Essay

The use of technology in the financial services industry in the UAE

Introduction

Financial services industry provides financial security and sustainability for society and occupies a major part of people’s life. Nonetheless, the changing times, and tough competition from highly innovative non-traditional rivals are the drivers of digital transformation occurring in most industries. To avoid becoming obsolete the financial industry is implementing financial technology. Fintech is viewed as a technology that would transform the traditional financial services industry. Furthermore, it has attracted worldwide attention as a technology that will allow institutions and businesses to effectively compete in the 21st century (Wonglimpiyarat, 2017).

This research proposal will familiarize the readers with the concept of fintech and interpret the changes resulting from the introduction of fintech. This will be done by using various methods and research strategy to perform the research accurately.

Research question

What are the perceptions of the customers and managers regarding financial technology in the United Arab Emirates?

Aims

The purpose of this research is to explore the impacts of adopting and incorporating financial technology in the routine operations of traditional financial institutions in the UAE.

Objectives

The objectives of this research are to gather information on the opinions of bank customers and managers by the means of questionnaires and interviews; to evaluate the information obtained and develop a clear structure of the research.

Methodology

Research Strategy

The research adopts the interpretivism philosophy, which is subjective and studies the phenomena in its natural environment. Interpretivism approaches accentuate an individual’s own background, decision making and expectations as a fundamental factor of behavior and the spectrum through which the reality is perceived (Packard, 2017).

The consideration of various perspectives in interpretivism brings about a more extensive insight into the topic (Morehouse, 2011). Accordingly, the participants’ recollections and interpretations regarding the implementation of financial technology will be evaluated (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2016, p.141). Interpretivism will greatly assist researchers in cases where thorough data is of higher value upon statistics. Bearing this in mind, the opinions of bank employees, managers and customers, who have varying socio-economic backgrounds will be evaluated in order to realize more distinct and versatile information regarding the use of technology in that field (Thanh and Thanh, 2015, p. 27).

The research is based on the primary data to explore the fintech phenomenon and further develops a theory, meaning that the research is using inductive reasoning. Research which adopted the induction approach is prone to be attentive to the environment of the arising events (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2016, p.145-147).

Nind and Todd (2011) concluded that the researchers adopting the interpretive paradigm primarily use qualitative methods, this research proposal is no exception. The approach is characterized by its small-scale sample. The main distinction of qualitative over quantitative approach is its ability to allow a thorough explanation as well as examination of a research topic, without restraining the range of the research and the essence of the respondent’s contribution (Collis & Hussey, 2003). Qualitative approach facilitates the investigation of social reality, which will grant a better comprehension of the use of financial technology in the routine operations of the business.

Survey strategy is best suited for this research, as it collects empirical material about experience, circumstances or views regarding a certain topic at a particular point in time by the means of questionnaires and interviews. The strategy is mainly used for exploratory research and can be characterized as a very cost-effective technique. It also greatly facilitates the inter-comparisons of the results. The research is cross-sectional, comprising of research of fintech at a particular point in time, mainly due to a time-constraint (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2016, p.181).

First Abu Dhabi Bank, Emirates NBD and Abu Dhabi Commercial Banks are the biggest banks in the UAE, based on the total assets owned, and thus are the main financial service providers and command a significant market share. Accordingly, interviewing staff members from the mentioned institutions will provide an overview of the employee and customers behavior and their demand trends (Carter and Williamson, 1996, p 234).

Data collection methods

The employees, customers and managers of financial institutions will be interviewed to obtain primary data. The interviews are aimed at determining the expectations of the participants regarding the implementation of fintech and to comprehend how the fintech is embraced in the industry.

The main advantage of interviews is the engagement in face to face interaction between the interviewer and interviewees (Langkos, Spyros, 2014). This will help to realize the employees’ and customers’ attitude towards the modernization and first-hand information on how the industry is managing the fintech.

Further, customers will also be interviewed to gather information regarding their expectations and preferences. This will be done through a direct interview or online questionnaires. Semi-structured interviews will be used in the methodology, these include a certain number of topics and questions to be covered. The remaining questions may be raised depending on the nature of the respondents’ answer, or the organizational context. Furthermore, the interviews will be one-to-one non-standardized and will consist of a combination of telephone interviews, electronic interviews and telephone interviews (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2016, p.392).

The questionnaires will be easy to understand and quick to fill up and will mainly comprise of close-ended questions. Self-completed questionnaires are most suited for this type of research, as it offers a variety of ways this can be communicated to respondents. These questionnaires are disseminated by the internet, QR (quick response), delivery and collection. The fundamental advantage of this method is its capacity to engage with a relatively large number of respondents in a small period of time (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2016, p.439-440).

It is important to mention that survey strategy is known for not being as extensive as other research strategies due to the limited quantity of questions to be asked. Therefore, each question in the interview and questionnaire will be carefully evaluated. As the data will be collected by different means, i.e. interviews & questionnaires, the methodology will have incorporated data triangulation. This will, in turn, increase the reliability of the study. This term involves practicing several data collection methods and the use of multiple sources of information on the subject, which, in turn, will help to get a broader view of the research topic. The intention of triangulation is to capture diverse aspects of the same event (Guion, Diehl & McDonald, 2014). This will be done by considering the opinions of multiple stakeholders of the financial institutions, i.e. customers, managers & employees. Triangulation will be integrated into the research by the examination of data from separate interviewees but obtained by the same method. Every respondent shares their own special and credible viewpoint thus the interviewer’s job is to discover a pattern outside the individual practice (Quirkos, 2016).

Data analysis techniques

To begin with, the gathered material will be prepared for analysis, i.e. transformed from oral or handwritten forms to appropriate academic format. Then, thematic analysis techniques will be applied in order to interpret the data gathered by the interviews and questionnaires. In short, thematic analysis can be described as a systematic approach to analyzing qualitative data. The primary aim of this technique is to discover a possible trend in a dataset. This will be achieved by the coding of information gathered from interviews and questionnaires to recognize themes or trend for additional analysis in order to satisfy the research question (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2016, p.572-579).

Ethical issues

The research is subject to numerous ethical issues. Ethics specifies guidance for the competent management of research. Research ethics encompasses requirements on everyday operations, preservation of the participants’ dignity and the disclosure of the research outcomes. Data collection method adopted in the research requires the individual or group participation. Respect for confidentiality, the right to claim anonymity and privacy are at the core of the methodology of the research, every participant’s rights regarding these issues will be secured. Furthermore, social responsibility & integrity will be followed while conducting the research (Fouka & Mantzorou, 2019).

Another major ethical issue concerned is informed and legal consent. It assures that the individual’s autonomy is protected. It also requires the participants of the study to be familiar with the research and to be aware of its aims, objectives and what is expected of the participants. Moreover, pros and cons of the research will be described to avoid further confusion, and to remain honest at every point in time while the research is being conducted (Jones, 2012, p. 10). The ethic of honesty heavily implies the prevention of deception (Orb, Eisenhauer and Wynaden, 2001, p. 93). Lastly, conscientious publication of the results will take place when finalizing and disclosing the research.

Structure of the research

Data chart

Structure of the dissertation

Chapter 1 will encompass an introduction to the subject, its context, and the closely related matters like digitalization and globalization will be connected to the main topic. Further, the research question, aims, objectives and structure of the research will be carefully explained. Chapter 2 will mainly comprise of literature review, in other words, it will rely on academic sources, the benefits and challenges of implementing fintech will be analyzed. Chapter 3 will be based on the previous chapter, and it will focus on a contextual framework, models, assumptions. Chapter 4 will focus on the methodology, which will demonstrate how the research was carried out, which approaches, strategy and data collection & analysis methods will be used. Chapter 5 will present and interpret the results obtained. Chapter 6 will evaluate the previous chapters and will form a suitable conclusion and recommendation. Chapter 7, the final chapter, will present the appendices and the reference list, therefore completing the dissertation.

References:

Carter, MP and Williamson, D (1996) Questionnaire Design. Staffordshire University Business School, Leek Road, Stoke on-Trent ST4 2DF, United Kingdom.

Collis, J. and Hussey, R. (2003), Business Research: A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students, Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire.