Pathways to Digital Banking Adoption: Insights from a Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Abstract

This study explores the behavioral and financial conditions that underpin the sustained adoption of digital banking services in South Africa. Drawing on a dataset from a major South African retail bank, we examine diverse client attributes - including digital engagement, account tenure, financial inflows, and product usage - using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). This method enables a configurational perspective that identifies both necessary and sufficient combinations of conditions leading to consistent mobile banking app usage over time. The dataset is calibrated into fuzzy sets using theoretically informed and empirically grounded thresholds, allowing for a nuanced analysis of causal complexity. The necessity analysis reveals that digital readiness and stable inflows are consistently present in cases of sustained app usage, indicating their essential role in digital engagement. In contrast, the sufficiency analysis uncovers multiple distinct pathways to app continuity, such as the combination of app registration with flexible savings behavior or long client tenure. These findings highlight the presence of equifinality and causal asymmetry in digital banking adoption. The study demonstrates fsQCA’s methodological relevance in medium-N, multi-condition contexts and contributes to theoretical models of digital behavior by emphasizing interdependent, context-sensitive adoption patterns. Practical implications for customer onboarding and retention strategies are also discussed.

Keywords: Digital Adoption, Banking, Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis, Prescription