Investigation of factors influencing the adoption of mobile data services

Abstract

The increasing power and rapid advance of mobile devices has changed the way people access information. According to the International Telecommunication Union [18], the number of mobile cellular subscribers worldwide is estimated to reach 5.3 billion, including 940 million subscriptions to 3G services in the end of 2010. Commercialized 3G services are widespread in many countries and users have been rapidly switching to the 3G platform. The development of mobile devices and mobile applications has created great potential market for mobile data services. The objective of this research is to investigate the critical factors that affect consumers' intention to using mobile data service. We build a theoretical framework that considers both the technology acceptance and economics perspectives. We conducted a survey research among the consumers of mobile data services and collected 310 valid questionnaires in late 2010. Our findings are as follows. First, consumers' perceived service availability has a positive impact on perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of mobile data services. Second, switching benefits and perceived ease of use have positive effects on consumers' perceived usefulness of mobile data services. Third, perceived usefulness has a positive effect on the intention to use mobile data services. Overall, our research provides both theoretical and practical insights into the determinants of consumers' intention to use mobile data services.