Mobile Commerce Adoption: A Novel Buyer-User-Service Payer Metric

ANGELA RODGERS

MBA 5652-RESEARCH METHODS

RESEARCH ARTICLE CRITIQUE

MOBILE COMMERCE ADOPTION: A NOVEL BUYER-USER-SERVICE PAYER METRIC

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Introduction

I have an interest in technology as it relates to electronic commerce. As one may think, electronic commerce has mainly been captured through the use of a desktop computer accessing the Internet; like me and my semi addiction to eBay. However, as mobile technologies improve, so does mobile computing and thus mobile commerce. In the Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations, I found an article titled "Mobile commerce adoption: a novel buyer-user-service payer metric." I found this title interesting as one may be led to think that the buyer, user, and service payer are all one person. But take for example my children's smart phones. My children are 13 years and 10 years. Grandma was moved by the children's alleged need for smart phones- I was not. Hence, Grandma was the buyer of the smart phones, and pays for the monthly service plan- the children are the users of the device. This situation also holds true in many organizations. Mobile smart phones are also being purchased for associates just as desktop computers and laptops are purchased; the smart phone in essence, replacing the latter.

Literature Review and Research Objective

Carl Adams and Qi-Ying Su, authors of the article, were very thorough in their research. As expected, the forty plus sources range from 1989 to 2007; with the bulk falling in 2002-2005. Each source is adamant regarding the trend in the last decade for the use of mobile technologies in the workplace (Adams, Ying-Su. P.1). Much of the literature illustrates neat theories and analytical tools with acronyms like "DoI" which stands for Roger's Diffusion of Innovation and "TRA" which stands for Theory of Reasoned Action by Ajzen(Adams, Ying-Su. P.1). What became of increasing interest to Adams and Ying-Su was the differentiation between the purchaser and the user.

Research Design

Ultimately, the purpose of the research was to indeed identify the relationship among buyers, users and payers in the adoption and use of mobile phone technologies in an Eastern country (China) and a Western country (UK) using a stratified sample of users(Adams, Ying-Su. P.1). Research draws upon another analytical tool and acronym from Davis et al (2003) called "TAM" or the Technology Acceptance Model. The TAM was used as a theoretical foundation with the attribute of investigation being "perceived cost" as this is a main influence on the use of technology. The research consisted of a large survey supported with qualitative data from focus group sessions.

Methods and Research Findings

The avenue for capturing data was the results of an extensive questionnaire. The survey and analysis used an independent t-test. The t-test assesses whether the means of two groups are statistically different from each other (Adams, Ying-Su. P.4). Groups completing the questionnaire from China and the UK were teenagers, university students and employed adults and retirees. As would be expected, parents from both countries purchased around 70% of the phones used by teenagers with the biggest difference being that only 21% of Chinese teenagers paid their own bills while 62% of teenagers in the UK paid their own bills. It was also interesting to find that 83% of Chinese parents bought cell phones for their university attending children while only 37% UK parents bought for their college kids. Furthermore more Chinese parents also paid the bills while UK parents did not. While I would have thought more along the lines of Chinese parents thinking more of their children when they went off to college-the data actually reflected that the Chinese parents footed the bill because their kids weren't using their phones as frequently as the UK college kids; thus, the