Biometric authentication technology acceptance in mobile banking in Iraq

Abstract

Few banks of Iraq have started providing banking services over smartphones. However, few studies have discussed the factors that influence users’ intention to accept mobile banking services among bank customers in Iraq. The mobile banking (M-banking) service acceptance rate is still relatively low because of security concerns. Biometric authentication has benefited mobile banking services by providing accurate identification and safeguarding against fraudulent activities. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate and examine the critical factors that could affect the acceptance of biometric authentication technology in mobile banking services in Iraq to address the security concerns. The proposed conceptual model is an extended UTAUT model, which includes perceived security as an additional factor, and suggests the inclusion of demographic moderator variables, namely age, gender, work experience, and occupation, to increase validity of the study based on Iraq’s current banking industry. Data were collected from 391 Iraqi bank customers in Baghdad via an online survey to test the proposed model. The questionnaire was distributed via private Facebook groups (employees only) to Iraqi employees in Baghdad whose salaries are paid via government (state-owned) banks, private banks, and foreign banks in Baghdad. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS AMOS (Version 25) to create structural equation models and a multiple linear regression model. As hypothesized, the results of the study revealed performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), and perceived security (PS) to be significant determinants of customers’ behavioral intention (BI) towards biometric authentication. The study also found that facilitating condition (FC) and behavioral intention (BI) to use biometric authentication have a significant effect on users’ behavior (UB) to use mobile banking. For the moderating effect of age, gender, experience, and occupation, they have a moderating role between the variables.