Determinants of E-Commerce Usage in the Kenyan Banking Sector

Abstract

Despite the existing evidence that e-commerce usage is moderated by local environmental factors influencing its usage are under-researched in Kenya. This study sought to determine the factors influencing e-commerce usage in the Kenyan banking sector. Effect of firm size, top management support, competence and organizational learning ability on e-commerce usage in Kenya were investigated. Grounded on the Technological, Organizational and Environmental model (TOE), five hypothesis were tested in the study to determine the drivers of e-commerce usage. A descriptive cross- sectional survey was carried out among 32 of the 43 commercial banks operating in Kenya as at December 2018. Sampling was done using stratified random sampling, while purposive sampling was used to select 96 respondents to participate in the primary data was collected using a questionnaire administered to the heads of ICT, Operation and Finance departments of the selected banks. Data analysis was carried out using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and coefficient of determination and regression analyses undertaken to test the hypothesis. Results showed that significant factors included; Top management support, organization learning ability, competitive pressure and technological competence while firm size was not supported. The study extends the existing participation that firm organizational and environmental factors influence usage of e-commerce applications in Kenyan banking industry and also confirm effectiveness of TOE framework for conducting studies on technology usage at the firm level. Keywords: E-commerce, banking sector, Kenya.