Integration and consistency between web and mobile services

Abstract

Purpose – Attracted by tremendous market opportunities of mobile business, many web services providers have started to expand their web services from traditional PC-based environment into the mobile-based environment. However, success in the web services cannot guarantee the success in the mobile services. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that influence consumer evaluation and use of mobile shopping services in a web-mobile service extension context. Design/methodology/approach – Based on categorization theory, this paper focusses on the role of integration and consistency between web and mobile services. A research model was created and empirically tested on data collected from 298 mobile shopping users in China. Findings – The structural equation modeling analysis indicates that evaluation of source (web service quality) positively affect evaluation of target (perceived mobile service quality and flow in mobile services). The study also found that the relationships between source and target (perceived integration and perceived consistency) play an important role in determining evaluation of the target, which in turn shapes intention to use mobile services. Research limitations/implications – The survey is based on mobile shopping consumers. Caution is required in any effort to generalize the findings to other research contexts. Factors influencing a consumer's extension or adoption decisions in regard to different mobile services may not be the same, or the degree of influence may differ. Continued studies can test and compare our findings in different mobile services contexts. Practical implications – The results of the findings provide specific methods for managing the process of web-mobile service extension. The results also indicate the importance of perceived consistency in shaping consumers’ evaluation of the extended mobile services in practical environments. Originality/value – The present study extends the categorization theory to a multi-channel context and examines mobile services adoption from a cross-environment perspective. It considers evaluation of source, evaluation of target, and the relationships between source and target, which enriches the innovation adoption literature by providing a holistic insight into the evaluation and use of mobile services.