Factors affecting the adoption of mobile money services in the banking and financial industries of Botswana
Abstract
This study set out to investigate factors affecting the adoption of mobile money services in
the banking and financial industries of Botswana in the light of the Technology Acceptance
Model (TAM) and demographic variables (that is, age of individuals, income, education
level, bank account) from mobile money service adoption literature.
To do this, a likert-like closed-ended questionnaire was administered to a total of 190
respondents from a targeted sample of 200 users and non-users of mobile banking services
from four regions in Gaborone-Botswana. To ensure diversity in terms of demographic
characteristics, stratified random sampling was done.
The analysis of the results revealed that gross income and ownership of bank accounts
appeared to be insignificant in determining the use of mobile money services in Botswana.
However, the age of individuals did seem to be significant in determining whether an
individual used mobile money services or not, with more young people preferring to use
mobile money services than older people.
The education of individuals generally did not show any influence on the preference to use
mobile money services to access banking and financial services. Sex/gender was shown to be
significant with more males than females using mobile money services. Employment status
was also significant with more employed individuals preferring to use mobile money services
to access banking and financial services than unemployed.
This study has therefore shown that, despite the lower penetration and absorption of mobile
banking services in Botswana, indicators are that mobile banking is increasingly being
adopted in Botswana especially by males, employed individuals and the youth. This is
encouraging since mobile banking has the potential to improve access to financial and
banking services in Botswana.