Mobile Internet Users Research Articles

A comparison of the different versions of popular technology acceptance models

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a complete and chronological view of the evolution of the main acceptance and use of technology models, from the 1970s to the present day. Design/methodology/approach – A comparison of partial least squares (linear model) and WarpPLS (non-linear model) has been run for each acceptation of technology model: TRA, TAM0, TAM1, TAM2, TAM3, UTAUT, UTAUT2. The data set collects the information of mobile internet users. Findings – The authors have concluded that UTAUT2 model obtains a better explanation power than the rest of technology acceptance models (TAMs) in the sample of mobile internet users. Furthermore, all models have a better explanation power using non-linear relationships than the traditional linear approach. Originality/value – The vast majority of research published to date with regard to the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) are based on structural equation models assuming linear relationships between variables. The originality of this study is that it incorporates non-linear relationships and compares the same models using both approaches.

A Secure NFC-based Electronic Voucher Solution

As the number of mobile Internet users grows rapidly, more and more service providers are distributing electronic vouchers to consumers via mobile phones, which eliminates the need to carry various plastic or paper-based vouchers. Currently, electronic vouchers are available mainly in the form of text message or QR code. However, these types of vouchers are usually stored in the mobile phone that lacks secure storage and trusted execution environment. In addition, it is not efficient enough to input voucher code manually or get voucher QR code scanned when the consumer redeems the voucher. Near Field Communication (NFC) is a short-range wireless communication technology that simplifies the way of interaction between the electronic devices and guarantees a fast and secure information exchange. In this paper, we propose an NFCbased electronic voucher solution, which provides capabilities of distributing, managing and redeeming vouchers in a secure manner. The security of the voucher is ensured by storing it in the Secure Element (SE). With the proposed system, the consumer is enabled to redeem the voucher just by touching the NFC reader at the point of sale with his/her NFC phone, which offers better user experience than traditional electronic voucher solutions.

Predicting behavioral intention of mobile Internet usage

The main purpose of this research is to analyze an innovative model to explain behavioral intention to use mobile Internet, using as antecedents the operating system of smart phones, self-image of respondents and price value, taking into account gender as a moderator variable. The partial least squares approach was applied to test the research model. All the research hypotheses have been contrasted, and the obtained results support the proposed model. Males using iPhone have the greatest behavioral intention of using mobile Internet.

스마트폰을 통한 아파트 공지 및 의사결정 서비스 개발

As of June 2014, the rate of mobile internet users aged 6 and over is estimated at 98.3% (up by 2.8%p from the previous year). The vast majority of the teens (99.7%), the 20s (99.8%), the 30s (99.8%), and the 40s (98.1%) answer they use the smart phone. The existing notice methods have utilized noticeboard in the apartment. It is difficult to support real-time notice. The App has a merit to be accessed in anywhere, so that it is quite suitable for services requiring real-time support. This paper describes a development of apartmenrt notice and decision-making service using smart phone. We study previous researches about apartmenrt notice Apps. Then, we described the notice flow diagram and decision-making flow diagram. Apt admin sends the important notice message to residents using apt notice app in real-time. Apt admin writes the decision item in the admin web site. It pushes decision item to residents using apt notice app in real-time. The residents vote and send it to Apt admin. Apt admin counts the votes and send the collect the vote result to to residents.

Empirical Research on the Influence Factors of E-commerce Development in China

Due to multiple factors affecting e-commerce development, in the environment of network growth, spe- cifically the dramatic increase of mobile Internet users, how to grasp the key influence factors and enhance the healthy development of e-commerce in China? This paper discusses the influence factors of e-commerce develop- ment from the perspectives of information infrastructure construction, economic level, educational level, urbanization level, technology level, living standards, human capital level and price index. Based on the time series data from year 2000 to 2012, this paper proposes the influence factor model of e-commerce development by partial least square re- gression, and analyzes the influence factors using correlation coefficient and variable importance in projection. The research findings show that the most critical factors affecting e-commerce development in China are mobile phone penetration, per capita disposable income, number of computers per hundred households and urbanization rate; and real GDP per capita, knowledge index and Internet penetration also have a certain impact on e-commerce develop- ment. This paper reveals the key factors affecting e-commerce development and puts forward some reasonable sug- gestions in the aspects of information infrastructure construction, mobile e-commerce development, people's living standards and cultural quality. The influence of e-commerce on economy has gradually been obvious and deepened with the global electronic ten- dency. E-commerce is becoming more and more popular in the world because of its convenience and without time and space limitation. E-commerce is a new economic activity and has become an important part of strategic emerging indus- tries and modern distribution ways in China. With the rapid development of Internet technology, e-commerce with the fusion of real economic activity has become an important driving force to adjust economic structure. During the 11th five-year plan, China's e-commerce development has main- tained a good momentum, with the turnover increased by nearly 2.5 times. The concept of triple-networks convergence and the development of Internet and cloud computing tech- nology have produced important influence on e-commerce development, and expanded the space of e-commerce devel- opment. With the deepening development of industrializa- tion and informatization, urbanization, marketization and internationalization, e-commerce will enter a period of rapid development in China. According to the 12th five-year de- velopment plan of e-commerce, China's e-commerce turn- over will quadruple and exceed 18 trillion yuan by 2015 (1). Under this background, the empirical research on influence factors of e-commerce development in China has strong practical significance.

In-store mobile usage: Downloading and usage intention toward mobile location-based retail apps

The purposes of this study were to examine whether characteristics of mobile location-based services (LBS) retail apps—time convenience, interactivity, compatibility, and effort expectancy were related to consumers’ affective and cognitive involvement, which in turn were related to their intention to download and use mobile LBS retail apps. Also investigated was the moderating effect of experiential orientation on the links between consumers’ affective and cognitive involvements and usage intention. An online survey was administered to mobile Internet users (n=853) from a U.S. consumer panel. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed model. Perceived interactivity and compatibility were influential antecedents that shaped consumers’ affective involvement with mobile LBS retail apps, which in turn influenced their intention to download and use the retail apps. The relationship between affective involvement and usage intention was greater for mobile consumers with high experiential orientation than for those with low experiential orientation.

Drivers of Mobile-Commerce Acceptance in India: An Empirical Study

Over the past few years mobile phones have transformed our day to day life and working. With the advancement in wireless and mobile technologies, mobile phones are reshaping the modes how corporates do business and also the ways how consumers interact with businesses. Today, Mobile Commerce (m-commerce) has become the new trend which is expected to make significant impact on the business landscape. In India, the Mobile Commerce market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 71.06 percent by the year 2016. According to a report from Internet Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the number of mobile internet users in India is expected to double between July 2013 and June 2014 (as depicted in fig 1). There is substantial increase in smartphone users in India. Both of these factors are associated with greater adoption for mobile-commerce in India. M-commerce refers to the usage of a mobile devices for making transactions wirelessly. Chaffey (2009, p.6) defines Mobile commerce as transactions and communications conducted using mobile devices such as laptops, PDAs, and mobile phones, and typically with a wireless connection. Tsalgatidou & Pitoura (2001) indicated that “mobile electronic commerce (MEC) operates partially in a different environment than Internet e-commerce due to the special characteristics and constraints of mobile terminals and wireless networks and the context, situations and circumstances in which people use their hand-held terminals.” Consumers are gradually using mobile devices to connect their online and offline markets. Today, a large number of people are using their mobile phones to look up product information, compare prices and even make online purchases while window shopping in an offline store. Presently, Indian users indulge in mobile purchases for low value transactions such as entertainment services, games, and music downloads. Mobile commerce is quite popular in the developed countries but in India it is in nascent stage and yet to take off. This study captures users’ acceptance behaviour towards M-commerce by applying theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model developed by Ajzen (1991). Data was collected online by using a questionnaire. Data was analysed with SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 18.0. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used as main analytical tool to analyze the cause and effect relation of the research model constructs. Results indicate that attitude and perceived behavioural control have positive and significant impact on individual’s intention while subjective norm has a positive but not significant impact on intention. Further, intention is found to be significantly and positively related with behaviour.

Mobile UDC: Online media content distribution among Finnish mobile Internet users

This paper examines the significance of user-distributed content (UDC) for news consumption, thereby offering an innovative take on mass communication and the participatory audience. From the viewpoint of media organizations, UDC is a process by which the mass media converge with online social networks through the intentional use of social media and other platforms and services in an effort to expand the distribution of media content. In order to focus specifically on mobile news consumption, this paper sheds light on the novel phenomenon of mobile user-distributed content (mobile UDC). Mobile UDC is manifested in mobile users’ ability to share online media content on a perpetual and ubiquitous basis. The study utilizes the results from a survey carried out with Finnish Internet users. The main finding is that mobile Internet users are more active in UDC than those who do not use the Internet with mobile devices. It is thus argued that mobile UDC, as a developing concept, can be used to explain the practices that are characteristic of mobile online news consumption.

Exploring Mobile Internet Use Among Marginalised Young People in Post‐Conflict Sierra Leone

AbstractAlthough the use of mobile internet is emerging as a new area of exploration for accessing the impact of mobile telephony on people in developing countries, study on how it is adopted and utilised in post‐conflict context is rare. This paper draws upon domestication theory and ethnographic approach to explore the adoption, popularity and use of mobile internet by marginalised young people in post‐conflict Sierra Leone. It argues that such an inquiry is important for understanding how the behavioural patterns of marginalised young people are shaped by the technology that is available to them, and equally how they shape technology to respond to their needs. While the findings reveal an increasing popularity and usage of mobile internet among marginalised young people to build communication networks, access information and entertainment content; some of the users are confronted with multiple impediments that mitigate their capabilities to access and use mobile internet productively. Notable examples of such barriers include high cost of internet enabled mobile phone, low level ICT and literacy skills and limited knowledge in the productive use of mobile internet. The paper concludes that if the potential of mobile internet is to be exploited for productive livelihood improvement, then, there is a need to respond appropriately to these challenges by providing cheaper and durable internet enabled mobile phones, create awareness and facilitate training to improve on the literacy and ICT skills of the users.

The research of mobile internet user's behavior: From the perspective of individual's regulatory focus

ABSTRACTAlthough many reports showed that the mobile Internet market has great potential to appeal to a broader range of users, there are few studies on mobile Internet behavior. In this paper, we mainly researched the effects of mobile Internet user's motivation orientation on behavior, drawing on regulatory focus theory and combining with individual innovation, perceived risk, perceived value and connection quality. Then we used the Structural Equation Model to verify the hypothesis. The results showed that mobile Internet user's motivation orientation directly influences individual innovation and usage intention. Compared with the prevention focus users, promotion focus users’ innovation is higher and their intention to use mobile Internet is more intense. These results could provide further guidance for mobile Internet providers’ operation strategies.

Mapping mobile internet usage preferences of educated Urban youth in India

This study was carried out to map the internet usage preferences of the educated urban youth in India in relation to a number of parameters that included the types of devices used, types of websites accessed, types of content viewed, and the types of features used. The study focused on the urban educated youth because it is this segment of the population which is not only the driving force of the economy and the market but also the quickest to adopt innovation in technology. The study is significant in view of the changes in the form and content of information available over the Internet as a result of the changes in the Indian telecommunication industry ever since the advent of Internet. The study was based on a sample survey of 300 youth randomly chosen from among the population of 2500 students in Amity University, Gurgaon, Haryana, India. As it is an exploratory study, the data collected from the respondents on the basis of a questionnaire was analyzed with the help of descriptive statistical tools of percentages and averages. The study revealed that the internet usage preferences of educated urban youth in India are largely a function of the technological innovations. Depending on the forms of content supported by the new devices that are making their way into the market, the youth modifies its internet usage preferences. This means that online communicators, including those in the area of marketing communication and the media, need to modify their messages to suit the devices in vogue to reach out to the largest number of youth and web developers need to constantly evolve new software solutions to suit the technological innovations.

A Survey of Mobile Internet Usage among Undergraduate Students in Nigerian Universities

A Survey of Mobile Internet Usage among Undergraduate Students in Nigerian Universities

Acceptance analysis of mobile internet in China

As an important issue of mobile communication, communication quality has received very little attention in existing studies regarding users' acceptance of mobile internet. Our proposed model introduces perceived communication quality (PCQ) as a new construct into acceptance analysis. The investigation was conducted in China, where mobile communication quality varies from place to place due to unbalanced economic development. The research findings indicate that PCQ has significant impacts on perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, ease of use and continued usage intention of mobile internet users. Furthermore, the research findings reveal that PCQ plays an almost as important role as perceived ease of use, and a more important role than perceived enjoyment and perceived usefulness in the users' continued usage intention.

Dealing with self-report bias in mobile Internet acceptance and usage studies

Self-report bias is a known validity threat to IS usage studies. Respondents may find it even more difficult to assess their actual usage of mobile services as these can be used in highly variable contexts. This paper examines the extent of self-report bias in mobile acceptance and usage studies and suggests counter-measures. We demonstrate that several Type-1 and Type-2 errors are made when relying on self-reports rather than log data. Weighing can partly mitigate self-report bias as older people are more accurate than younger people. Log data replace self-reports in order to reduce self-report bias in mobile acceptance studies.

Attitudes toward mobile advertising among users versus non-users of the mobile Internet

Marketing communication strategy via mobile phone constitutes a promising approach to companies because it enables to reach appropriate audiences at the right time and place. The main aim of this research is to determine key factors that create new opportunities for commercial communications by considering consumer attitudes toward mobile advertising. The proposed causal model of attitudes and intentions toward mobile advertising highlights potential differences between users of smartphones with Internet capabilities and non-users. The theoretical model integrates the influences of control, reference groups, perceived added value, and ease of use on attitudes toward mobile advertising, as well as the relationship of these effects with intentions toward advertising, mediated by mobile Internet usage. The sample is 612 respondents who receive advertising by their mobile phones. Our results reveal, similar to other research, that attitudes exert positive influences on intentions to receive advertising, especially among those who already have access to the Internet on their mobile phones. However, regarding these variables, the experience does not contribute to positive attitudes.

The Mobile Conversion, Internet Regression, and the 'Re-Passification' of the Media Audience

For an increasing proportion of the population worldwide, mobile-based forms of Internet access represent the primary means of going online. Furthermore, for some sectors, mobile-based forms of Internet access are the only means for connecting online. Much has been written about the tremendous benefits, and even the transformative capacity, associated with this global mobile diffusion. Though there is much to be gained from what might be called the ongoing mobile conversion, in which mobile Internet access supplants wireline access via PCs/laptops, there are significant drawbacks as well. This paper seeks to offer a somewhat contrarian perspective to the overwhelmingly positive discourse that has accompanied discussions of the rise of mobile Internet access. Specifically, this paper argues that the transition from fixed to mobile forms of Internet access represents an evolutionary regression across some key dimensions. In particular, the mobile conversion brings with it a significant step backwards in terms of the activity and autonomy that the Internet has, to this point, brought to media audiences. It is this re-passification of the audience that is the focal point of this analysis. In addressing these issues, this paper begins with a theoretical grounding in media and audience evolution. Specifically, this paper begins with an examination of the institutional tensions and resistance patterns that have historically characterized the dynamic between media and audiences, with a particular emphasis on the extent to which media systems have facilitated or discouraged audience activity and content creation. Next, this paper examines the evidence that the dynamics of mobile Internet content provision and usage are fundamentally different from the traditional PC-based Internet in ways that represent a regression of the Internet’s capabilities, particularly in terms of facilitating a more active, content-creating and distributing role for the audience. It is suggested that relative to the PC-based model of Internet access and usage, the mobile Internet is, in many ways, a significant step back towards a more passive audience model in which the traditional boundaries between content providers and audiences that the Internet has thus far helped to break down are to some extent being re-established.

The Current State of Affairs in Mobile Market Research

The aim of this working paper is to give an overview over the current state of affairs on the topic of Mobile Market Research (MMR). At first, recent trends in stationary and mobile internet usage and the ownership of different web-enabled devices in Germany are depicted. It is carved out that the rise in mobile device ownership and mobile internet usage might have similar impact on the global market research industry as the introduction of the stationary internet at the end of the last millennium. Moreover, a first systematization of the extensive field of MMR is given. Thereafter, the advantages and disadvantages of different web survey modes will be discussed. At first, focus is put on web surveys to which the largest potential in the market research mass market has been attributed. Here, the advantages and disadvantages of stationary web surveys are highlighted in comparison to other, already established survey modes. Thereafter, the various advantages and disadvantages of mobile web surveys are similarly discussed and compared to stationary web surveys. At this, it is pointed out that mobile web surveys differ from their stationary counterparts. Hence, research results regarding the latter cannot be transferred to the prior and vice versa. Moreover, possible areas of application of MMR are introduced to the reader. Finally, the new field of MMR is identified as an extensive research gap in the large body on survey research literature. This gap will then be narrowed down to outcome rates of surveys and individual participation as primary future research targets. At the end of the chapter a literature review on outcome rates in MMR will be conducted. At this, special focus is put on the shortcomings of past studies which a future best practice shall overcome.

Applications, Smart Phones and Value Assessment: Digital Information in Academic Studies

In our presentation we focus on ways of decision mechanism how university students can evaluate the authenticity of digital information. To have a deep insight we made questionnaires which are the most appropriate way to get a big amount of relevant information on the research focus, in a relatively economic form. It is an underresearched, unrevealed area and a key issue as we do not have a wide knowledge of value systems of mobile internet users, the relationship between phone and computer applications and learning processes. Present statistics and social science publications are mainly focused on the increasing number of technical communication devices, that of applications and frequency of checking websites, but no research is made on users’ evaluation mechanism. Based on our questionnaires completed by university students we try to answer questions like how can students decide on authenticity of digital information? How can they use it efficiently for their studies? Based on the results you have the opportunity to develop new teaching methods in academic education for the future.

Providing service assurance in mobile opportunistic networks

Concomitant to the growing popularity of Internet enabled mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, PDAs, portable media players etc., however, are the concerns about availability of Internet access points for these devices. Network traffic originating from these devices has marked a multi-fold increase over the past few years. This increase in network traffic has in turn resulted in increased content availability and maintainability cost to the cellular service providers. Major challenges faced by mobile Internet users are limited hardware resources (3G or LTE) or exhaustion of carrier enforced data plans. Thus, users often either overpay for service availability such as (3G or LTE) or suffer incapability of accessing Internet services. In this paper, we argue that the ad-hoc network comprising of spatio-temporally co-existing users, identified as “Familiar Strangers” could be harnessed for viral dissemination of mobile application data. We present the architecture of a collaborative data sharing framework which comprises of two services, namely SmartParcel and CollabAssure. “SmartParcel” allows users to share mobile application data with their spatio-temporally co-existing peers. This service allows a user to receive application specific data from its neighboring nodes instead of cloud infrastructure. This reduces the network overhead generated by a large number of devices and thus, reducing content maintainability and dissemination costs at the server side. This system, however, suffers from the “tragedy of commons” problem, to overcome which we present the design of CollabAssure”. “CollabAssure” is an auction based, ad-hoc market model, assuring service by giving users incentives to “sublet” their surplus data plans to the users without Internet access. CollabAssure service allows users to participate in ad hoc auctions with their spatio-temporally co-existing neighbors as buyers or sellers of the data bandwidth. This in turn reduces under utilization overhead of the overpaying mobile data users. Users with limited or no data plans also benefit from CollabAssure service by receiving services from ad-hoc peers. We perform trace based simulations by varying data refresh rates, allowed server connections, probability of user participation and analyze the data availability at different times of the day. Our simulation results advocate a higher Internet data service is ensured by using our proposed data sharing framework.

Qos-driven SCTP-based multimedia delivery over heterogeneous wireless networks

Stream Control Transport Protocol (SCTP)-based handover is supposedly the best suit for current mobile Internet users. However, prevalent SCTP-based handover solutions mostly evaluate candidate networks by a function of multiple attributes such as available bandwidth, delay, etc., which tend to vary often in burst and might cause the instability of handover decisions. Moreover, the SCTP congestion control strategy leads to sudden degradation of users’ quality of experience for multimedia streaming service because of abrupt and frequent strong fluctuations in the transmission rate. In this paper, we propose a novel QoS-driven SCTPbased handover solution (SCTP-QD) appropriate for heterogeneous wireless multimedia transmission. A new network service and transport layer QoS-aware model is designed to help SCTP-QD accurately analyze the service stability and data transmission capacity for each path. A proper QoS-driven handover decision model is introduced in SCTP-QD in order to improve the SCTP handover efficiency while reducing unnecessary handoffs and fail-over probability. A proposal is finally addressed to help SCTP-QD avoid the slow start phase whenever handover occurs. The simulation results show that SCTP-QD outperforms existing solutions in terms of data delivery performance.