Adoption of Internet banking services by Iranian customers': An empirical and qualitative in vestigation

Service sectors have witnessed a rapid shift particularly in the last decade under the pressure of some forces affecting the marketing environment. One of the major forces behind these developments is technology, which is creating new products, services, market opportunities, and developing more information and system-oriented business and management processes [1]. In the world of banking, the developments in information technology have had an enormous effect in development of more flexible payment methods and more efficient banking services. This technology offers institutions some efficient delivery channels through which customers banking requirements can be delivered more conveniently and economically [2]. The explosion of Internet usage and the huge funding initiatives in electronic banking have drawn the attention of researchers towards internet banking as the most recent delivery channel introduced for financial services. The Internet banking usage might not only be for the customers, because it involves the changing of behavioral patterns [3]. To use Internet financial services, customers not only need to understand the technology, they also need to understand financial services. Internet banking is a new tool in banking system that offers less waiting time and is more convenient than traditional branch banking [4]. This delivery channel deserves special attention from financial institutions, policy-makers, researchers, and academicians owing to its enormous potential from the viewpoint of banks, businesses, and retail customers. Bank management have an interest in studies which have market their Internet banking services, and thus accelerate the rate of adoption. If the service can more quickly reach a critical mass of customers [5], the respective bank's investment in Internet banking could be recouped more quickly.