Predicting Egyptian Customers’ Intention to Use Financial Technology Services in Banking Sector in the era of COVID-19: Testing a Mediating Role of Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) model

Purpose – Financial Technology (Fin-tech) has attracted a wide range of attention and is rapidly proliferating. In addition, it is often seen today as the new marriage of financial services and information technology. So that This paper examines the determinants of the individual’s intention to use Fin-tech services. The study highlights the importance of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to predict whether individuals will accept the use of Fin-tech. Finally, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among dimensions of Financial Technology service quality (Reliability, service security, Ease of Use) towards the overall behavioral intentions to use Fin-tech services in the Egyptian banking sector through the COVID-19 pandemic situation and explain the indirect effects between service quality and behavioral intentions to use Fin-tech services using TPB variables as the mediating variables.
Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected from 323 customers in Egypt through a questionnaire. The participants were selected based on their experiences using Financial Technology services (Fin-tech). The data obtained from the participants were analyzed using a structural equation modelling approach.
Findings – The statistical techniques revealed that several major factors, including reliability, service security, and ease of use have a significant positive direct and indirect effect on the behavioral intention to use Fin-tech services, while Ease of use does not have an indirect effect on the behavioral intention to use Fin-tech services through the mediating effect of subjective norms (SN). This paper establishes a theoretical framework based on TPB, which strengthens the relationship between dependent and independent variables. Additionally, the study explores the key factors influencing customers’ behavioral intention to use Financial Technology services.
Originality/value – Identifying service quality aspects that affect behavioral intentions to utilize online banking has been the focus of research.  Building on prior work in the field of Fin-tech services, this article objectively explores the entire direct and indirect connections between the quality of Fin-tech services, TPB, and behavioral intents.  The study has many practical implications, as it disclosed that banks, which want to boost their Fin-tech adoption rate should concentrate on making it simple for customers to use, and that Fin-tech should emphasize offering benefits to customers. Furthermore, promotional communications should not ignore the critical function of peer and role models in influencing customer’s intention actions. It also provides major practical contributions by identifying the essential factors that customers consider when deciding whether to use Fin-tech services especially under social distancing. That, consequently, aids in the development of appropriate goods that entice them to utilize Fin-tech services.