Factors influencing customers’ online purchase intention towards remittance services in Somalia : post covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the factors that influence customers' online purchase intention towards remittance services in Somalia during the post-COVID-19 pandemic period. Due to the pandemic, customers' online purchasing behavior has increased, and remittance companies have offered new online remittance services to make the process easier and more affordable. Online remittance services are a cost-effective way of cutting costs for the remittance industry by eliminating traditional agents at both ends of the process. To encourage more customers to purchase remittance services online during the post-pandemic period, it is important to investigate their online purchase intention. The study employs the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as a theoretical framework, and four hypotheses are developed and tested. The dependent variable in the research framework is online purchase intention. In contrast, the independent variables are perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU), perceived risk (PR), and online trust (OT). The research method is quantitative, and self-administered questionnaires were utilized for online data collection. The data for 400 sample respondents were analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) program, including descriptive analysis, reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and regression analysis. The findings indicate that perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and online trust positively affect online purchase intention. However, the perceived risk does not influence online purchase intention for remittance services in Somalia. Therefore, the study suggests that online remittance companies should develop effective strategies to promote perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and online trust to increase consumer intention to purchase online remittance services in Somalia.