Mobile Internet Users Research Articles

How Is Mobile User Behavior Different? — A Hidden Markov Model of Mobile Application Usage Dynamics

Mobile application usage is becoming an essential activity in many people’s daily lives. Compared with PC internet, mobile internet usage is ubiquitous, temporally fragmented, and more context-dependent. Thus far research is limited on the mechanism of mobile app usage and the effects of context, even as usage continues to grow. In this paper, we aim to develop a framework to capture the underlying mechanism of mobile app usage, taking into account its unique time-fragmented feature and the possible impacts of contextual factors. To this end, we propose a hidden Markov model (HMM) and calibrate it using a consumer panel that contains real-time app usage information. We find three hidden states driving mobile app usage: utilitarian, social, and hedonic. Consumers have multiple intentions in the utilitarian state but are relatively single-minded in either the social or hedonic state. The state dynamic is volatile: Chains of continuous utilitarian states and hedonic states intercommunicate frequently with densely intermittent social states. Such a volatile state dynamic provides an antecedent for the fragmented-time mobile usage phenomena. Contextual factors—in particular, location and time of day—influence the state dynamic, e.g., its volatility varies across different locations and times of day. In sum, our analysis depicts the following picture: In the mobile internet era, consumers take advantage of relatively long free-time windows for functional and entertainment activities, while exploiting short micro-moments for social activity. Furthermore, with the help of mobile internet technology, consumers seem to: (1) utilize more micro-moments outside the office or in the morning as a complement to work, and (2) reserve more micro-moments in the evening for relaxation and entertainment, all at the expense of social activities.

PENGARUH FAKTOR DEMOGRAFIS PADA ADOPSI LAYANAN BERBASIS TEKNOLOGI PADA PERBANKAN SYARIAH

Mobile phone and internet users in Indonesia continues to grow rapidly. It utilized by the bank to provide technology-based services, so that customers can trade without restriction of place and time. However, like other technologies, customers require adjustment for the adoption of such technology-based services. One of the factors that affect the adoption of technology-based service is the customer demographics.This study investigates the demographic effects of the adoption of mobile banking and internet banking. Data collected in the form of a survey of 44 respondents in Jakarta conducted in March 2015. The uniqueness of the study lies in the analysis that weighed between users on a technology-based service Islamic bank with conventional banks.The results showed demographic characteristics banking customers that use technology-based service in Islamic banks so that it can be followed up to the target or marketing communications.Keywords: Mobile Banking, Internet Banking, Sharia Bank, Technology Adaptation, Marketing, Demographic.

An empirical study on the factors influencing mobile library usage in IoT era

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to construct an information ecology factor-TAM model to explore how information, people, and information environment impact mobile library users’ behavioral intention.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical study based on an information ecology factor-TAM model.FindingsThe results of model test indicate that information, people, and information environment affect users’ behavioral intention to use mobile library in the information ecology environment. This paper provides a new theoretical perspective to understand users’ behavior of mobile library. It also provides practical guidelines to promote the usage of mobile library.Originality/valueInternet of Things makes digital library one important channel for people to obtain information. Mobile internet makes it possible to access a variety of information anytime and anywhere. With the rapid grow of the number of mobile internet users, the usage of mobile library does not grow correspondingly. This paper explores the reasons.

Analysis and Prediction of Mobile Internet Users’ Behavior Preferences

The number of mobile Internet users is mounting, and the behavior preferences of its users also show some new characteristics and a tendency of diversification. In this paper, we combining theoretical research and empirical research, the key factors of mobile Internet users’ behavior preferences would be explored from multiple perspectives, in order to understand the underlying reasons of differences in behavior preferences between different users. Based on those factors and SVM algorithm’ adoption, the mobile Internet users’ behavior preferences would be classified. Finally, some effective suggestions would be put forward in network continued development and personalized service.

Search costs and cost pass-through: Evidence for the Iranian poultry market

This study employs the per capita number of mobile internet users as a proxy for search costs to examine the potential impact of new information technologies on cost pass-through on the Iranian poultry market. We find that the per capita number of mobile internet users in space and time leads to lower prices and a higher cost pass-through. Deviations from the price-cost equilibrium reduce more quickly when access to the mobile internet becomes more widespread. All results support the hypothesis that new information technologies have positive effects on market competition.

Factors Affecting the Purchase Intention of Virtual Goods in Mobile Game Clash Royale

Concerning Indonesia‘s rapid growth of mobile internet usage and also a growing mobile game market, this research aims to analyze the influence of Customer-to-Customer interaction (C2C) towards the purchase intention of virtual goods in a mobile game. It proposes a conceptual model integrating variables that have been studied in previous research on purchase intention, consumer engagement, brand image, and also C2C interaction, the latter of which plays a critical role, but has received less mobile game attention. The conceptual model has been tested using SmartPLS to a database of 200 players in Indonesia. The results show that consumer engagement, brand image is associated with C2C interaction and purchase intention in mobile game Clash Royale.

Increasing intolerance of uncertainty over time: the potential influence of increasing connectivity

Anxiety levels have increased for several decades, despite objective indicators of historically unprecedented safety. A perceived inability to tolerate uncertainty or distress motivates individuals experiencing anxiety to engage in safety behaviors. Mobile phones provide unrestricted access to safety cues intended to reduce uncertainty and therein anxiety; however, recurrent engagement in reassurance seeking behaviors paradoxically increases anxiety. The current research was designed to assess whether self-reported intolerance of uncertainty (IU) levels may have been increasing and, if so, whether the increases correlate positively with mobile phone penetration and Internet usage. A cross-temporal meta-analysis was conducted using data from 52 North American studies exploring IU as well as social indicator data from several public sources. A statistically significant increase in IU levels occurred from 1999 to 2014, correlated with increases in mobile phone penetration and Internet usage. As hypothesized, IU levels appeared to be increasing over time and the increases correlate positively with mobile phone penetration and Internet usage. The results support the possibility that mobile phones increase reassurance seeking, acting as safety cues, and reducing spontaneous, everyday exposures to uncertainty, which may ultimately potentiate psychopathology by increasing IU and anxiety. Subsequent experimental research to assess for causality appears warranted. Limitations and directions for future research are presented.

Mobile internet and consumer happiness: the role of risk

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of mobile internet (MI) use and risk factors on MI happiness.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey with 521 MI users was conducted to test the direct and moderating effects of risk factors on MI happiness.FindingsThe results provide evidence that there is a non-linear relationship between variety of use and MI happiness, and consumers become happier with increased frequency of use. The results also indicate that the privacy risk and task risk reduce MI happiness, and both types of risks moderate the inverted U-shaped relationship between variety of use and MI happiness.Research limitations/implicationsThis study reconciles two opposing theories, stimulation vs displacement, on the impact of internet use on consumer well-being. The findings suggest that the stimulation effect of MI use is associated with an intermediate level of usage variety, while social displacement is more likely connected with higher- or lower-variety of use. Risk plays an important role in exploring the boundary conditions of both theories. The findings also have important implications to the debate over the role of privacy in consumer adoption of internet services or applications.Originality/valueThis study reconciles two opposing theories, stimulation vs displacement, on consumer happiness by elaborating the role of risk associated with MI use.

Pattern of Digital Divide and Convergence in Access to ICT Facilities among the Indian States

Information and communication technology (ICT) such as Internet, mobile phones, computers and related network interfaces facilitate promotion of economic growth by improving the allocation and productivity of labour and capital, and also by promoting trade and competition in market. But these regional developments led by ICT technologies are not realised if there is a digital divide. In India, uneven digital developments may lead to uneven economic developments. Unless ICT developments grow faster in low-income states, they cannot catch up with high-income states, economically. In this context, this article aims to analyse the changing pattern of the digital divide and empirically examines the convergence in access to ICT facilities across the Indian states. The secondary data for 15 major states of India is used for the time period 2008–17 by considering three ICT variables, namely, telephone users, mobile phone users and Internet users per 100 populations. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used to construct ICT access index. With PCA scores, the Indian states are ranked at two data points and convergence is verified by using sigma and beta convergence techniques. Findings suggest that there is an uneven access to ICT facilities across the Indian states. In the last decade, the low-income states are growing on a better pace than the high-income states in providing access to facilities such as telephone and mobile phones. However, there is evidence of the divergence in the use of Internet facilities. So the governments’ attention in improving these facilities in the low-income states, particularly in rural areas and lagging districts, is important. Special policies and schemes need to be devised to promote the access of Internet services in the lagging states.

Determinants of the intention of smartphone usage by mobile internet users for m-services

PurposeThis study is exploratory in nature. The purpose of this paper is to examine the intention to use smartphones by mobile users for m-services in a growing market. In fact, it empirically studies the influence of ubiquity and immersion in the virtual context on the perceived value (utilitarian and hedonic) of the mobile user’s experience. Moreover, it is an academic embarkation upon the examination of the effect of perceived value on the intension of using smartphones by mobile users for the m-services. Finally, it tests the mediating role of the perceived (utilitarian and hedonic) value between ubiquity/immersion and the intention to use smartphones for m-services.Design/methodology/approachThe data are collected from a sample of 300 Tunisian students and analyzed using the structural equation modeling technique.FindingsThe results show that ubiquity and immersion positively influence the value perceived by mobile internet users. They also confirm that the perceived (utilitarian and hedonic) value positively affects the intensity of smartphone usage by mobile internet users for m-services and show the mediating role of the perceived (utilitarian and hedonic) value between ubiquity/immersion and the intention to use smartphones for m-services.Practical implicationsCompanies in place focus on the importance of smartphone shopping by communicating about the comparative advantages of this type of purchase to make this option a possible choice in the future. The immersive dimension in the virtual context of commerce can be exploited as a factor of differentiation, at a time when commercial trafficking is intensifying; for example, immersive merchant sites, to enrich their particular utilitarian value with an equally hedonic value. The hedonic and utilitarian dimensions of the perceived value constitute a mediator and an important lever for the distributors within the framework of the m-commerce. Due to a genuine consideration of the availability and the possibility to carry out the service at any time and any place in view of the fact that it is perceived as being useful and compatible with the needs and way of life of the individuals’ intention, the use of smartphones for the m-served is explained by the lived values which are in turn explained by the ubiquity.Originality/valueDespite the massive adoption of information and communication technology, especially the internet, in distribution and service delivery, very little research has focused on the intensity of use of smartphones by mobile internet users for m-services. This exploratory study is the first to test the effect of ubiquity and immersion in the virtual context on the perceived (utilitarian and hedonic) value of the mobile internet users’ experience as well as the effect of the perceived value on the intensity of use of smartphones by mobile internet users for m-services in the Tunisian context. Moreover, it puts under scrutiny the mediating effect of the perceived value in the determination of the intention to use smartphones by mobile users for the m-services in the Tunisian context.

An Assessment of Mobile Internet Usage in a Rural Setting of a Developing Country

In sub-Saharan Africa, studies show that the key driver for mobile Internet use is social media. However, despite the global reach and proliferation of the Internet and mobile phones, research on mobile Internet use in rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa is lacking. There is very little research on how rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa use the Internet, yet a number of studies have shown that there are unique technological needs of rural communities. The purpose of this article is to explore and understand how marginalized rural people in a sub-Saharan African country like Uganda use the Internet, and the factors that limit the use of this technology. This research found out that sports websites accessed through mobile phones were a more substantial indicator of mobile Internet use in Arapai sub-county. This is contrary to what much of the literature presents that the reason for going online in Sub-Saharan Africa is to access social media networking sites. The research also found out that the most limiting factor for accessing the Internet was poor network connectivity.

Understanding travellers’ preferences for different types of trip destination based on mobile internet usage data

New mobility data sources like mobile phone traces have been shown to reveal individuals’ movements in space and time. However, socioeconomic attributes of travellers are missing in those data. Consequently, it is not possible to partition the population and have an in-depth understanding of the socio-demographic factors influencing travel behaviour. Aiming at filling this gap, we use mobile internet usage behaviour, including one’s preferred type of website and application (app) visited through mobile internet as well as the level of usage frequency, as a distinguishing element between different population segments. We compare the travel behaviour of each segment in terms of the preference for types of trip destinations. The point of interest (POI) data are used to cluster grid cells of a city according to the main function of a grid cell, serving as a reference to determine the type of trip destination. The method is tested for the city of Shanghai, China, by using a special mobile phone dataset that includes not only the spatial-temporal traces but also the mobile internet usage behaviour of the same users. We identify statistically significant relationships between a traveller’s favourite category of mobile internet content and more frequent types of trip destinations that he/she visits. For example, compared to others, people whose favourite type of app/website is in the “tourism” category significantly preferred to visit touristy areas. Moreover, users with different levels of internet usage intensity show different preferences for types of destinations as well. We found that people who used mobile internet more intensively were more likely to visit more commercial areas, and people who used it less preferred to have activities in predominantly residential areas.

A Study on the Gender and Age Differences in the Usage of Mobile Phone and Internet

A Study on the Gender and Age Differences in the Usage of Mobile Phone and Internet

Mining Mobile Internet Lifestyles in Distinct Urban Areas: Tales of Two Cities

The information and communication technology industry has developed rapidly, and data are an important link between society and the Internet. The study of the regional usage features of mobile Internet users provides a guide for network supervision and service distribution. In this paper, we propose an approach to identify the typical mobile Internet patterns to account for the content of the user’s Internet access, which is used to discover the online lifestyle of people living in cities of different sizes. We believe that the user Internet behavior is a weighted sum of many typical underlying features. Therefore, a single usage content tensor is constructed to record the sequence of content that the people access on the Internet. The mobile Internet lifestyles based on user context access content were obtained by comparing the composition of a user’s typical online behavior under regional conditions. The method is applied to the case of two representative cities of different sizes in mainland China. We have extracted key features for the mobile Internet context for a large number of users in each city from the usage detail records obtained from cellular networks. This approach uncovers interesting features of human behavior on the mobile Internet at fine granularity, some of which allow us to quantitatively compare the online lives of people living in areas with different urban compositions. The identified regional typical user lifestyle can be used to guide urban planning, network supervision, service resource allocation, and urban dynamics analysis.

Digitalisation through mobile commerce: the impact of demographic and behavioural intention factors on mobile commerce usage activities

The internet has created extraordinary business opportunities for e-commerce and with the use of internet on mobile devices a new form of business model has emerged called mobile commerce. The users' demographic and behavioural intention factors influences the kind of mobile commerce usage activities they do. So the current research is an effort to examine such impact of demographic and behavioural intention variables on mobile commerce usage activities. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 193 internet mobile users from three universities of Punjab and the data was analysed by employing structural equation modelling. The results show that age and education have different impact on different m-commerce usage activities but gender has no significant relationship. This study also confirms the importance of behavioural intention factors like perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment and trust. The findings of this research show strong empirical base for all marketers and strategists who are looking to take full advantage of the strength of m-commerce.

Digitalisation through mobile commerce: the impact of demographic and behavioural intention factors on mobile commerce usage activities

The internet has created extraordinary business opportunities for e-commerce and with the use of internet on mobile devices a new form of business model has emerged called mobile commerce. The users' demographic and behavioural intention factors influences the kind of mobile commerce usage activities they do. So the current research is an effort to examine such impact of demographic and behavioural intention variables on mobile commerce usage activities. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 193 internet mobile users from three universities of Punjab and the data was analysed by employing structural equation modelling. The results show that age and education have different impact on different m-commerce usage activities but gender has no significant relationship. This study also confirms the importance of behavioural intention factors like perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment and trust. The findings of this research show strong empirical base for all marketers and strategists who are looking to take full advantage of the strength of m-commerce.

Research on the Innovation of Mobile Internet Business Model

With the number of mobile Internet users gradually increased in Big Data Era, more and more devices are added to the network and digitized, the traditional industry and mobile Internet are gradually merging. New consumption patterns will also be generated, leading to the emergence of new business models. This paper summarizes the connotation and characteristics of the existing business model of mobile Internet, and discusses the approach to the innovation of mobile Internet business model.

The Ten Shades of Silver: Segmentation of Older Adults in the Mobile Phone Market

ABSTRACTWith the closing of the age-related gap in mobile phone uptake and the aging of the population, older adults have increasingly become a desirable target group for mobile phone providers. Although there is abundant literature describing the use of mobile phones among older adults, segmentation studies on this group of consumers remain scant and inconclusive. Drawing on the benefit and behavioral segmentation, this study presents a segmentation model of older adults in the mobile phone market that incorporates a wide variety of consumer behavior, attitudinal, and acceptance variables relevant for the understanding of mobile phone (non-)usage patterns among users of feature phones and smartphones, as well as among mobile phone nonusers. The model is based on a hybrid approach with a two-step cluster analysis using data collected by a telephone survey from a representative sample (n = 1,581) of adults aged 55 or older in Slovenia in 2015. The analysis yielded two uniquely profiled clusters within each of the five a priori-determined segments, summing to a total of 10 clusters. The results show that older adults still prefer feature phones. Nevertheless, the mobile phone market has become highly heterogeneous, with clusters of older adults having distinguishable feature phone- and smartphone-use patterns as well as socio-demographic and life-course profiles. Since many of these profiles undermine the notion of older adults as “basic” mobile phone users, our findings represent a solid foundation for scholars and marketers to further investigate their specific needs in relation to more advanced smartphone and mobile internet usage.

Comiqual: collaborative measurement of internet quality

With the continuous growth of both fixed and mobile Internet usage, measuring the Internet QoS (quality of service) becomes of vital interest for all involved Internet stakeholders, mainly consumers, operators, and regulators. In this paper, we describe in detail, Comiqual (collaborative measurement of Internet quality), a crowd-sourced large-scale Internet measurement platform that coordinates and collects measurements from measurement agents (MAs) installed on fixed and mobile end user devices. Although the initial and main target of Comiqual is Lebanon, the platform is generically designed to measure the Internet access quality from the user’s perspective anywhere on the globe. The MAs that execute mainly active measurements are jointly controlled by users and by a measurement center (MC); the latter sends measurement instructions to MAs and collects the measurement results. The communication protocol between MC and MAs uses JSON messages that are exchanged via HTTP through REST calls and secured by HTTPS. Measurement results could be openly accessed in a raw format or viewed as an aggregation via a Google map. Moreover, an online statistical tool allows user-defined statistics computation and visualization. All these features combined with the flexibility of the platform management are the main drivers that will allow Comiqual to reach its ultimate goal, which is to create a collaborative, neutral, and transparent observatory of the Internet.

How Do Digital Technologies Drive Economic Growth?

This paper seeks to provide new empirical evidence that demonstrates the importance of digital technologies in promoting economic growth, drawing on the literature on advances in growth and leveraging a broader and more robust country‐level panel dataset. In particular, this paper estimates the long‐run economic impact of digital technologies using mobile phone penetration and internet usage as broad indicators. The empirical results suggest that, between 2004 and 2014, the diffusion of digital technologies significantly improved economic output in Australia and abroad, contributing to steady‐state gross domestic product per capita growth of approximately 5.8 per cent on average. These findings could serve as the starting‐point for predictions about the likely impact of future technologies, providing a better understanding for policy‐makers in prioritising initiatives that will continue to lift living standards in the coming years.