Mobile Banking: A Technological Innovation: A Strategic Application in Financial Services and the Performance of Commercial Banks in Kenya

Abstract

There is perception that innovations drive long-term economic growth, productivity and improvement of performance in financial institutions however limited information is available to vouch this perception. The study which focused on Commercial Banks in Kenya was guided by these two objectives.  To establish the influence of mobile banking; agency banking and intelligent ATMS on the performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The study was anchored on Dynamic Capabilities, Disruptive Innovation and Financial Intermediation Theories. Mixed research design was used in collecting and analyzing. The study targeted 10,717 management cadre in the entire banking sector out of whom a sample of 386 was chosen using Yamane formula. Primary data was collected mainly using questionnaires administered using drop and pick technique. Primary data was collected using interview guide from KII and questionnaires for quantitative information.  Secondary data was collected using document analysis guide as way of giving relevance to the primary data analyzed. Analysis of data was facilitated using computer supported software SPSS 21 and presented using descriptive and inferential statistics as well as thematic prose from KII. Th descriptive statistics include frequency, percentages, weighted averages, mean and standard deviation were used. Correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to infer the relationship between variables. The findings showed a positive correlation between technological innovation in financial services and the performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The findings showed that the tested technological innovations under study accounted for 66.4% of performance of commercial banks leaving 33.6% of performance to be explained by other factors not under study. The ANOVA results showed that Mobile banking, Agency banking and Intelligent ATMs as technological innovations in financial services together have a significant and positive combined effect on performance of commercial banks in Kenya