Growth in information and communication technology (ICT) is drastically changing the way businesses, especially in the service industries, are conducted. The financial services industry and banking in particular, is not excluded from this technology explosion. Internet banking, even though not new in advanced countries, is a new transaction channel being used by banks in some parts of Africa, especially Ghana, to offer various products and services to their customers. However, this medium has not been fully exploited by these banks as there are many hurdles the banks must triumph over. In deploying this technology and these systems, there are several factors which banks must take into consideration before fully deploying such a system to their customers, hence the motivation for this study. The absence of suitable and sufficient knowledge on this topic also exposes a “rhetoric versus reality” argument of whether the intention to adopt Internet banking is critical to the strategies and ultimate success of banks in Ghana. For banks to stay ahead of competition as well as to attract and maintain their clientele, it is of paramount importance to gather and link the perspectives of both clients and bank managers in order for banks to ensure that they perform according to the needs and expectations of their clients. In order to achieve the intended results, an empirical study was conducted by taking into consideration the viewpoints of both bank clients and bank managers in determining the factors that customers take into consideration before adopting the Internet banking medium. The primary aim of this study was to quantify significant relationships between the selected variables. Therefore the positivism research paradigm was used, while the phenomenological paradigm was employed for the measuring instruments. Because multiple sources of data were used, from the perspectives of banking clients and managers in Ghana, methodological triangulation was adopted for this study. The results of the empirical investigation showed that both groups (clients and managers) considered the variables of market share, technology acceptance, diffusion of innovation, organisational variables, organisational efficiency, and business strategy to have direct influence on the adoption of Internet banking. However, they differed in opinion concerning the degree of influence of these variables. The bank managers’ responses leaned more towards strong agreement with the importance of these variables than did those of the bank clients. Thus, for bank clients to readily adopt the Internet banking medium for their banking transactions, bank managers must take a closer look at these determinant factors described in the study. The study showed that the population group, educational and income levels exerted an influence on the perceptions clients have regarding Internet banking adoption factors. It was found that the higher the education and income levels of the clients, the easier it was for them to adopt Internet banking. Also, the male group dominated the use of the Internet banking. This is supported by the fact that there is a growing middle class in Ghana that falls within this category of banking clients.

Financial exclusion is a major developmental problem. Perception has it that financial exclusion emanates from the lack of access to banking and financial services, and the general understanding is that ICT-based access to such services is the solution. In this research, which was undertaken in Ghana, Critical Realism (CR) revealed deeper causes (generative mechanisms) that underlie financial exclusion. The research followed a mixed-method approach. The CR approach guided the research to create an initial model from which hypotheses were deduced and tested; the design science approach, guided the research to create the design theory and an instantiation of an application that uses the design theory; and the quantitative method, was used to evaluate the hypotheses. CR revealed how, in a credit economy, people have a need for credit to pursue business or education opportunities. The generative mechanisms identified have revealed how the credit market for the unbanked includes the reality that a wellfunctioning credit market is self-sustaining with two mechanisms: signalling and adoption. The signalling mechanism facilitates users’ access to credit, which they in turn are able to spend on more services. On the other hand, the adoption mechanism enables the development of more services making the market more valuable, thus attracting more users in a self-feeding loop. The key findings suggest that being banked does not necessarily lead to financial inclusion and financial wellbeing. Transactional banking only serves as an "enrichment agenda for the banks", with minimal benefit to the people. There are also other non-financial technologies such as sharing and social technologies that have an effect on the provision of credit; in addition to their main purpose of saving and/or earning income, for the unbanked, by sharing resources. In Ghana, despite having bank accounts, most of the banked do not use them, because of cost and inappropriate services. This research reveals that the unexamined notion of being banked as a fundamental requirement for financial inclusion may require further investigation. The research has found that the unbanked keeping to themselves and the use of cash creates anonymity and makes them invisible to formal financial institutions, who prefer identity over anonymity, thus contributing to their financial exclusion. The following design needs were identified: inexpensive credit and value-added services such as saving groups, financial accounting services, service to report delinquent customers and education. The research offers a conceptualization of a financial inclusion ICT artefact to draw attention to the multifaceted and complex environment financial inclusion effort is immersed. This calls for an integrated approach since the issues with financial exclusion extend beyond financials and have an effect on the broader society. The research, therefore, proposes a substantive framework for improving the design and development of financial inclusive systems, which helps build trust using obligation transactions. It offers an approach to computing an individual’s financial inclusiveness, which also helps safeguard his/her financial wellbeing. The thesis makes a contribution to Information Systems theory in proposing a framework on financial inclusion using ICT. The contribution to practice is the design of an ICT artefact. / School of Computing / Ph. D. (Computer Science)