The primary purpose of this research is to help practitioners with identifying consumer attitudes and experiences that influence their current use of on-line channels for buying financial products. Our hypothesis is that usage of electronic channels is likely to be influenced by the presence of a need, motivation to attend to that need, and the ability and opportunity to use electronic channels to satisfy the need. Needs relate to functional reasons why a person may be interested in electronic channels. Consumers may be motivated to use the electronic channel because they may have gone through negative experiences with the traditional sales agent channel. In such a situation, they may be less prone to using electronic channels for buying financial products.
Ability is defined as skill or proficiency in understanding financial products.
Lack of ability implies that knowledge structures necessary to perform purchase transactions on the electronic channel either do not exist or cannot be accessed. Part of the problem may be that personal or situational factors impede the time spent on understanding electronic channels. People who lead a very busy lifestyle may have less time to manage the decision making process by themselves. Opportunity is defined as the presence of circumstances that promote the use of electronic channels. People who do not have the tools such as a computer may not have the opportunity to use electronic channels.