Influence of consumer attitudes on the uptake of credit cards by customers of commercial banks within Kitengela township

Abstract

In the last decade the Banking industry in Kenya has been carrying out campaigns to encourage adoption of plastic money. This has seen a remarkable uptake of plastic money like debit cards. However credit cards uptake has lagged behind. This formed the backbone of this study. The objective of the study was to determine the influence of consumer attitudes on the uptake of credit cards by customers of commercial banks within Kitengela Township. The study applied descriptive research design. The target population was the customers of Commercial Banks offering credit cards in Kitengela Township. A sample size of 70 customers was selected that is 10 customers from each Commercial Bank under the study. A quantitative approach was used to collect data. A questionnaire was administered to respondents at the Banking halls. The study found out that there is high level of awareness of credit cards as indicated by a mean of 4.92. The study also found out that it is cumbersome to shop with a credit card at a retail outlet as demonstrated by a mean of 4.79. The interest rates charged on credit cards was considered high as indicated by a mean of 4.12. Majority of the respondents disagreed that Banks give complete and sufficient information to consumers. This was noted so by the mean calculated in the analysis of 2.04. All this factors influenced attitude towards credit cards which eventually influenced adoption of credit cards. There was found to be a positive relationship between attitude and adoption of credit cards services. Attitude influence the way people behave and are therefore important for marketers to study them so as to understand how consumers behave. Credit cards contribute positively to customer satisfaction and also they are a good source of generating income it is hence important for Commercial Banks to understand their attitude so as to influence thier uptake. Commercial Banks hence need to improve on Awareness, Knowledge, Feelings, and Attitude towards adoption of credit cards inorder to ensure efficiency in the uptake of credit cards. The researcher recommended further research so as to address the limitation of the study which was only conducted in one urban centre and also involved seven Commercial Banks while Kenya has got forty three Commercial Banks. The study also recommended that Commercial Banks should collaborate with Retail companies to improve customer experience while using credit card Point of Sale machines. Credit cards substitute loans hence there is need for further research to be done on the impact of credit cards on the loan volume granted by the Commercial Banks.