Financial Behavior of Clients in the Context of Remote Banking

The transition towards remote banking has fundamentally changed consumer financial behavior. However, current models of customer adoption are generally static in nature with an emphasis on intentionality. This study redefines the way we conceptualize digital banking as a dynamic behavioral migration process and develops the Sherstiuk Digital Behavioral Adaptation Model (SDBAM) as an analytical framework to help understand hybrid banking. Using Technology Acceptance Theory (TAT), Behavioral Finance, Cybersecurity Perception Research, and Digital Ecosystem Literature, this model incorporates digital readiness capacity, behavioral engagement intensity, perceived cybersecurity risk and adaptive channel allocation. Unlike other traditional frameworks, which emphasize whether or not customers will adopt digital banking (i.e., make a binary decision about using digital banking versus non-digital banking), SDBAM describes how consumers continually allocate their financial activities between different digital and physical banking channels rather than making a binary choice about the use of these two different types of channels. The results show that migration intensity is derived from the relationship between the consumer’s structural digital capabilities and their perceptions of cyber-risk; furthermore, the level of integration into the digital banking ecosystem and the level of personalization afforded through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) increase the level of behavioral engagement. Finally, the degree of cybersecurity awareness among consumers moderates both behavioral stability and the dominant channel used for transactions. Overall, this study expands our knowledge of digital banking by changing the focus from the likelihood of adopting digital banking to the processes of adapting consumer behaviors and provides organizations with strategies to create hybrid banking models that optimize the use of digital and physical banking channels.