MODERATION OF THE INTENTION-ACCEPTANCE TO USE ONLINE SERVICES RELATIONSHIP BY EBANKING ATTRIBUTES: A PARALLEL INVESTIGATION IN SOUTH AFRICA AND UKRAINE

Electronic banking is not only a means to accommodate the evolving technological environment and provide client satisfaction, but it also represents an opportunity for banks to grow their competitiveness and profits. The latter is possible through clients’ acceptance of using online services, which necessitates the translation of intention into behavior. This study investigated the moderating role played by perceived usefulness, effort expectancy, service quality, hedonic motivation, and customer experience in influencing intention to translate into behavior regarding eBanking services offered by banks in South Africa and Ukraine. Data were collected online by sending a closed-ended structured questionnaire to a total of 400 participants selected using a convenience sampling technique. In addition to descriptive statistics, moderation analyses were performed using Hayes’ PROCESS Macro 4.3 extension in SPSS 29. The results indicated that PU (perceived usefulness) and EE (effort expectancy) moderated the INT–AUOS (acceptance to use online services) relationship in both South Africa and Ukraine. SQ (service quality) and CE (clients’ experience) were moderators in Ukraine only, while HM (hedonic motivation) was insignificant. Recommendations were made for banks to enhance significant attributes, while South African banks need further investigation of the components explaining their clients’ perceptions of SQ. The insignificance of HM calls for constant scrutiny to determine whether it should be dropped from banks’ strategies, as the use of online services seems to be perceived as restrictive for customers. Furthermore, it is recommended that this study be replicated in other locations to compare or contrast its findings, and that other attributes such as habit, perceived risk, and social influence be considered in future research.