Determinants of accounting information technology usage in Nigerian banking sector

Banks in Nigeria have increased their investment in the Information System (IS) as a fundamental e-banking tool, capable of yielding significant contributions to their financial income especially in cost efficiency. However, investment in Accounting Information Technology (AIT) is less effective due to many users complain of persistent systems failures, technical issues, lack of system stability, fraud and security challenges. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of AIT usage in the Nigerian banking sector. Specifically, the study examines the influence of system quality, information quality, service quality, internal control quality, training and top management support on AIT usage. It also investigates the moderating effect of an external consultant involvement on the relationship between the system quality and usage of AIT. A cross-sectional survey was employed for data collection. A questionnaire was distributed to 571 samples, and 257 valid responses were obtained from regional or branch managers, and account managers of the banks. Partial Least Square path modeling was used in analyzing the relationship between the determinants and AIT usage as well as the moderating effect of an external consultant involvement between system quality and AIT usage. The findings from the direct relationship reveals that system quality, information quality, and internal control quality has a significant positive relationship with AIT usage, but service quality, training, and top management support has insignificant negative relationship. Furthermore, the result of the moderating effect reveals that the external consultant involvement significantly moderates the relationship of the system quality, information quality, and service quality with AIT usage. The outcomes of this study provides another insight to the banks’ management with specific factors that they can leverage to improve the usage of the AIT thereby realizing the expected benefit of their investment.