The Internet has emerged as one of the most important distribution channels for financial services firms. However, there is still a need to more fully understand the antecedents to customer use of banking via the Internet. The purpose of this article is to study technology acceptance of Internet banking in Estonia, an emerging east European economy. The present paper modifies the technology acceptance model and applies it to bank customers in Estonia, because Estonia, a country with a developing economy, has focused on Internet banking as an important distribution channel. The findings suggest that Internet bank use increases insofar as customers perceive it as useful. The perceived usefulness is central because it determines whether the perceived ease of Internet bank use will lead to increased use of the internet bank.Put differently, a well-designed and easy to use internet bank may not be used if it is not perceived as useful. We thus conclude that the perceived usefulness of Internet banking is, for banks, a key construct for promoting customer use. We also suggest that models of technology acceptance should be re-formulated to focus more on the key role of the perceived usefulness of the service embedded in the technology. Implications for banks are that they need to put much effort not only into making a user-friendly internet bank, but also into explaining to their customers how the internet bank is useful to them.

No abstract

No abstract

Purpose -Businesses developed in Western markets may be so new to emerging and developing markets that they can be considered innovations.Knowledge of innovation adoption is therefore essential for western firms that expand into these markets. 3 Originality/value -This study suggests modifications to Rogers's original model in order to apply it to the fast-growing new CEE economies, thus reaffirming the importance of his model. Methodology

No abstract