Abstract
Purpose The growing availability of wireless internet services and the great popularization of smartphones and other mobile devices means a greater challenge for mobile service companies that need to identify the factors influencing the use behavior of mobile services. So considering that the level of consumer involvement can lead to differences in service outcome evaluations, this study aims to examine whether consumer involvement with information and communication technologies (ICTs) has a moderating influence on consumer behavior in mobile services Design/methodology/approach The authors propose an integrative model of the usage of mobile services to examine the moderating role of involvement with ICTs. Drawing on a sample of 493 users, two levels of involvement with ICTs were examined; and data were analyzed through multiple-group structural equation modeling. Findings Findings show that the level of consumer involvement with ICTs influences the behavior in the mobile services. Further, the findings support that mobile services’ perceived quality, followed by the service perceived value are the factors with a stronger influence in satisfaction with mobile services, regardless the level of consumer involvement with ICTs. However, the mobile company corporate image has a lower influence. In addition, the results support the partial moderating role of involvement with ICTs in the loyalty toward mobile service providers, suggesting that consumers lowly involved with ICTs experience a greater impact of the service quality on their loyalty. Originality/value The main contribution of this study is the examination of the influence of involvement with technologies in consumer behavior in the mobile services
Highlights
The population of mobile service users runs over several million today
The reason is that the growing availability of wireless internet services, the increasing demand and the popularization of the smartphones and other mobile devices have created a great market for mobile service companies
Smartphones and mobile devices have become communication devices integrated into everyone’s daily life (Kuo et al, 2009), being exponentially adopted by users today. In this increasingly competitive market, the mobile service providers are trying to attract new customers and retain the current ones (Kim et al, 2004), and the ability to provide a high level of user satisfaction is a key issue to differentiate mobile communication services from competitors and enhance customer loyalty (Deng et al, 2010)
Summary
The population of mobile service users runs over several million today. Likewise, the telecommunications service industry is one of the most important sectors, with revenues exceeding US$2tn and a 4 per cent growth rate over the past five years (International Telecommunication Union, 2015). Smartphones and mobile devices have become communication devices integrated into everyone’s daily life (Kuo et al, 2009), being exponentially adopted by users today. In this increasingly competitive market, the mobile service providers are trying to attract new customers and retain the current ones (Kim et al, 2004), and the ability to provide a high level of user satisfaction is a key issue to differentiate mobile communication services from competitors and enhance customer loyalty (Deng et al, 2010). Information and communication technologies (hereafter ICTs) became an integral part of the lives of people, improving their quality of life, being used for the fulfillment of various purposes such as entertainment, work, leisure or social relationships; mobile communication services such as mobile banking or mobile shopping are powered by the advances in ICTs
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