=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-3608/paper10
|storemode=property
|title=Mobile Banking Behaviour of Austrians and Romanians – The Role of Espoused Cultural Values
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3608/paper10.pdf
|volume=Vol-3608
|authors=Ana Diana Domuta,Christine Strauss
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/scia2/DomutaS23
}}
==Mobile Banking Behaviour of Austrians and Romanians – The Role of Espoused Cultural Values==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3608/paper10.pdf
Mobile Banking Behaviour of Austrians and Romanians – The
Role of Espoused Cultural Values
Ana D. Domuta and Christine Strauss
University of Vienna, Department of Marketing and International Business, Oskar Morgenstern Platz 1, 1090
Vienna, Austria
Abstract
Mobile banking has received researchers’ attention since the appearance of mobile phones.
However, applications have become a crucial factor in financial institutions’ strategy with the
outbreak of the pandemic. Motivated by the lack of studies on cultural variations in mobile
banking acceptance and scarce research which directly measured culture, this paper aimed at
investigating how culture at the individual level of analysis impacts the relationship between
technology acceptance factors and adoption intention of mobile banking applications in Austria
and Romania. Data was gathered through a bilingual survey resulting in 196 Austrian and 229
Romanian participants. The moderated multiple regression analyses revealed that culture
influenced adoption intention of mobile banking applications through the interaction with
technology acceptance factors. The present findings have implications for future research and
financial institutions’ marketing strategy of mobile banking.
Keywords 1
Cultural Differences, Espoused Cultural Values, Technology Acceptance, Mobile banking
1. Introduction
Mobile banking is recognized as being “among the latest in a series of recent mobile technological
wonders to impact daily life activities and the financial sector” [1]. The catalyst for the increased public
interest in mobile banking is believed to be the application version [2]. Due to the simple authentication
procedure, possibility to access financial information from anywhere, flexibility to transfer money or
monitor spendings, mobile banking applications have gained widespread interest among consumers [3,
4]. In addition, the lockdowns during the pandemic pressured financial institutions to double down
efforts on digitalization strategies. Consequently, mobile banking apps’ functionalities expanded
beyond traditional financial management [5].
Although increasingly expanding on the market, mobile banking has still not reached its full
potential. Customers still appear to prefer using their computer or going to their local bank for managing
their personal account, looking for product information or active investing [5]. Additionally, apps can
be plagued by security risks through potential phone theft, Wi-Fi hacking, or fraudulent alerts [6].
On a country level, Austrians and Romanians adoption of online banking differs to a great degree.
The adoption rates of internet banking in 2022 were 73.13% in Austria and 19.19% in Romania [7],
and these are expected to reach 76.54% for Austrians and 23.71% for Romanians in 2023 [8]. This
could be explained by the number of credit institutions available, Austria having 470 as of 2021, whilst
Romania 71 [9]. Moreover, Austrians tend to be more comfortable using digital financial services (57%)
compared to 44% of Romanians [10]. Although being geographically close to each other and ranking
among the developed countries [11], Austria and Romania have different technological, economic, and
cultural premises.
SCIA-2023: 2nd International Workshop on Social Communication and Information Activity in Digital Humanities, November 9, 2023, Lviv,
Ukraine
EMAIL: ana.domuta@hotmail.de (A. Domuta); christine.strauss@univie.ac.at (C. Strauss)
ORCID: 0009-0001-9868-0264 (A. Domuta); 0000-0003-0276-3610 (C. Strauss)
©️ 2023 Copyright for this paper by its authors.
Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org)
CEUR
ceur-ws.org
Workshop ISSN 1613-0073
Proceedings
Adoption rates of technology have been explained in the literature by theoretical models, such as the
Theory of Planned Behaviour [12], the Theory of Reasoned Action [13] or the Technology Acceptance
Model [14]. However, one of the most complex frameworks is the Unified Theory of Acceptance and
Use of Technology (UTAUT) [15]. In recent years, there has been considerable interest in mobile
banking, yet few researchers addressed the specific context of mobile banking applications.
Additionally, most cross-cultural studies focused on comparisons between two or multiple countries,
however, only a limited number of studies investigated the impact of culture at the individual level of
analysis. Consequently, this paper seeks to advance the understanding of mobile banking by
investigating the moderation effects of culture on the relationship between technology acceptance
factors and adoption intention in Austria and Romania. The decision to measure culture is based on
previous critique on using the country scores from Hofstede [16] to account for cultural differences [17,
18]. Therefore, this work intends to respond to the following research question:
RQ. How does culture at the individual level of analysis impact on the relationship between
technology acceptance factors and adoption intention of mobile banking applications?
The answering of this research question may prove helpful from a managerial perspective for
international banks which offer mobile banking services in the Romanian and Austrian business
context, such as Revolut, Erste Bank, Raiffeisen or ING.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 lays out the state of art of cultural
moderation effects of mobile banking adoption. Section 3 introduces the conceptual model and expected
moderation effects. Section 4 discusses the research methodology, including data collection and
instrumentation. Section 5 summarizes the major results, discussion, and future research
recommendations, while section 6 derives the conclusion.
2. Cultural variations of Mobile Banking Adoption
A few studies have attempted to investigate moderation effects of culture in the context of mobile
banking adoption. Tam and Oliveira [19] found that individualism moderated the relationship between
task technology fit (TTF) and use, such that participants in Portugal exerting high levels of
individualism were less concerned by how well mobile banking matches their task requirements.
Contrary to the authors’ expectations, uncertainty avoidance did not moderate the effect of TTF on use.
Although the authors used only two of Hofstede’s [16] cultural indicators, their inclusion in the model
increased the explained variance in mobile banking use by 8.1%. Zhang et al. [20] analysed the results
of 62 studies and found that individuals in low power distance, high individualistic, high feminine, and
high uncertainty avoidance cultures put more emphasis on the relative advantages a new technology
offers when considering adoption. High individualistic countries were found to be more influenced by
the effort expectancy in the adoption intention compared to societies with more collective values. By
contrary, masculinity moderated the relationships between performance expectancy, social influence,
and use intention. Consequently, high feminine cultures appear to be more concerned with performance
considerations, whereas cultures defined by masculine values should be more influenced by the social
environment in the adoption intention of electronic banking.
Picoto and Pinto [21] compared the adoption of mobile banking in Brazil, India, the UK, and the
US, and found that power distance impacted the relation between the intention and actual use of mobile
banking, such that high power distance was found to positively influence actual use through the
interaction with behavioral intention. Furthermore, Khan [22] investigated the moderation effects of
culture on the relationship between the behavioral intention to adopt mobile banking and actual use in
Pakistan and China and found that uncertainty avoidance and power distance negatively moderated the
relationship between intention and usage for Pakistani sample, yet not for the Chinese sample.
Collectively, the literature on cultural moderation effects on the relationship between technology
acceptance factors and mobile banking adoption appears to be very scarce compared to research on
adoption factors. In addition, most studies focus on cultural moderation effects between intention and
actual use of mobile banking. Consequently, the contribution of individual culture to the effect of
technology acceptance factors on mobile banking adoption remains unclear. A systematic review of 76
manuscripts published between 2005 and 2019 on mobile banking argued that the lack of cultural
research might be due to the difficulty of data collection and analysis [23]. In addition, most research
comparing two or multiple countries [19, 20] did not measure culture and attributed the results to
differences in the behaviour of individuals as proposed by Hofstede [16]. However, Srite and Karahanna
[18] state that culture is formed through individual values, which are combined to create the culture of
a group. The authors suggest that, at the individual level of analysis, culture is formed through
“espoused cultural values” which they define as the extent to which the identity of a person is rooted in
their national culture [18]. Hence, assuming that all individuals living in a country exert the same
cultural values might be problematic, especially due to the high migration in certain countries over the
past decades. The findings of McCoy et al. [17] provide further support for the measurement of culture
instead of the use of Hofstede’s values in cross-cultural research.
Furthermore, there is limited research conducted in Austria and Romania. A reason may be that
Austria is a small country and researchers tend to focus on Germany due to similar cultural conditions.
As for Romania, poor economic conditions and high migration rates of the younger population, for
which mobile banking could be more attractive, may lower the interest of researchers. Nevertheless, the
cultural dimensions of each country, as found by the study of Hofstede [16] and highlighted in Figure
1, provide a good basis for comparison.
Hofstede's Country Scores of Austria and Romania
100 90 90
90
79
80 70
70
60 55
50 42
40 30
30
20 11
10
0
Power Distance Individualism Masculinity Uncertainty
Avoidance
Austria Romania
Figure 1: Country scores of Austria and Romania as defined by Hofstede
In light of shortcomings of direct culture measurement in previous research, neglected Austrian and
Romanian areas, limited research on mobile banking applications and moderation effects between
technology adoption factors and adoption intention, this paper aims to respond to these limitations
through the theoretical model and underlying hypotheses presented in the next section.
3. Research Model and Hypotheses Development
This section examines the moderation of cultural factors on the relationship between technology
acceptance factors and mobile banking acceptance for the development of the hypotheses highlighted
by solid black arrows in the research model from Figure 2. The dashed black arrows represent
additionally tested moderations and direct effects which could not be backed up by literature. The grey
arrows and areas represent direct and moderation effects investigated as part of a broader research
project, which were not included in this paper.
The conceptual model highlighted in this paper includes the espoused cultural values as defined by
the study of Srite and Karahanna [18] and included in the sections below.
Figure 2: Conceptual model of intention to adopt mobile banking apps with moderation effects
3.1 Espoused Masculinity and Femininity
Srite and Karahanna [18] define “espoused masculinity” as the “degree to which gender inequalities
are espoused by an individual”. Yoon [24] found that high levels of masculinity positively influence
the relationship between perceived usefulness and intention to use an online shopping mall, and
negatively the perceived ease of use and usage intention. In line with this finding, Tarhini et al. [25]
assumed that individuals exerting masculine values were more interested in the instrumentality and
features of a technology compared to individuals with more feminine values. Moreover, the relationship
between effort expectancy and intention to use an online shopping mall was found to be stronger for
more feminine cultures [24]. Several studies confirmed this expectation based on the rationale that
feminine cultures are more influenced by hedonic experiences when evaluating technology acceptance
[25, 18]. Considering the impact of social influences, Srite and Karahanna [18] found that subjective
norms influenced individuals with espoused feminine values to a greater degree compared to individuals
exerting more masculine values to adopt a certain technology. As Hallikainen and Laukkanen [26]
suggest, individuals in feminine cultures are more interested in "fostering harmonious relationships and
values”. Consequently, trust should be more important for individuals espousing more feminine values.
In addition, masculinity was found to be related to financial risk taking, such that individuals exerting
more feminine values would tend to be more sensitive to risks involved in using a technology [27].
Based on above research findings, the following moderation effects are proposed:
H1a. The relationship between performance expectancy and intention to adopt mobile banking apps
will be stronger for individuals with high espoused masculine values.
H2a. The relationship between effort expectancy and intention to adopt mobile banking apps will
be stronger for individuals with low espoused masculine values.
H3a. The relationship between social influence and intention to adopt mobile banking apps will be
weaker for individuals with high espoused masculine values.
H4a. The relationship between initial trust and intention to adopt mobile banking apps will be
stronger for individuals with low espoused masculine values.
H5c. The relationship between perceived risk and intention to adopt mobile banking apps will be
stronger for individuals with low espoused masculine values.
3.2 Espoused Individualism and Collectivism
The difference between espoused individualism and collectivism lies in the “degree to which the
individual emphasizes his/her own needs as opposed to the group needs and prefer to act as an individual
rather than as a member of a group” [18]. Sun and Zhang [28] propose that people in collectivistic
countries are more likely to rely on each other and, hence, would ask others for their opinion on the
benefits of a technology. The expectation is confirmed in the electronic commerce context by Pavlou
and Chai [29]. The authors found that in the collectivistic Chinese culture, individuals are more
influenced by societal norms compared to individuals from more individualistic societies when
conducting online transactions. Similarly, innovation factors, usefulness and ease of use were found to
be more pronounced in influencing the adoption of mobile phones in an individualistic country, in
comparison to a collectivistic society characterized by reliance on subjective norms and word of mouth
[30]. Zhang et al. [20] confirmed that the relationships between performance expectancy, effort
expectancy and behavioural intention to adopt mobile banking are positively moderated by
individualism, such that in countries with high individualism levels, the performance expected from the
service and the ease of use are more important drivers of the use intention compared to countries
characterized by high collectivism. In addition, Zhang et al. [20] found that individualism positively
moderating the relationship between perceived risk and use intention. Hence, individuals exerting high
levels of individualism may be more affected by potential threats, as they tend to rely less on others. By
contrast, members in collectivistic societies often benefit from trustful behaviours towards one another
and might be more influenced by peers [31]. Consequently, the following hypotheses are proposed:
H1b. The relationship between performance expectancy and intention to adopt mobile banking apps
will be stronger for individuals with high espoused individualistic values.
H2b. The relationship between effort expectancy and intention to adopt mobile banking apps will
be stronger for individuals with high espoused individualistic values.
H3b. The relationship between social influence and intention to adopt mobile banking apps will be
weaker for individuals with high espoused individualistic values.
H4b. The relationship between initial trust and intention to adopt mobile banking apps will be
weaker for individuals with high espoused individualistic values.
H5b. The relationship between perceived risk and intention to adopt mobile banking apps will be
stronger for individuals with high espoused individualistic values.
3.3 Espoused Power Distance
Power distance refers to the “degree to which large differentials of power and inequality are accepted
as normal by the individual” [18]. In the context of internet and mobile banking, power distance was
found to negatively moderate the relationship between performance expectancy and behavioural
intention [20]. Similarly, Tarhini et al. [25] argued that low power distance individuals do not make
their choices based on other people’s opinion, and, therefore, expect more usefulness from a service
compared to individuals exerting high power distance levels. In high power distance countries,
individuals are expected to comply with the instructions of superiors and, hence, rely on the information
of others to decide whether to adopt a certain technology or not [28, 32]. In a similar vein, Srite and
Karahanna [18] argue that espoused power distance moderates the relationship between subjective
norms and behavioural intention through compliance, such that in high power distance societies,
individuals comply with the rules and orders imposed by superiors. Consequently, they may be more
easily influenced in their decisions by their social environment. Zhang et al. [20] propose that in more
egalitarian countries, individuals are more curious about innovations and may not perceive a high effort
in accepting a new technology. Moreover, trust may play a more important role for individuals in high
power distance countries as mobile banking is a virtual service and the lack of closeness with superiors
may make individuals more cautious about adopting new technologies [20]. In addition, Zhang et al.
[20] argue that in low power distance countries, individuals may be more risk averse towards new
technologies, as they are responsible for the choices they make and may not fully understand the risks
such a service may involve. Hence, the following moderation effects are proposed:
H1c. The relationship between performance expectancy and intention to adopt mobile banking apps
will be weaker for individuals with high espoused power distance values.
H2c. The relationship between effort expectancy and intention to adopt mobile banking apps will be
stronger for individuals with low espoused power distance values.
H3c. The relationship between social influence and intention to adopt mobile banking will be
stronger for individuals with high espoused power distance values.
H4c. The relationship between initial trust and intention to adopt mobile banking will be stronger
for individuals with high espoused power distance values.
H5c. The relationship between perceived risk and intention to adopt mobile banking will be stronger
for individuals with low espoused power distance values.
3.4 Espoused Uncertainty Avoidance
According to Srite and Karahanna [18], uncertainty avoidance defines the “level of risk accepted by
the individual, which can be gleaned by his/her emphasis on rule obedience, ritual behavior, and labour
mobility”. Individuals from high uncertainty avoidance culture are expected to be more prone to listen
to the opinion of others as a mean to reduce their own uncertainty. Dawar et al. [33] found that high
uncertainty avoidance is negatively correlated to information seeking from impersonal sources, such as
consumer magazines, but positively with personal sources, such as friends or relatives. Hence, social
influences should strongly influence behavioural intentions of individuals with high uncertainty
avoidance. Moreover, high levels of uncertainty avoidance at the country level of analysis were found
to negatively influence the relationship between perceived usefulness and the intention to shop online
and between trust and behavioural intention [24]. Similar results were reported by Lee et al. [30] who
found that low uncertainty avoidance has a stronger impact on usefulness and ease of use compared to
subjective norms and word of mouth. Individuals are more likely to adopt new technologies if they have
low uncertainty avoidance levels, whereas they are more likely to be influenced by the opinion of others
the higher their uncertainty avoidance is. In addition, Zhang et al. [20] found that trust may play a
decisive role in the adoption intention of mobile banking services for individuals exerting high levels
of uncertainty avoidance. The results are confirmed by Zhou et al. [34] who reported that high
uncertainty avoidance negatively influences the intention to purchase from a new website. Furthermore,
high uncertainty avoidance was found to negatively moderate the relationship between perceived risk
and technology acceptance [20]. Consequently, the following moderation effects are expected:
H1d. The relationship between performance expectancy and intention to adopt mobile banking apps
will be weaker for individuals with high espoused uncertainty avoidance values.
H2d. The relationship between effort expectancy and intention to adopt mobile banking apps will
be weaker for individuals with high espoused uncertainty avoidance values.
H3d. The relationship between social influence and intention to adopt mobile banking apps will be
stronger for individuals with high espoused uncertainty avoidance values.
H4d. The relationship between initial trust and intention to adopt mobile banking apps will be
weaker for individuals with high espoused uncertainty avoidance values.
H5d. The relationship between perceived risk and intention to adopt mobile banking apps will be
weaker for individuals with high espoused uncertainty avoidance values.
4. Research Methodology
This section presents the approaches followed to collect data in Austria and Romania, and the
instruments used for the measurement of variables.
4.1 Data Collection
The participants received a survey which was translated into German and Romanian. The inclusion
criteria were: Austrian or Romanian nationality, possession of a bank account and mobile phone, and
familiarity with mobile banking applications.
To search for participants and achieve a heterogeneous sample, several methods were used. Firstly,
a non-probabilistic snowball method was implemented. From a close network of acquaintances, each
was required to ask five additional individuals. This allowed us to enter other social networks and
achieve a more diversified sample. Secondly, the survey link was posted on more than 30 groups on
Facebook, out of which 15 were directed to scientific purposes. The survey groups were based on
reciprocity, as each participant was required to complete the other person’s survey. Thirdly, the survey
was posted on SurveyCircle, a platform which provides support with finding research participants. The
benefit of this platform over Facebook groups was the possibility of participants to gather points for
survey completion. The survey appears on a ranking list and moves upward the more studies the survey
manager completes. The survey appeared for a few weeks on the first place. However, due to the nature
of the platform and incentive in form of points, some questionnaires were not correctly filled out and
these resulted in elimination from analysis. To incentivize final participation on the platform, a donation
pledge of 50 Cent per survey was offered, which was directed to a dog shelter in Romania. In sum, 10
Euros were gathered. The data collection in Romania followed mainly the snowball principle, as such
Facebook groups and websites were not available. To promote participation, the study was posted in
university groups and marketplaces on Facebook. As there were more female than male individuals
who completed the survey, the participation of men was increased by posts in both countries in several
car selling or single father groups on Facebook.
A total of 425 participants were gathered, out of which 196 were Austrians and 229 Romanians.
4.2 Instrumentation
To operationalize the moderator variables in this paper, the measurement of the individual culture
of participants was adapted from the work of Srite and Karahanna [18]. Some of the statements were
reformulated or simplified based on feedback from pre-tests. The feedback included mainly wording of
the statements and scale layouts.
All items were measured based on a 6-points Likert scale. The decision to exclude the middle option
was taken to pressure participants to decide for a direction of preference. The advantage lies in more
reliable data, as it excludes uncertainty. Nevertheless, individuals may feel uncertain about certain
statements and chose an option out of necessity. This drawback is considered as a limitation of results.
5. Results and Discussion
To verify whether individual espoused cultural values moderate the relationships between
technology acceptance factors and mobile banking apps adoption intention, hierarchical moderated
multiple regression analyses were conducted. The data was analysed using the STATA software and
the variables were introduced in the model in the following order. In a first step, the technology
acceptance factors were introduced: performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social
influences (SI), facilitating conditions (FC), perceived financial cost (PFC), initial trust (IT), disposition
to trust (DT) and perceived risk (PR). In a second step, the moderators, masculinity/femininity (MF),
individualism/collectivism (IC), power distance (PD) and uncertainty avoidance (UA) were introduced.
In a third step, the moderation relationships were introduced following the order of the variables
previously described, for example: MFxPE, MFxEE, MFxSI, etc.
The sections below highlight the results of these analyses, including the comparison between the
country scores of Romania and Austria from the research of Hofstede [16] and the espoused cultural
values found in this study, the limitations, and recommendations for future research.
5.1 National Culture and Espoused Cultural Values
Considering that the country scores from Hofstede’s research were developed more than 40 years
ago and a few studies stressed the importance of using individual cultural values in cross-cultural
research [17, 18], an analysis to investigate the differences between the country scores and espoused
cultural values was conducted through t-tests by country. The null hypothesis states that the difference
between Austrians and Romanians regarding the variables are equal to zero, whereas the alternative
hypotheses state that the mean of Austrians is smaller, unequal to zero or greater than the mean of
Romanians. The test investigates the smallest significance level at which the null hypothesis can be
rejected. Throughout this paper, the 10% minimum significance level was used.
The results showed that Austrians tend to have lower masculinity and uncertainty avoidance
compared to Romanians. Whereas the difference in uncertainty avoidance levels replicates the one
proposed by Hofstede [16], the masculinity values seem to have reversed. Hofstede [16] found a lower
level of masculinity for Romania than for Austria. In addition, the difference between the means of
power distance for Austrians and Romanians was found to be only marginally significant. Accounting
for the great discrepancy presented in the study of Hofstede [16], the result suggests that acceptance of
inequality is less pronounced in Romania compared to 40 years ago. The individualism levels are
relatively low and in accordance with the difference found by Hofstede [16].
5.2 Espoused Cultural Values and Mobile Banking Acceptance
To account for the contribution effect of multiple explanatory variables to the outcome based on
participants espoused cultural values, multiple moderated hierarchical analyses were conducted. Each
section presents the moderation results for the entire sample and individual country.
5.2.1 Masculinity and Femininity
Among the entire sample, the moderation effects of espoused masculinity were significant for the
relationships between performance expectancy (β = -.104, p = .033) and behavioural intention, however
with a reversed effect as initially hypothesized. Hence, H1a is not supported. Participants with high
masculinity were less concerned with the performance expected from the service compared to
individuals with more feminine values. The finding contradicts evidence provided by Srite and
Karahanna [18] who found no significant effect of masculinity on the relationship between performance
expectancy and adoption intention of computer or personal digital assistants (PDAs). Individuals with
more feminine values should be more concerned with performance derived from the use of technology.
Considering that potential system failures of mobile banking applications, such as crashes while
conducting payments, could occur, individuals with more feminine values could be more concerned
with the functionality and accurate process of transactions to avoid such potential risks.
The espoused masculinity was found to marginally moderate the relationship between effort
expectancy and behavioural intention among all participants (β = .088, p = .064), however with a
reversed effect, providing no support for H2a. The result is consistent with findings from Tarhini et al.
[25] on e-learning and Srite and Karahanna [18] on PDAs but contradicts the results of Zhang et al.
[20]. According to the latter, high masculinity should not influence the relationship between ease of use
and adoption intention of mobile banking. Nevertheless, in the specific context of applications,
individuals with higher masculine levels might be more concerned with the complexity of use due to
the care needed when conducting financial transactions. In addition, masculinity moderated the
relationship between perceived financial cost (β = .106, p = .019) and adoption intention, such that with
high masculinity, individuals become more concerned with potential costs of the service when
considering adoption. Although most banking apps are free of use, participants with higher masculinity
levels might be more sensitive to any cost they might encounter as they are considered the bread winners
of the family compared to participants with higher feminine values.
Moderation effects on the relationship between social influences (p = .116), facilitating conditions
(p = .654), initial trust (p = .698), disposition to trust (p = .625), perceived risk (p = .464) and
behavioural intention were not significant among all participants. Consequently, H3a, H4a and H5a
are not confirmed. The results may be attributed to the low espoused masculinity levels in both countries
(mean level of masculinity was 1.88 in Austria and 2.62 in Romania on a scale from 1 to 6). In addition,
public opinion on traditional gender roles has very likely changed over the years with constant debates
on the importance of promoting females in leadership positions. Consequently, it is reasonable to
believe that masculinity may not influence very much technology adoption, since in both Austrian and
Romanian societies gender equality has become an important topic of debate.
For Austrian participants, the espoused masculinity did not moderate the relationship between
performance expectancy (p = .346), effort expectancy (p = .234), facilitating conditions (p = 261), initial
trust (p = .638) and perceived risk (p = .657) and behavioural intention. Masculinity was found to
marginally moderate the relationship between social influences and mobile banking apps acceptance,
such that higher espoused masculinity increases the strength of the relationship (β = .105, p = .091).
Although the result contradicts the hypothesized moderation effect, Zhang et al. [20] reported a similar
finding. The authors argue that environmental uncertainty leaves individuals striving for success no
other choice but consider recommendations from peers. In addition, the espoused masculinity values of
Austrian participants are very low, as above mentioned, and the moderation effect was only significant
at the 10% level. Consequently, the results could be different with larger sample sizes, as in the works
of Tarhini et al. [25] and Srite and Karahanna [18]. The additionally tested moderation effects on the
relationships between perceived financial cost (p = .918), disposition to trust (p = .859) and behavioural
intention were not significant.
In the moderated multiple regression analysis of Romanian respondents, espoused masculinity
significantly moderated the effect of performance expectancy on adoption intention (β = -.219, p =
.007), such that this relationship was weaker for individuals with high masculinity values. Masculinity
did not moderate the relationships between effort expectancy (p = .818), social influences (p = .767),
initial trust (p = .621), perceived risk (p = .310). In addition, espoused masculinity was tested for the
relationships between facilitating conditions, perceived financial cost and disposition to trust and
adoption intention. It was found that individuals with high espoused masculinity would be more
concerned with potential costs from the service compared to individuals with more feminine values.
The moderating effect on facilitating conditions, disposition to trust and behavioural intention were
insignificant.
Apart from the moderation effects, a direct effect of masculinity on adoption intention was tested,
however no significant influence was found neither for the entire sample, nor among the Austrian or
Romanian participants. Therefore, the adoption intention does not appear to be vary across gender
inequality perceptions.
5.2.2 Individualism and Collectivism
Among the overall sample, espoused individualism was found to negatively moderate the
relationship between effort expectancy (β = -.125, p = .011) and adoption of mobile banking
applications. Participants exerting high levels of individualism were less concerned with the ease of use
of the applications in their adoption intention compared to individuals with more collectivistic values.
Hence, H2b could not be confirmed, as it stated the opposite effect. This finding contradicts the findings
from Zhang et al. [20]. One explanation may be the low levels of individualism exerted by the
participants (mean level of individualism was 3.25 in Austria and 2.74 in Romania). In addition, it was
expected that people with high individualism levels would bear the risks of their choices and not adopt
a technology which is difficult to use due to lack of help from the social environment. Nevertheless, it
is highly likely that most participants had previous experience with applications and, therefore, unlikely
they would find the service difficult to use.
Moreover, espoused individualism positively moderated the relationship between disposition to trust
and adoption intention (β = .143, p = .000), such that the relationship was stronger for individuals
espousing high levels of individualism. According to Tan and Sutherland [35], individualistic societies
have higher disposition to trust compared to collectivistic societies, in which individuals tend to trust
ingroup members. Hence, the higher disposition of individualistic participants may give rise to trust
toward technologies.
Moderation effects of the relationships between performance expectancy (p = .605), social
influences (p = .183), facilitating conditions (p = .779), perceived financial cost (p = .203), initial trust
(p = .437), perceived risk (p = .103) were not statistically significant. Hence, H1b, H3b, H4b and H5b
could not be confirmed among the entire sample. The insignificant moderation effect between initial
trust and adoption intention is consistent with research from Zhang et al. [20].
The moderation effects of espoused individualism on the relationships between performance
expectancy (p = .772), social influence (p = .561), initial trust (p = .429), perceived risk (p = .243) and
behavioural intention were not significant for Austrian participants. Individualism moderated the
relationship between effort expectancy (β = -.177, p = .018) and adoption intention, such that higher
espoused individualism decreased the strength of the relationship. The additionally tested moderation
effects of facilitating conditions (p =.339), perceived financial cost (p = .750) and disposition to trust
(p = .199) were not significant.
For participants in Romania, individualism did not moderate the relationships between performance
expectancy (p = .106), social influence (p = .201), initial trust (p = .602) and behavioural intention.
Espoused individualism was reported to moderate the relationships between effort expectancy (β = -
.225, p = .021) and adoption intention of mobile banking applications. Romanian participants exerting
high levels of individualism were less influenced by the ease of use of the service compared to
participants with more collectivistic values. The significant moderation effect between perceived risk
and behavioural intention perceived risk (β = -.234, p = .022) does not support previous findings of
Zhang et al. [20], who reported a positive moderation effect. As previously mentioned, in the context
of mobile applications, individuals may be more wary of potential risks compared to the internet
banking. The additionally tested moderation effects of facilitating conditions (p = .961), perceived
financial cost (p = .474), disposition to trust (p = .925) and adoption intention were not significant.
For the entire and Austrian sample, the effect of individualism on the behavioural intention was not
significant (p = .461). However, espoused individualism positively influenced behavioural intention of
Romanian participants (β = 1.284, p = .010). Romanian individuals with high espoused individualism
would be more like to adopt mobile banking applications compared to individuals with more
collectivistic values.
5.2.3 Power Distance
Among the entire sample, the espoused power distance moderated the relationship between
performance expectancy (β =.125, p = .039) and adoption intention of mobile banking applications. For
participants with high espoused power distance, the performance expected from technology seems to
be more important compared to individuals with low power distance. Consequently, H1c could not be
confirmed, as the relationship between performance and behavioural intention was hypothesized to be
weaker for such individuals. Even though the result differs from earlier findings of Zhang et al. [20] on
Internet and mobile banking, and Tarhini et al. [25] on e-learning, the power distance mean levels of
Austrian and Romanian participants are very low (mean level was 2.65 in Austria and 2.42 in Romania).
In addition, mobile banking applications may impose higher risk for individual compared to electronic
learning, such that they would be more interested in high performance as a mean to reduce uncertainty.
The lack of moderation of the remaining relationships suggests that the effect of technology acceptance
factors on adoption intention does not variate across power distance levels. The relationships between
effort expectancy (p = .664), social influence (p = .465), facilitating conditions (p = .159), perceived
financial cost (p = .106), initial trust (p = .941), disposition to trust (p = .326), perceived risk (p = .169)
and adoption intention were not significantly moderated by power distance and could, therefore, not
confirm H2c, H3c, H4c and H5c.
Moderation effects among Austrian participants of espoused power distance were found to be
insignificant for all tested relationships. Considering that mobile banking applications are a voluntary
technology and individuals do not necessarily have to adopt but can still use the antecedent service,
online banking, variations in power distance levels may not influence the contribution of technology
factors to the intention to use the service. In addition, Austrians exert lower power distance levels
compared to Romanians, meaning that individuals are guided by more egalitarian principles [16].
For participants in Romania, power distance moderated the relationships between perceived risk (β
= .324, p = .033) and behavioural intention to adopt mobile banking applications, such that for
individuals with high espoused power distance, the perceived risk of using the technology was more
important than for participants with lower power distance. Taking into account that online banking
adoption of Romanians is much lower than of Austrians, they may be more wary of potential risks
involved and prefer the interaction with bank personnel than adopting a self-service system. In addition,
power distance was found to positively influence the effect of disposition to trust on adoption intention,
such that the relationship is stronger for participants with high power distance values. The moderation
effects for the relationships between performance expectancy (p =.121), effort expectancy (p = .870),
social influence (p = .534), facilitating conditions (p = .286), perceived financial cost (p = .215), initial
trust (p = .514) and adoption intention could not be confirmed.
Considering the direct impact on adoption intention, it was found that the espoused power distance
significantly influenced adoption intention of mobile banking applications among all participants, such
that participants exerting high levels of power distance were less likely to adopt mobile banking
applications. A similar negative effect was found for the Romanian participants. This contradicts
previous results of Picoto and Pinto [21] who found that power distance positively impacted the relation
between the intention and actual use of mobile banking but provides support for the results of Khan
[22] who reported that power distance negatively moderated the relationship between intention and
usage for Pakistani sample.
5.2.4 Uncertainty Avoidance
Similar to espoused power distance, uncertainty avoidance was a weak moderator among the entire
sample. It was found that for participants with high levels of uncertainty avoidance, the relationship
between perceived risk and behavioural intention was weaker (β = -.122, p = .084). The result confirms
H5d. Although the meta-analysis of Zhang et al. [20] could not confirm this finding, it seems reasonable
to assume that individuals who are very sensitive toward uncertainty would be more concerned with
potential risks and more likely to reject mobile banking applications. The remaining relationships were
not significantly moderated by uncertainty avoidance. Consequently, H1d, H2d, H3d, H4d could not
be confirmed among the entire sample. This suggests that the contribution of technology factors to the
adoption intention did not variate across uncertainty avoidance levels. The results contradict previous
research [20, 25, 34], which found significant moderation effects of uncertainty avoidance on the
relationships between perceived usefulness, social influences, trust, and purchase or use intention.
However, Zhang et al. [20] did not measure culture directly, whereas Zhou et al. [34] focused on online
shopping, which may imply more uncertainty due to buyers’ higher responsibility compared to mobile
banking applications, in which most errors are covered by banks.
For Austrians, espoused uncertainty avoidance did not moderate the relationship between
performance expectancy (p = .452), effort expectancy (p = .193), social influence (p = .765), facilitating
condition (p = .304), perceived financial cost (p = .727), initial trust (p = .952), disposition to trust (p =
.109) and behavioural intention. The uncertainty avoidance was found to moderate the relationships
between perceived risk (β = .255, p = .033), such the relationship is weaker for individuals with high
espoused uncertainty avoidance.
Among Romanian participants, the espoused uncertainty avoidance did not moderate any of the
relationships between technology acceptance factors and adoption intention. There are several possible
explanations for the lack of significance. Moderation effects of uncertainty avoidance may be attributed
to the stage of adoption. In case of adoption and actual use of mobile banking applications, individuals
may perceive differently the features and potential risks. Furthermore, banks offer detailed explanations
of the features of applications on their local website and individuals know from previous experience
with other applications what to expect from the service. In addition, the result may be attributed to the
variable measurement, as only two items were considered to measure the uncertainty avoidance of
participants, and they referred to the importance of structure and order in a work environment.
For the entire sample, the espoused uncertainty avoidance was no significant predictor of mobile
banking apps acceptance (p = .274). In Romania, similar results were found, however, among Austrian
participants, the uncertainty avoidance positively influenced behavioural intention (β = 1.776, p = .005).
This section has highlighted the results of the moderated multiple regression analysis, highlighted
in Figure 3 across the entire sample. The next section of this paper will discuss the limitations of this
research and recommendations for potential future studies.
Figure 3: Results of moderated multiple regression among all participants (n = 425)
*p < 0.10, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01
5.3 Limitations and Implication for Future Research
To assess the results for the Austrian and Romanian participants, this work used nationality as a
proxy for culture. Considering the high migration in Austria over the last decades, it is expected that
some of the participants were not born in Austria but acquired the citizenship due to fulfilling the
residency requirements. Future research could consider selecting participants based on primary
language spoken, country of origin or years lived in the country. The generalizability of results might
further be limited by the sample composition, as most respondents were between 30 and 40 years, highly
educated and living in Maramures and Vienna. In terms of occupation, most participants were students
or employed. These groups might be more interested in adopting mobile banking applications. Future
research should consider conducting the research with a more heterogenous sample. In addition, this
work is restricted by the analysis on non-user behavior. The hypothetical nature of the statements may
limit the generalizability of results, as individuals were required to imagine themselves in the situation
where they would use a mobile banking application. However, one requirement for the participation
was the possession of a smartphone, on which applications can be installed. Consequently, all subjects
should have been able to assess the benefits and disadvantages of a new service. Future studies could
consider conducting a comparison between users and non-users.
Another limitation could be the focus on Austria and Romania. Future research could try to validate
the moderation effects in other countries and consider differences between rural and urban areas [36].
In addition, this paper considered eight technology acceptance factors. However, newer research
highlighted the importance of additional factors in the adoption intention of mobile banking, such as
electronic world of mouth [37], artifacts of artificial intelligence [38], cashless payments [39], or
enjoyment in the case of mobile payments [40]. Future studies could investigate these factors.
Despite the previously mentioned limitations, this paper adds to the currently limited body of
research on mobile banking acceptance in Austria and Romania and has implications for international
banks marketing strategies. From a research perspective, this study highlighted the importance of direct
culture measurement. The cultural dimension, masculinity, at the individual level of analysis differed
from the cultural values at the national level, as appointed by Hofstede [16]. Consequently, future
studies should consider measuring culture directly instead of adopting the country scores. By contrast,
espoused uncertainty avoidance, power distance and individualisms levels were comparable with those
proposed by Hofstede [16], providing support for the appointed country scores from 40 years ago. In
addition, this work has evidenced the significant contribution of espoused individualism to the
disposition to trust effect on mobile banking adoption and the significant moderating effect espoused
masculinity on the relation between perceived financial cost and adoption intention, relationships which
the research so far has scarcely addressed.
From a practice perspective, the present study raised awareness about different technology
acceptance factors of individuals based on individual cultural values compared to aggregated
behaviours. Whilst banks have limited possibilities to measure the espoused cultural values of their
customers, the results of this research emphasize the need to be aware that these types of differences
exist. As high levels of espoused power distance negatively predicted adoption, banks could try to
emphasize less authority in their marketing strategies and more egalitarian values with their customers.
6. Conclusion
This paper investigated the moderation effects of culture on the relationships between technology
acceptance factors and adoption intention of mobile banking applications in Austria and Romania.
Compared to previous research which analysed cultural effects by adopting the country scores from
Hofstede, this work looked at cultural effects at the individual level of analysis. Among all participants,
it was found that individuals with higher masculinity levels were less concerned with performance in
the decision to adopt mobile banking applications and more interested in the ease of use and perceived
financial cost compared to participants with more feminine values. High levels of individualism of
participants were found to negatively influence the relationship between effort expectancy and decision
to adopt mobile banking services, while positively impacting the relationship between disposition to
trust and adoption intention. For individuals with higher power distance levels, the relation between the
performance expectancy and intention to use mobile banking was found to be stronger. In addition, a
significant negative effect of espoused power distance on behavioural intention was evidenced, which
means that individuals who are more comfortable experiencing inequality are less likely to adopt mobile
banking applications. Overall, espoused masculinity was found to be the strongest moderator among all
participants. Although the measurement of espoused cultural values may be difficult to implement in
practice, this work provided evidence that cultural values at the individual level of analysis can
influence the relationship between technology acceptance factors and adoption intention of mobile
banking applications.
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