Adoption of online retail banking practices as a precautionary protective behavior during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Increase in online banking activities has been observed in the new normal of the Covid-19 pandemic. Previous studies argued that fraudsters tend to prey on unexpected events. This threat is also frightening online consumers of retail banking. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate how online retail banking users can be motivated enough to avoid online banking fraud threats while no compromise on health.  The population of the study is online banking customers in Pakistan. This study obtained data from 470 respondents who used online banking services by using questionnaires through an online survey. The structure Equation Modeling approach is used to investigate the relationship among study research variables.  Findings from a nationwide online survey confirmed the impact of the pandemic on consumer responses for online retail banking intention. Structure Equation Model results found that Perceived Vulnerability β = 0.24, Perceived Severity β = 0.31, and Response Efficacy β = 0.32 has significant impact on precautionary behavior. Surprisingly, Self-Efficacy was not significant to consumer precautionary behavior during the new normal of COVID-19. This study contributes to the literature on online banking and protection motivation theory. Results imply that bankers must invest in online banking and provide a secure environment that prioritizes the safety of the online transaction and create awareness to decrease the threat of fraud during the uncertain situation. The findings of this study particularly call for bankers, retailers’ attention to online management of security systems.