Effects of Online Banking Platform Adoption On Account Opening and Deposit Growth in the Nigerian Deposit Money Banks: The Moderating Role of Technological Literacy (Published)
Despite substantial digital infrastructure investments across Nigeria’s banking sector, persistent paradoxes emerge wherein platform proliferation coexists with suboptimal account acquisition rates and underwhelming deposit mobilization performance, suggesting that platform deployment alone insufficiently translates into retention dividends without complementary customer capability development. This study investigates the effects of online banking platform adoption on account opening and deposit growth in Nigerian Deposit Money Banks, with technological literacy positioned as a moderating variable. The study employed a quantitative correlational survey design, drawing data from 768 respondents comprising 384 customers and 384 staff selected through stratified random sampling across seven internationally authorized Nigerian Deposit Money Banks operating in six major commercial centers. Structured questionnaires with validated psychometric properties demonstrated strong internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranging from 0.808 to 0.887. Data analysis utilized Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling via SmartPLS 4.0, incorporating measurement model assessment, structural path estimation, moderation analysis through interaction terms, and multi-group analysis. Results revealed that online banking platform adoption significantly influenced both account opening (β = 0.457, p < 0.001) and deposit growth (β = 0.361, p < 0.001), while technological literacy demonstrated substantial moderating effects on account opening (β = 0.328) and deposit growth (β = 0.342). Simple slopes analysis indicated that high-literacy customers derived retention benefits more than twice those of low-literacy customers. Multi-group analysis confirmed strong convergence between customer and staff perspectives. The study concludes that platform sophistication interacts synergistically with customer digital competence to amplify retention outcomes.
Keywords: Customer retention, Nigerian deposit money banks, Online Banking, PLS-SEM, account opening, deposit growth, technological literacy