Evaluating the Level of Acceptance of the Mobile Marketing Among the Young Customers in Malaysia

Evaluating the Level of Acceptance of the Mobile Marketing among the Young Customers in Malaysia

BY

Neda Pourpakchashm

TP: 026890

A dissertation submitted in

partial fulfillment of the requirements of

Staffordshire University for the degree of

M.Sc. in Management 

March 2014

Acknowledgment

I would give my most thank to GOD who gave his blessing in my life.

With each report there is also always a chance to acknowledge and to thank those folks whose support in this research, as without them it would have been literally impossible. First among them all are my supervisor, Mr. Gobinathan A/L Manickam. Thank you so much for all the thoughtful help and best support during the period of producing this research. Because of that, I manage to complete this research project.

Thanks also extended to my advisor, Dr Devin who is supported me to completing this research.

Lastly my greatest appreciation also goes to my father and my lovely mother, all my family and friends for their support and cooperation. Honestly, without their kind help and support, I might never get the chance for completing this research on time.

Abstract

As a result to the growth of mobile phones and its applications, a new channel for marketing has been created (Cleff, 2010). A significant part of technology of mobile is short message service (SMS) or (text message). The use of SMS as a tool for communication is widely spread between the segments of young customers, and mobile phones have become very necessary for the lifestyle of the young people, for fashion, presence and keep in connection with others (Carroll et al., 2007). According to International Data Corporation (IDC), SMS is the most used application among mobile data, where statistics indicate that %65 of mobile users sends SMS in daily form (Phau and Teah, 2009). As such the problem statement is centered on marketers' inability to know with confidence the real factors that truly encourage customers to adopt mobile marketing and purchase the advertised products. This study firstly aims to investigate the level of adoption of SMS-based mobile marketing among Malaysian youth. For the examination of factors, the questionnaires distributed between 97 youths in Kuala Lumpur, 2014. The data was analyzed with SPSS 12. To sum up current research, it is shown that the people attitude and their behavior are significant to create and to develop trustable and acceptable mobile marketing program. Businesses must develop their marketing program with all people requirements. Using high level technology such as mobile phone can be so effective to promote business advertisement. Current research proves that intention to participant can mediate all people attitudes and behaviors with positive result.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgment        2

Abstract        3

Table of Contents        4

List of Tables        7

CHAPTER ONE        Introduction        8

1.1        Preamble        8

1.2        Problem Statement        9

1.3        Research Aims        10

1.4        Research Objectives        10

1.5        Significance of the Research        11

CHAPTER TWO        Literature review        13

2.1        Mobile Marketing        13

2.2        Mobile Marketing Adoptions        15

2.3        Youth Mobile Market        18

2.4        Technology Adoption Models        19

2.5        Theory of a Reasoned Behavior (TRB)        19

2.6        Theory of a Planned Behavior (TPB)        20

2.7        Technology acceptance model (TAM):        20

2.8        Summary of Literature Review        21

CHAPTER THREE        Research Methodology        23

3.1        Research Design        23

3.2        Pilot Testing        23

3.3        Research Population and Sample        23

3.4        Data Collection        23

3.5        Research Approach        24

3.6        Ethical Consideration        24

3.7        Operationalization of the Variables (Variable Definition)        24

3.7.1        Formation of Attitude and Extensive SMS Advertising        24

3.7.2        Perceived Usefulness        26

3.7.3        Perceived Ease of Use        26

3.7.4        Perceived Entertainment        27

3.7.5        Personal Use        27

3.7.6        Trust        28

3.7.7        Intention to Participate and Purchase Intention        29

3.8        Formulations of Hypotheses        30