Understanding the Effect of Tie Strength on Continuance Intention of Second-Generation Mobile Instant Messaging Services

Facilitated by the widespread adoption of smartphones, applications (apps) on smartphones such as WeChat and WhatsApp have seen rapid and explosive growth. These apps are generally referred to as second-generation mobile instant messaging (SMIM) services. Unlike first-generation mobile instant messaging (FMIM) services (e.g. Short Message Service), SMIM services typically support multimedia contents and are embedded within social networks, which may have a bearing on the post-adoption behaviour of users in particular. However, prior studies on the post-adoption usage of SMIM services have a limited understanding of the effects of social network. Network tie strength, as a configuration of social network, has an important impact on users in SMIM services. In order to explore the effects of social network on users’ continued usage intention in SMIM services, we propose and empirically test an integrated model by identifying the antecedents such as tie strength, satisfaction, and perceived critical mass. This study contributes to existing IS post-adoption literature by understanding and capturing the role of social network (i.e. tie strength) in SMIM services. Implications for theory and practice are discussed

A Two-Staged SEM-AHP Technique for Understanding and Prioritizing Mobile Financial Services Perspective Adoption

The development of wireless and mobile technologies has offered a remarkable business opportunity for mobile financial services (MFS). This research focuses on predicting and prioritizing MFS perspective adoption through multi-dimensional consumers’ trust and perceived risk factors concurrently, which concepts found scant in the literature. An integrated technique based on survey questionnaire was suggested whereby the theoretical model was tested employing structural equation modeling (SEM), and the SEM output generated were utilized as inputs for analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to rank MFS perspective. Several antecedents of trust and perceived risk were identified and confirmed. However, perceived time risk has no statistically significant influence on aggregate perceived risk. The findings indicated that dispositional trust and perceived privacy risk impact consumers more than do other precursors of trust and perceived risk respectively. Consumers rely on these two factors probably because they are quite related to consumer personality trait and relevant to services provided. Mobile money transfer is the preferable MFS perspective used in Togo followed by mobile payment, and mobile banking correspondingly based on AHP result. The outcomes underscore that MFS managers require adopting and build trust-risk base in strategically crucial information system when formulating strategies to attract the ever-larger consumer. This study as well offered an innovative new approach to comprehend MFS adoption perspective through the benchmark methodology provided. Keywords: Mobile financial services adoption, SEM (Structural Equation Modeling), AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process), Multi-analytic approach, Trust, Perceived risk, User behavio

User Acceptance of Mobile Broadband in Nigeria

Broadband access has been identified as a fundamental part of any thriving economy because it contributes to GDP.  Besides, mobile broadband has been seen as the means for which developing countries can leapfrog into the post-industrial era. According to the figure released by Nigerian Communications Commission in April, 2014, the number of mobile internet subscribers had dropped from 64.5 to 63 million as at February, 2014 and steadily rose to 87 million in April, 2015. Considering those figures and comparing it with the national population figure of about 178 million, and the mobile telephone subscription figure of about 145 million in Nigeria, the rate of acceptance of mobile broadband is not an appreciable penetration rate to substantially drive the adoption of other e-services like mobile commerce, mobile payment services throughout the entire country, except for few cities. To bridge this gap and foster faster rate of acceptance of mobile internet, this paper sought to investigate the factors that could stimulate the intention of users to use mobile broadband in Nigeria by empirically validating an integrated research model, adopted from the unified theory of acceptance and use technology (UTUAT) model by integrating mobile broadband motivation, government support and perceived price value constructs. Online survey data was collected from 376 respondents and analyzed using partial least square (SmartPLS) technique. Result shows that mobile broadband motivation, government support, perceived price value, social influence’ and facilitating conditions are significant determinants of intention behavior to use mobile broadband in Nigeria. The findings of this research are vital to telecoms and broadband service providers in understanding the factors that stimulate people’s behavior for subscribing to mobile internet and for deploying infrastructures and services; it will also help government and telecoms regulators to streamline their policy towards meeting these factors. To the academia, this integrated research model presents an extended view of the UTAUT model for investigating the determinants of broadband acceptance in developing countries. Keywords: mobile broadband, motivation, government support, Nigeri

On the Role of Context in the Design of Mobile Mashups

This paper presents a design methodology and an accompanying platform for the design and fast development of Context-Aware Mobile mashUpS (CAMUS). The approach is characterized by the role given to context as a first-class modeling dimension used to support i) the identification of the most adequate resources that can satisfy the users' situational needs and ii) the consequent tailoring at runtime of the provided data and functions. Context-based abstractions are exploited to generate models specifying how data returned by the selected services have to be merged and visualized by means of integrated views. Thanks to the adoption of Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) techniques, these models drive the flexible execution of the final mobile app on target mobile devices. A prototype of the platform, making use of novel and advanced Web and mobile technologies, is also illustrated

Experimenting with mashup features in the mobile space

Social network websites like Facebook and MySpace are widely used worldwide and the mashup content aggregation technology is gaining attention by many software developers and CTOs which are looking at it as a potential replacement of portal technologies. At the same time, social network websites are attracting the interest of some firms and CRM software vendors. With flat-rate pricing offers for mobile data traffic by the most important mobile telephony operators a growth in demand of mobile data services is expected. The aim of this thesis is to develop a mobile mashup of context aware news provisioning and social networking services to be integrated into an existing mobile mall software. First we introduce social network analysis, the theory lying behind social networks, and its most relevant findings. We define what is a social network website and how it differs from a mobile social network. To understand what influences the adoption of mobile data services a model based on the Triandis theory of explaining human behaviour is introduced and used. We will then analyse the state of the art in social network websites, event planning services and technologies to deliver news from different sources. The analysis will enable us to identify what are the most important services to include directly in the mashup and which ones have to be developed internally. Lastly we introduce the technologies used to develop the mobile mashup application and display the most relevant design and development work done during the thesis

A Consumer Perspective on Mobile Market Evolution

In 2007 (Mazzoni, Castaldi, Addeo) we performed a wide research on consumer behavior in the Italian mobile communication market. Using a multidimensional segmentation approach, we identified three consumer clusters according to lifestyles, mobile phone use motivations and product attributes. One of the most interesting finding was that two clusters out of three were characterized by a minor propensity to an integrated and service-oriented use of mobile communication. In other words, some consumers conceived mobile phone not only as a simple communication devices, but more like a technologically advanced multipurpose tool. In mid-2000s Italian mobile companies and operators tried to push mobile communication market toward an integrated use, mostly relying on videophone communication. Although videophone communication had a very low impact on mobile market, integrated and service oriented use of cellular phones are becoming more and more the pillars of mobile communication market. Considering that the mobile communication market changes quickly under the spur of many technological innovations, new challenges or opportunities stem from the exploitation of innovations in mobile devices. The service economy (Fuchs, 1968; Gustafsson & Johnson, 2003), that implies the shift of manufacturers from goods selling to services delivering, is one of those challenges for mobile industry. Mainly since 2007, with the iPhone introduction, the “servitization” (Vandermerwe & Rada, 1988) has been an extending trend (Neely, 2007) among the mobile phones suppliers as they try to mix in their offerings either good and service, integrating phone devices with increasing software and applications. In a supplier perspective, this shift has an important impact on economical aspects, in term of cash-flows growth, or additional revenues - those streaming from selling more complementary services for products. Nevertheless, servitization also brings implications in the operation management, in the innovation strategy and compels providers to revise their business model also. But what is happening in the consumer perspective? A mass-market product like the mobile phone becomes extremely customizable by the complementary services that can be integrated into it: software updating allows customers to entail the mobile phone functionality on their unique needs. Analyzing the consumer perspective through the adoption of a behavior model above outlined (Mazzoni, 1995) and already applied and tested into the exploration of mobile market (Mazzoni, Castaldi, Addeo, 2007), this chapter aims - through a literature review - to understand how changes in the offerings can affect the three dimensions: lifestyles, use motivations and product attributes. Particularly, if shifts in product attributes are clear and evident, the chapter aims to consider the impact in the way in which customer’s expectations, needs and use of mobile phones are transforming

Consumers' adoption and continuance intention to use mobile payment services

The African continent continues to register an increase in the uptake of smartphones and other personal digital assistants, all of which are capable of making mobile payments. Consequently, mobile payment service providers continue to hold optimistic views about the future of mobile payments. Despite the proliferation of smartphone adoption in African countries, little is known about the factors that influence the adoption and continued use of the novel technology such as mobile payment services, particularly in developing countries such as South Africa. Although there are growing research streams in this regard, there have been conflicting reports, inconsistencies and contradictions in previous research findings that need to be explained. In particular, there is growing research examining factors that predict the adoption and continuance intention to use new technologies such as mobile payment services. These studies are predominantly Western-based. Not much research has been extended to the African continent to determine how generalisable the results are to a wider context. Due to cultural, social and economic differences, Western theories may not be equally applicable in developing countries. This calls for more research to validate and continuously update and streamline Western theories in developing countries. The primary purpose of this study is to determine the predictors of the adoption and continuance intention to use mobile payment services. The study uses a three-step approach. First, the study tests the ability of the modified technology readiness index (TRI) to predict adoption, and also tests the moderating effect of gender on the predictors of the adoption of mobile payment services. Second, the study tests the applicability and ability of the extended expectation-confirmation model, in the context of information technology (E-ECM-IT), to predict continuance intention to use mobile payment services. The moderating effect of gender on the predictors of continuance intention is also examined. After the validation of the two models, a synthesised model of the TRI and the E-ECM-IT is proposed to predict both adoption and continuance intention in a single study – a novel perspective not covered in depth thus far in existing research. Data were collected from a convenience sample by using an online South African consumer panel of an international research firm that was contracted to collect data for analysis. A total of 416 respondents were sampled, comprising consumers aged 18 years and older who owned a credit card and who had downloaded a mobile payment application (‘app’) at the time of the survey. The sampling units were taken from all nine provinces of South Africa. A self-administered online questionnaire with seven-point Likert scales was used to obtain information pertaining to their adoption and continuance intention to use mobile payment services. First, the study used multiple regression analysis to test the hypotheses set to measure adoption of mobile payment services, grounded in the modified TRI, and to examine the moderating effect of gender on the predictors. Second, a partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach was employed to predict continuance intention, in which the moderating effect of gender was also examined. Third, a structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to validate the proposed integrated model, measuring both adoption and continuance intention. This study found the main adoption drivers to be convenience and compatibility. The key barriers to adoption include insecurity, perceived cost, and perceived risk. Contrary to previous reports, this study found that optimism, innovativeness and discomfort are not significant predictors of the adoption of mobile payment services. The results of the regression analysis show that the drivers of mobile payment services are more important to consumers than inhibitors in influencing adoption. It is therefore recommended that service providers focus more on the convenience and compatibility of mobile payments to enhance adoption levels. Of the eight predictors tested in this study, the results reveal that gender only moderates the effect of convenience on the adoption of mobile payment services. With regard to continuance intention, the majority of the hypothesised paths were confirmed except one: the relationship between perceived ease of use and continuance intention. Although not expected in this study, this result corroborates findings of other previous studies in the literature that suggest that the impact of ease of use on continuance intention to use any new technology is lessened as users gain more experience in using that technology. The results suggest that the expectation confirmation model in the context of information technology (ECM-IT) could be an alternative model to the E-ECM-IT to predict continuance. This is because the ECM-IT does not include perceived ease of use as a post-adoption antecedent to predict continuance intention. Thus, the results underscore the importance of re-testing and validating Western models in the African context. Satisfaction remains the most significant predictor of continuance intention. Therefore, service providers must focus more on customer satisfaction by avoiding transaction and billing errors or security breaches, among other factors, to enhance continued use. The moderating effect of gender on predictors of continuance intention was also examined, and results show that gender does not play a significant moderating role.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2018.Marketing ManagementPhDUnrestricte

Potential adoption of mobile health technologies for public healthcare in Burundi.

Doctor of Philosophy in Information Systems and Technology. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2016.Mobile health (or mHealth) describes the utilisation of wireless mobile communications devices in public and private healthcare. These include, but are not limited to, mobile telephones, personal digital assistants, and patient monitoring devices. Although the outcomes of mHealth interventions in developing countries have generally been assessed as positive, there is a need for designing mHealth interventions that are specifically tailored to the context of individual countries. It is in this context that this research investigates the potential adoption of mHealth technologies to provide healthcare services in Burundi from the institutional level point of view (Burundi’s Ministry of Health and Fight Against AIDS (MoH&A) and the Ministry of Communication (MoC)), users point of view (primary healthcare professionals) and mobile technology point of view (mobile technology providers). Using three theoretical frameworks i.e. the Capabilities Approach (CA) model, the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this research firstly identifies the determinants and impediments to mHealth adoption in Burundi. It further describes how mHealth could be used to address the current challenges that the Burundi’s Ministry of Health faces in terms of providing public healthcare services. It further proposes a framework for the adoption of mHealth in Burundi. At the institutional level and mobile technology point of view, semi-structured interviews were held with civil servants from the two Ministries and with mobile technology services providers. At the users’ level, a survey was conducted with primary healthcare professionals from 47 primary healthcare centres. Findings reveal that mHealth adoption can contribute to disease prevention, disease management and the provision of quality healthcare in Burundi. Although there is limited knowledge of mHealth capabilities within the Burundi’s public healthcare sector, there is a general willingness towards the adoption of mHealth notwithstanding challenges associated with its adoption. Although DOI construct-related factors such as relative advantage, compatibility, trialability and observability significantly influence the adoption of mHealth in Burundi, complexity does not. In addition, performance expectancy, effort expectancy and facilitating conditions are UTAUT constructs that significantly influence the adoption of mHealth adoption. The research advocates for an integrated and collaborative approach to addressthe impediments to mHealth adoption in Burundi

Determinants of mobile commerce adoption among university students in Malaysia

Mobile commerce has an increasing importance and development in offering a new platform to sell products effectively and efficiently. Despite numerous studies in the area of technology adoption, little is known about mobile commerce adoption in Malaysia and appropriate models that could explain the behaviours of young generations on the use of mobile commerce. This study attempts to propose a conceptual model for mobile commerce adoption by adapting the integrated TAM3 model and using Individual-Collectivism at Individual Level (ICAIL) as the moderating variable in the context of mobile commerce in Malaysia. In addition, this research also identifies factors that affect the perceived usefulness (i.e. subjective norm, image, output quality, result demonstrability), and perceived ease of use (selfefficacy, anxiety, perception of external control, playfulness) in the context of mobile commerce adoption among university students in Malaysia. A sample of 550 students from four universities in Malaysia was surveyed through a self-administrated questionnaire. The findings of this study found eight direct significant relationships between the tested variables, while nine hypotheses were not accepted. Firstly, in terms of perceived usefulness variable, image showed a significant relationship, whereas subjective norm, output quality and result demonstrability showed vice versa. Secondly, for perceived ease of use variable, factors of self-efficacy, perception of external control and playfulness showed significant relationships, while anxiety was found to be insignificant. Thirdly, while subjective norm had significant relationship with image, perceived usefulness indicated insignificant relationship with behavioural intention. Fourthly, perceived ease of use had significant relationships with perceived usefulness and behavioural intention. Finally, the perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, subjective norm and behavioural intention showed insignificant relationship with the moderating variable, ICAIL. As a conclusion, the results from this study are important to the advancement of knowledge to the mobile commerce companies, services provider, financial services and government