ADOPTION OF TECHNOLOGY: CRITICAL FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMERS' INTENTIONS TO USE MOBILE BANKING IN SRI LANKA

Mobile banking plays a crucial role in modern retail banking, particularly in developing countries like Sri Lanka, where financial inclusion remains a key challenge. Despite its potential to enhance convenience, accessibility, and efficiency, adoption rates have been relatively slow due to various influencing factors. This study seeks to examine the critical factors shaping consumers' behavioral intentions toward mobile banking in Sri Lanka within an evolving Financial and technological land scape. A cross-sectional Survey design as employed, gathering data from a diverse sample of bank customers to assess key determinants. The study investigates the effects of social influence, IT innovativeness, performance expectancy, effect expectancy, environmental benefits, and privacy concerns on mobile banking adoption. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the relationships between these factors and to test the proposed conceptual Framework. The findings indicate that social influence, IT innovativeness, and attitudes significantly and positively impact consumers' behavioral intentions toward mobile banking. However, performance expectancy, effect expectancy, environmental benefits, and privacy concerns do not exhibit significant direct effects. Notably, attitudes play a mediating role, fully mediating the impact of performance expectancy and partially mediating the influence of environmental benefits. The proposed model explains 70.32% of the variance in behavioral intentions, demonstrating a strong predictive ability and theoretical contribution. Thes e insights provide valuable implications for financial institutions, policymakers, and technology developers seeking to improve mobile banking adoption. By addressing key drivers and barriers, targeted strategies can be developed to enhance user acceptance, trust, and engagement, ultimately fostering greater financial inclusion and digital transformation in Sri Lanka.