What drives mobile commerce?: An empirical evaluation of the revised technology acceptance model

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Abstract

This study presents an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) that integrates innovation diffusion theory, perceived risk and cost into the TAM to investigate what determines user mobile commerce (MC) acceptance. The proposed model was empirically tested using data collected from a survey of MC consumers. The structural equation modeling technique was used to evaluate the causal model and confirmatory factor analysis was performed to examine the reliability and validity of the measurement model. Our findings indicated that all variables except perceived ease of use significantly affected users’ behavioral intent. Among them, the compatibility had the most significant influence. Furthermore, a striking, and somewhat puzzling finding was the positive influence of perceived risk on behavioral intention to use. The implication of this work to both researchers and practitioners is discussed.

Introduction

The rapid development of modern wireless communication technology, coupled with the increasingly high penetration rate of the Internet, is promoting mobile commerce (MC) as a significant application for both enterprises and consumers [25], [33]. According to the MC statistics indicated at ePaynews.com [12], only 16% of 533 million Internet users were global wireless Internet users in the year 2001; however, the percentage will soar to 57% of 1460 million Internet users in 2007. In addition, the total revenue from global online trade will reach $12.8 trillion by the year 2006, as predicted by Sharrard et al. [35]. Of this amount, over $230 billion will be obtained from MC [24]. Nevertheless, insufficient user acceptance has long been an obstacle to the successful adoption of new information systems (IS) and information technologies (IT). While mobile technologies and applications are rapidly and widely developed for MC; it is extremely important to understand consumer MC perceptions and acceptance.

The advantages of using Internet EC, efficiency, convenience, broader selections, competitive pricing, rich information, and diversity are well known. Consequently, the advances in modern Internet EC, including advertising, shopping, investing, banking and other online services (e-mail, information seeking, etc.) have made it possible for people to interact with the Internet in their daily lives. The number of Internet users has therefore continued to increase. Such Internet use will facilitate MC development and applications. As with “Electronic” business, “Mobile” business will experience increased transactions and probably increase profits and revenues. Yet, limited understanding of the customers’ urgent demands and lack of technological infrastructure will be impediments to MC success. From the consumer perspective, the cost concern [29] is typically one of the most important issues in MC usage. As Chen and Hitt [7] stressed, when switching to different products or online services, consumers must deal with non-negligible costs. High cost will be one of essential factors considered by consumers when deciding whether to use MC.

Furthermore, Internet EC has fatal consumer privacy weaknesses and issues involving monetary transactions, product purchases and merchandise services [26]. Although Internet EC has gradually come into use in many fields, a number of users are still alarmed about personal privacy and transaction security. These issues will have a similar impact on MC, because of the similar commerce mechanism. Limited and insufficient information is provided to MC users owing to the constraints of mobile terminals, mobile networks, and content. Without physically examining and inspecting the products, consumers will perceive potential risks [48]. Thus, business concerns, privacy protection, security, and a risk free environment are the breakpoints for MC popularity.

With accelerated business competition and the popularity of Internet and mobile device use, there is an urgent need to understand the factors that would entice users to use MC. Comprehending the essentials of what determines user MC acceptance can provide great management insight into developing effective strategies that will allow enterprises to remain competitive and hold their market. Hence, we adopted the extended technology acceptance model (TAM2), integrated it with the innovation diffusion theory (IDT), perceived risk, and cost and validated the factors that determine consumer MC acceptance.

Section snippets

Basic concepts, research model and hypotheses

Here, MC refers to any transactions, either direct or indirect, with a monetary value implemented via a wireless telecommunication network [4]. Hence, network designers, service providers, vendors and application developers must cautiously take the needs and considerations of various users into account to provide better services and attract them to MC [28]. System use is recognized as a good indicator of IS and IT success; therefore, system use (i.e., MC use) is defined to be in the context of

Measurement development

Previous research was reviewed to ensure that a comprehensive list of measures were included. Those for perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, behavioral intention to use and actual use were adapted in our model from previous studies on TAM (e.g., [13]). The construct for perceived risk was adapted from the studies of Pavlou and Eastin. The scales for compatibility were based on Chen et al. and Eastin. The measures for cost were captured using three items derived from Constantinides, Rupp

Descriptive statistics

Three hundred and seventy-three returned questionnaires were received after the follow-up activities. Sixty-three participants gave incomplete answers and their results were dropped from the study. This left 310 sets of data for statistical analysis, a 36.7% valid return rate.

We were interested in demonstrating that the responses received were representative of the population studied. A multivariate analysis of variance was therefore undertaken to determine whether differences in response time

Discussions and conclusions

This study proposed a revised TAM that integrated the IDT, cost and perceived risk with TAM2 to investigate what determined user MC perception and acceptance. The descriptive statistics indicated that cellular phones are very popular in Taiwan. Only three respondents did not have one. The most significant reason for using a cellular phone was “for convenience.” This indicates that while 99.0% of the respondents had cellular phones, only 26.8% were familiar or very familiar with online

Jen-Her Wu is professor of information management at National Sun Yat-Sen University. Prior to his doctoral study at the University of Kentucky, he received a BS degree in industrial design, earned an MS degree in computer science and worked as an engineer and manager in the manufacturing industry. Professor Wu teaches a variety of information management courses. He has published a book (Systems Analysis and Design) and more than 30 journal articles. His research articles have been published in

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    Jen-Her Wu is professor of information management at National Sun Yat-Sen University. Prior to his doctoral study at the University of Kentucky, he received a BS degree in industrial design, earned an MS degree in computer science and worked as an engineer and manager in the manufacturing industry. Professor Wu teaches a variety of information management courses. He has published a book (Systems Analysis and Design) and more than 30 journal articles. His research articles have been published in Information & Management, Decision Support Systems, International Journal of Technology Management, Computers in Human Behavior, Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, Expert Systems, Knowledge Acquisition, Journal of Computer Information Systems, and others. His current research interests include various aspects of information systems development and management, human computer interaction, and knowledge management.

    Shu-Ching Wang is doctoral student of information management at National Sun Yat-Sen University and instructor of information management at National Kaohsiung Marine University, Taiwan. She earned her BS and MS degrees in computer science. She has participated with Professor Wu's research team for two years. Her research interests include e-commerce, e-healthcare and e-learning.

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