Abstract
Background: Many studies have examined the mobile commerce phenomenon and most of these have focused on understanding the organisational and environmental factors that affect its adoption. Few have examined how an individual’s characteristics and their perceived motivational appetite affect their mobile commerce usage and specifically the activities they engage in. Objectives: This study examines the role of demographics (individuals’ characteristics) and motivational factors on mobile commerce usage activities from the South African perspective. Method: An objective approach and a positivistic stance were followed. The research model and instrument from earlier studies by Chong (2013a) were contextualised to suit this study. Data collection was done through an online questionnaire, 88 responses were received and 81 used for data analysis. Results: The findings show that age is significantly related to mobile commerce transactions, and one’s education status influences the following mobile commerce usage activities: transactions and location-based services. One’s gender influences how one uses mobile commerce. A significant relationship between all three motivational variables and mobile commerce usage activities is evident. Conclusion: The findings provide the financial services industry and providers of mobile commerce offerings with a better understanding of the relationships between customer demographics and the mobile commerce activities they engage in. An additional variable of customer income has been identified for future studies to better understand the relationship.
Highlights
Mobile commerce (m-commerce) refers to any transaction conducted on a wireless handheld device (Chong 2013b) and is postulated to have a significant influence on business and society (Bhatti 2015)
Mobile commerce in South Africa and other developing countries could potentially transform these economies because of the contextual characteristics these economies present (Joubert & Van Belle 2013), namely a demographic of low personal computer (PC) and broadband access, a high and growing smartphone penetration percentage, steady advancements made in mobile technology and services and the increase in number of individuals who only access the Internet and its many related services such as instant messaging, and m-commerce, on a mobile device (Kakihara 2014; Kreutzer 2009)
The findings of this study show that there is no significant relationship between age and m-commerce usage activities in terms of content delivery, location-based services and entertainment
Summary
Mobile commerce (m-commerce) refers to any transaction conducted on a wireless handheld device (Chong 2013b) and is postulated to have a significant influence on business and society (Bhatti 2015). Mobile commerce in South Africa and other developing countries could potentially transform these economies because of the contextual characteristics these economies present (Joubert & Van Belle 2013), namely a demographic of low personal computer (PC) and broadband access, a high and growing smartphone penetration percentage, steady advancements made in mobile technology and services and the increase in number of individuals who only access the Internet and its many related services such as instant messaging, and m-commerce, on a mobile device (Kakihara 2014; Kreutzer 2009) This is significant as m-commerce offers many benefits, both for the organisation providing m-commerce service and for end users consuming it. Few have examined how an individual’s characteristics and their perceived motivational appetite affect their mobile commerce usage and the activities they engage in
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