The impact of online identity theft on customers’ willingness to engage in e-banking transaction in Ghana: A technology threat avoidance theory

Figures & data

Figure 1. Research model. Source: Authors’ own

Table 1. Constructs, definition, and their sources

S/N	Construct	Definition	Literature adopted
1	Fear of financial loss (FOFL)	Loss in psychology refers to the emotional side of investing, namely the negative sentiment associated with recognizing a loss and its psychological effects. It also refers to the tendency that new technology in the banking space causes harm to investors or depositors. The fear of financial losses dimension is defined as the fear of illegal or unethical appropriation and usage of personal and financial data by a cyber-criminal or other entity to gain financial benefits such as buying products on behalf of the victim	Hille et al., 2015)
2	Fear of reputational damage (FORD)	Reputational risk is a threat to the positive perception others have or should have about an individual, company, products or services.	Hille et al., 2015)
3	Security and privacy concern (SEPCON)	Internet privacy involves the right or mandate of personal privacy concerning the storing, provision to third parties, and displaying information about oneself via the Internet. Internet privacy is a subset of data privacy. Privacy concerns have been articulated from the beginnings of large-scale computer sharing.	(Hille et al., 2015)
4	Perceived online identity theft (POIT)	Identity theft, also known as identity fraud, is a crime in which an imposter obtains key pieces of personally identifiable information, such as Social Security or driver’s license numbers, to impersonate someone else. Online identity theft is a serious crime, often aimed at obtaining the personal or financial information of another person. The obtained information is then used for personal gain, often by making purchases or selling someone’s identity or credit card details online to the highest bidder	(Eisenmann, 2006; Jibril, Kwarteng, Nwaiwu et al., 2020; Walsh et al., 2016)
5	Intention to engage in e-banking	The intention is a mental state that represents a commitment to carrying out an action or actions in the future. Intention involves mental activities such as planning and forethought.	(Ajzen, 1991; Jibril, Kwarteng, Nwaiwu et al., 2020)

Table 2. Summary of socio-demographic characteristics of respondents

Details of respondents		Frequency	Percent (%)
Gender	Male	232	59.0
	Female	161	41.0
Age	18–25	41	10.4
	26–30	133	33.8
	31 − 35	140	35.6
	36–40	55	14.0
	Above 40	24	6.1
Educational level	Basic School (Primary School)	0	0
	Secondary (High) School	90	23.0
	Bachelor’s/Undergraduate	163	41.5
	Master’s	95	24.6
	PhD	15	3.8
	Others	30	7.6
Citizenship status	Ghanaian	369	93.9
	A foreign resident in Ghana	24	6.1
Online visitation	Yes	345	87.8
	No	48	12.2
Use of online banking service	Yes	197	50.1
	No	196	49.9
The medium of internet access	Own Laptop	130	33.1
	Home/Personal PC	41	10.4
	School/Office PC	56	14.2
	Smartphone/Mobile Phone	143	3.6
	Cybercafé PC	23	5.9
The frequency internet use	Daily	265	67.4
	Weekly	61	15.5
	Once or twice in a month	25	6.4
	Once or twice in 3 months	10	2.5
	Few times in a year	16	4.1
	Never	6	1.5
Respondents’ location	Accra metropolitan:	145	39.9
	GCB Bank Ltd.	90	22.9
	Ecobank Ghana	55	14.0
	Kumasi metropolitan:	141	35.9
	GCB Bank Ltd.	78	19.8
	Ecobank Ghana	63	16.0
	Sunyani Municipal:	107	27.2
	GCB Bank Ltd.	56	14.2
	Ecobank Ghana	51	13.0
	Total (N)	393	100.0

Source: Field survey, January—March 2020 in Ghana.

Table 3. Construct reliability and validity

Construct	Dijkstra-Henseler’s rho (ρA)	Jöreskog’s rho (ρc)	The average variance extracted (AVE)	Cronbach’s alpha(α)
Fear of financial loss	0.8883	0.9215	0.7464	0.8854
Security & privacy concern	0.9149	0.9458	0.8533	0.9140
Fear of reputation damage	0.9265	0.9426	0.8044	0.9188
Intention to engage	0.9312	0.9198	0.6992	0.9006
Online identity theft	0.8783	0.9225	0.7992	0.8730

Source: Authors’ processing from Adanco 2.1 version

Table 4. Indicator (Factor) loadings

Construct	Indicator	Loadings
Fear of financial loss	FOFL1: I am afraid that somebody could steal my money while I am transferring my personal data online.	0.7770
	FOFL2: I am scared that a criminal could use my credit card account number to do online shopping in my name.	0.9029
	FOFL3: I am frightened that somebody could do online shopping at my expense	0.8976
	FOFL4: I am worried about an unauthorized person making online purchases using my personal data	0.8725
Fear of reputation damage	FORD1: FORD1: I am frightened of somebody using my personal data on the Internet in order to run me down.	0.8521
	FORD2: I am very worried that the unauthorized use of my personal data online could damage my reputation.	0.9146
	FORD3: I am worried about my reputation being damaged due to the illegal use of my personal data online.	0.9256
	FORD4: The thought that a stranger could damage my reputation by using my personal data online scares me.	0.8934
Security and privacy concern	SEPCON1: I don’t think the Internet has got enough safeguards to make me feel comfortable using it to transact personal business.	0.9195
	SEPCON2: I don’t feel assured that legal and technological structures adequately protect me from problems on the Internet.	0.9353
	SEPCON3: I don’t feel confident that encryption and other technological advances on the Internet make it safe for me to do business/transaction there.	0.9164
Perceived online identity theft	POIT1: I am scared that when I have to give my credit card number to shop online that it could be misused.	0.9125
	POIT2: I am scared that when I have to give my bank account number to shop online that it could be misused.	0.9323
	POIT3: I am scared that my bank account could be hacked by an unknown person.	0.8340
Intention to engage	INTENT1: I would use Internet banking for purchasing a product/service.	0.9042
	INTENT2: I would always consider using the Internet for my shopping.	0.8735
	INTENT3: Given the chance, I would try to buy items online via internet banking.	0.9274
	INTENT4: In the future, I will most likely be using Internet banking for payments.	0.7734
	INTENT5: Using Internet banking for transfer/deposit is something I would do.	0.6755

Source: Authors’ processing from Adanco 2.1 version.

Table 5. Test/evidence of discriminant validity—Fornell–Lacker Criterion

Construct	1	2	3	4	5
	FOFL	SEPCON	FORD	INTENT	POIT
Fear of financial loss	0.7465
Security & privacy concern	0.3467	0.8533
Fear of reputation damage	0.3747	0.3714	0.8044
Intention to engage	0.0618	0.0179	0.0416	0.6990
Perceived online identity theft	0.1498	0.2458	0.1023	0.0010	0.7992

Note: Squared correlations; AVE in the diagonal (in bold). Source: Authors’ processing from Adanco 2.1 version.

Table 6. Path coefficient; Direct and Indirect relationship

Effect	Original coefficient (β)	Standard bootstrap results					Empirical remarks
		Mean value	Standard error	t-value	p-value (2-sided)	p-value (1-sided)
Direct effect:
Fear of financial loss -> Security & privacy concern	0.3450	0.3476	0.0775	4.4506	0.0000	0.0000	Supported
Security & privacy concern -> Intention to engage	−0.1339	−0.1351	0.1303	−1.0273	0.3045	0.1523	Not Supported
Fear of reputation damage -> Security & privacy concern	0.3982	0.3966	0.0789	5.0483	0.0000	0.0000	Supported
Perceived online identity theft -> Fear of financial loss	0.3871	0.3946	0.0749	5.1684	0.0000	0.0000	Supported
Perceived online identity theft -> Fear of reputation damage	0.3198	0.3259	0.0911	3.5114	0.0005	0.0002	Supported
Perceived online identity theft -> Security & privacy concern	0.2811	0.2783	0.0722	3.8915	0.0001	0.0001	Supported
Indirect effect:
Fear of financial loss -> Intention to engage	−0.0345	−0.0477	0.0483	−0.9566	0.3390	0.1695	Not Supported
Fear of reputation damage -> Intention to engage	−0.0484	−0.0543	0.0537	−0.9921	0.3214	0.1607	Not Supported
Online identity theft -> Security & privacy concern	0.2155	0.2700	0.0658	3.9655	0.0001	0.0000	Supported
Online identity theft -> Intention to engage	−0.0664	−0.0390	0.0377	−0.9265	0.3544	0.1772	Not Supported
Dependent variable:	Coefficient of determination (R^2)			Adjusted R^2
Fear of financial loss	0.1504			0.1451			-
Security & privacy concern	0.5121			0.5029			-
Fear of reputation damage	0.1017			0.0961			-
Intention to engage	0.2790			0.2018			-
Goodness of model fit
	Value			HI95			HI99
SRMR	0.0640			0.1070			0.1652
dULS	0.7794			2.1744			5.1853
dG	0.6018			0.7679			1.2472

Note: β = regression coefficient and t = significant value (t > 1.96) or (P < 0.05)

Source: Authors’ processing from ADANCO 2.1 Version

Figure 2. Estimated research model Source: Authors’ processing from ADANCO 2.0.1

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