Mobile internet acceptance in Korea

Abstract

PurposeThe increasing number of M‐internet subscribers and the fast growing revenue proves the great potential of M‐internet as well as the enormous business opportunity in Korea. The success in this business is dependent on understanding the concerns of customers and identifying the factors that promote the use of M‐internet. Thus, this paper aims to examine the human motivations underlying individual behavioral intention to use M‐internet in Korea.Design/methodology/approachEmploys TAM (technology acceptance model) as the base model and develops a more comprehensive version of TAM to better reflect M‐internet context. The model employs perceived playfulness, contents quality, system quality, internet experience and perceived price level, in addition to perceived usefulness and ease of use. Investigates the causal relationships among the constructs used in this revised TAM and identifies the direct and indirect causal role of the constructs in developing the intention to use M‐internet.FindingsFinds that attitude toward M‐internet is the most significant factor in predicting the behavioral intention to use M‐internet. Also identifies the positive role of the perceived playfulness and the negative role of perceived price level in developing the attitude as well as the intention. The positive causal relationships of “perceived contents quality – perceived usefulness”, “perceived system quality– perceived usefulness” and “internet experience–perceived ease of use” were also witnessed.Practical implicationsConsidering the explosive growth of the M‐internet market, well‐established business strategy in M‐internet will deliver great success to the mobile operators. Thus, understanding comprehensive causal relationship among the constructs used in this revised TAM would help managers to better implement the strategic ramifications in promoting M‐internet.Originality/valueDevelops a more comprehensive version of TAM to better reflect M‐internet context in Korea, adding five new constructs and identifies the role of the construct in promoting the use of M‐internet.