanking so as to increase its usage.