Are You Still with Us? A Study of the Post-Adoption Determinants of Sustained Use of Mobile-Banking Services

This research develops and empirically tests a theoretical model that explains sustained use of mobile banking services. While an extensive array of research has examined various theoretical antecedents of the intention to adopt and use new technologies, only a handful of studies have examined the extent of current usage of a system. Moreover, despite the huge market potential of and recent technological advancements seen in the mobile-commerce market, little is known about the factors that can influence sustained use of integrated mobile financial services after adoption. The present research examines the extent of mobile banking service usage of 370 Korean mobile-baking users in the post-adoption stage. The results of the study indicate that perceived usability, channel preference, and perceived value are three major determinants of sustained mobile banking use. The model further extends and explains that good menu design is a dominant factor in perceived usability of m-banking services, while low monetary costs (i.e., charges and fees) and provision of various banking functions can improve m-banking users' perception of the value of m-banking services. Along with the suggested model, the presented case of factors promoting successful m-banking services will help many mobile industries around the world envisage a successful and stable mobile–financial services market and accelerate their development. Implications of the findings and future research directions are also discussed.     

手机银行顾客满意度模型的研究

手机银行是一个新兴的移动电子商务应用,它是一种融合了新技术的业务启用。目前关于手机银行的研究主要集中在技术改进和顾客采纳其服务的影响因素方面,然而,采纳手机银行服务之后,其顾客满意度的研究较少。本文以手机银行作为研究对象,选取了ACSI(美国顾客满意度指数)模型作为参考模型,并加入感知风险变量,在此基础上构建出手机银行顾客满意度的概念模型,为银行提高竞争力提供参考建议。     

Understanding the sequential interdependence of mobile app adoption within and across categories

This research examines the interdependencies in users’ sequential app adoptions within and across diverse app categories. We employ a Zero-inflated Negative Binomial (ZINB) model to analyze a unique, granular, and individual-level mobile app adoption dataset, revealing three main findings. First, users’ app adoption decisions are highly history-dependent and category-specific in a nonlinear fashion. Early adoption can enhance subsequent downloads within the same category for app categories with high needs evolvement and horizontal differentiation (e.g., Game and Education apps). However, it may crowd out subsequent downloads in other categories with low needs evolvement and horizontal differentiation (e.g., Communication and Social media apps). Second, these effects are further moderated by users’ individual characteristics such as app usage tenure and phone price. Third, there exist nontrivial app adoption spillovers across app categories. For example, users’ adoptions of apps with relatively high hedonic values (e.g., Game and Music apps) can suppress their subsequent need for apps with relatively high utilitarian values (e.g., Education and Online banking apps), and vice versa. Together, these results offer novel managerial implications for app developers and platforms to promote apps in different categories based on users’ adoption histories.     

Customer behavioural intentions towards mobile money services adoption in Ghana

This study examined the determinants of mobile money service usage intentions and assessed the effect of social influence (SI) on mobile money services adoption and behavioural intentions (BIs). The sample of the study comprised 300 mobile money service users in Ghana. Guided by the conceptual framework and two theories identified to have an effect on technology adoption and consumer behaviour, eight hypotheses were developed and tested using Structural Equation Modelling Techniques. It is discovered that perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived trust and perceived cost of use have a strong influence on mobile money service usage. The study found SI to have a significant effect on the adoption and BI. Providers ensure that their mobile application services are simple to operate, fulfil specific consumers’ needs, protect consumers’ accounts to ensure trust and are affordable, hence positively influencing consumers’ adoption of services.     

An examination of mobile app usage and the user’s life satisfaction

Increased engagement with mobile apps is an emerging trend with people today. Mobile devices have become so personalized that many people consider their mobile device as an extension of themselves. Research has suggested that one driving factor in a person’s adoption of mobile apps is the pursuit of happiness. However, there is little research regarding the influence of apps on a person’s well-being. The purpose of this paper was to examine mobile app usage among college students and the relationship between app usage and one’s satisfaction with life. Findings suggest that there is a correlation between mobile app usage and a person’s level of satisfaction with life. Gender differences in app usage were also found.     

A cross‐national investigation of trait antecedents of mobile‐banking adoption

Although there is a near agreement in the literature on the main predictors of consumers' attitudes toward technological innovation, the potential ways through which personal traits and national environmental differences contribute to significant variations in mobile‐banking adoption have received limited attention. Based on insights from innovation adoption and personality research, this study tested a model of mobile‐banking adoption using data from a developed and a developing country. Survey data came from a sample of 1,340 participants from the United Kingdom and Ghana. The results indicate that intrinsic traits are stronger in explaining consumers' attitude toward mobile banking in Ghana than in the United Kingdom. However, no significant variance between the two countries was observed with regard to the mediation effect of consumers' attitude on the intention to use mobile banking. The practical and theoretical implications of this study are discussed.     

Solving the crisis of immediacy: How digital technology can transform the customer experience

Marketers are currently facing a ‘crisis of immediacy’ challenge: how to meet consumers’ need to receive content, expertise, and personalized solutions in real time during their shopping experience. Today's digital technologies—such as video conferencing, location-based mobile apps, and augmented reality—provide a highly personalized and immersive environment that allows for interactivity and rich information exchange between the brand and consumer. We conducted in-depth interviews with over 35 retailers, large-scale surveys with international shoppers, and pilot projects with stores and banking institutions to study how companies are leveraging digital technologies to transform the customer experience. Our findings show that there are two main technology-based models that organizations are deploying to support customers’ immediate needs: the remote expert and the digital assistant. We provide company examples of both models, as well as when they are most appropriate and success factors to inform managers.     

Examining consumers' continuous usage of multichannel retailers' mobile applications

This paper examines the variables influencing a consumer's satisfaction and continuous use of a multichannel retailer's mobile application. Drawing upon the Expectation Confirmation Model for Information Technologies, post-adoption literature, and consumer behavior literature, we assess pertinent factors on the continuous usage of multichannel retailers' mobile apps. Through a sample of 1009 consumers who retained a retailer's mobile app for more than 6 months and conducting Structural Equation Modelling, the findings illustrate that utilitarian variables (perceived usefulness, ease of use, and personalization), hedonic variables (perceived enjoyment), and a brand-related variable (consumer loyalty intention toward the retailer's brand), play a significant role in influencing continuous usage of multichannel retailers' mobile apps. In contrast to e-commerce research, the study outlines that escapism plays a negative role in both consumer satisfaction and intention to continue to use a multichannel retailer's mobile app. Previous research points to the fact that consumers' retention of retailers' apps is low. This paper contributes to the emerging literature on consumers' continuous use of retailers' mobile apps through enhancing our understanding of technology and non-technology-related variables.     

The Impact of Mobile App Adoption on Cross-buying: The Moderating Roles of Product Category Characteristics and Adoption Timing

With more and more companies introducing mobile apps and consumers using them during the purchase journey, it is increasingly important to understand the consequences of app adoption on behavioral outcomes. This paper investigates the impact of app adoption on the number of additional products purchased by customers (i.e., cross-buying) and how this effect varies across different product categories and different customers. We focus on two key product category characteristics (utilitarian vs. hedonic nature and perceived risk) and on adopters who vary in their adoption timings (early vs. late adopters). Using data from an online retailer and a combination of propensity score weighting with difference-in-differences and Heckman correction estimation techniques, the results show that app adoption has a positive effect on cross-buying overall, but the effect varies greatly across products and consumers. App adoption promotes additional product purchases for hedonic products but leads to less cross-buying for utilitarian products. In addition, early adopters purchase a higher number of additional product categories than late adopters, with this difference decreasing over time and for new consumers compared to existing customers. These results offer novel insights into the behavioral consequences of app adoption and provide managers with useful recommendations for improving the effectiveness of their mobile app investments.     

Exploring technology readiness for mobile payment app users

ABSTRACT

The study aims to better understand the various technology readiness segments by assessing how their readiness relates to demographics variables and their adoption, attitude, ease-of-use, usefulness and continuance intention to use mobile payment apps using the technology readiness index. Using a convenience sample of 416 from a consumer panel, a two-step cluster analysis shared similarities with three of the original technology readiness segments (pioneers, paranoids and explorers) while the other two segments clustered together into a fourth segment, hesitant-sceptics. The results indicate that South African mobile users are ready to use mobile payment applications, with the ‘explorer’ emerging as the best segment to target due to optimism levels, while the hesitant-sceptic segment represent the key to unlocking the real potential value of mobile payment apps. Understanding different segments provides marketers with the opportunity to select viable segments and to customise strategies to increase uptake and continued use according to customer needs.     

Adoption of in-store mobile payment: Are perceived risk and convenience the only drivers?

Smartphones are changing the way consumers shop, even in brick-and-mortar settings. This study explores consumers’ adoption of proximity mobile payment technology (p-m-payment), which enables them to pay with their smartphones for purchases in a physical store. With a perceived value perspective, the authors identify utilitarian, hedonic, and social benefits and financial and privacy risks as key drivers. They also investigate differences compared with the drivers of more familiar mobile shopping usages and highlight the role of experience. The paper discusses implications for both mobile and channel research and recommendations to help retailers take advantage of p-m-payment technology.     

Matching audio/video app features with young user preferences: An integrated approach

Audio/video mobile applications (apps) enable people to engage in leisure activities without time and space restrictions, which gradually changed human leisure behaviours. This study is one of the first to integrate means-end chain theory, Kano and conjoint analyses to reveal young user preferences for entertainment audio/video mobile apps. A preliminary qualitative survey with 36 young interviewees established the questionnaire items in the subsequent survey of 389 young respondents. Results show that ‘subtitle choice’, ‘resolution selection’, ‘top ranking list’ and ‘advertising mode and format’ are key attributes that directly influence young user willingness to download apps. In particular, ‘flashing banner ads’, ‘resolution ≤ 480 ppi’, ‘5 seconds to skip ads’, providing ‘subtitle choice’ and without ‘top ranking list’ is the best combination of attribute levels of audio/video apps that meet young users' desires. That is, young users prefer mobile apps with ‘resolution ≤ 480 ppi’ and ‘subtitle’ choices and expect that they can skip flashing banner ads in 5 s. Providing a top audio/video ranking list, however, is unnecessary for young app users. The findings can help marketers and app designers develop effective app designs and advertising strategies for young users to expedite the adoption of entertainment audio/video apps.     

The role of social media in internet banking transition during COVID-19 pandemic: Using multiple methods and sources in qualitative research

Social distancing practices and staying at home have increased the time people spend on social media with the purpose of exchanging and consuming information about completing their routine practices safely. The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted in-person banking operations and increased the physical threat for both retail bankers and customers. Consequently, the world has moved toward internet banking with the purpose to continue routine transactions for paying bills, purchasing groceries, and shopping of brands. The present study aims to explore how the fearful environment of Covid-19 pandemic increased the social practices of internet banking and what challenges are faced by different customers during their use of internet banking. By understanding these experiences, system developers and marketers can improve their internet banking apps to address the needs and expectations of different customers. The study has opted for a relativist ontological position and social constructionist epistemological position to understand different realities in the same context and how customers experience internet banking in a fearful environment. The study used multiple qualitative research methods: Gibbs reflection cycle, semi-structured interviews with internet banking users, and focus group interviews with executives of public and private sector banks. Social actors through social media played a role with respect to understanding the nature of uncertainty during Covid-19 pandemic that changed customers’ behavior from traditional banking to internet banking. Information was shared through social media to avoid ATMs, debit and credit card exchange with cashiers, and cash exchange as these are no longer safe options for both bankers and customers. The major theoretical contribution of this study is to merge social practice theory and affordance of technology theory in the context of internet banking adoption. This study has discussed practical implications for marketers and system developers of retail banks.     

On the monetization of mobile apps

Though the mobile app market is substantial and growing fast, most app providers struggle to monetize apps profitably. Monetizing apps is done in two ways: a) selling advertising space within a free version of the app, and b) selling a paid version, termed freemium or in-app purchase strategy. In this paper, we present a framework for monetization of mobile apps, using two central empirical regularities concerning the relationship between users and their mobile apps: a) Sampling: While consumers have some prior knowledge of their fit with the app, they remain uncertain regarding their exact utility until they are using it; and b) Satiation: The utility of using the app may decrease with time. While work on the monetization of digital goods has largely overlooked the role of satiation and the consequent retention issues, we show that in combination with uncertainty, it elucidates the role of the segments of consumers that download the free vs. paid version of the app, and how to balance these two segments so as to monetize mobile apps. We encounter two distinct scenarios: In the first, advertising drives most of the revenues; while in the second, revenues are driven by the paid version of the app. We explain how uncertainty and satiation affect the prevalence of the respective scenarios and impact the share of revenues from the paid vs free version of the app. We also demonstrate that an app provider can profit from offering a free version with ads even if advertisers are not paying for these ads. In other words, the app provider benefits from offering a “damaged good” version of the app that includes ads, even if this version is free to consumers, and the advertisers are not paying for the ads.     

Effects of game‐product congruity on in‐app interstitial advertising and the moderation of media‐context factors

Advertising has become one of the major sources of game apps revenues and interstitial ads, in particular, are the most used monetization method among the types of in‐game mobile ad formats. Interstitial ads overlaid on top of a mobile game app have more obvious advertising intent and a higher degree of forced exposure and perceived intrusiveness. This study examined how the degree of congruity (high vs. moderate vs. low) between the promoted products in interstitial ads and the mobile game app environment affects consumers’ responses. The moderating effects of media‐context factors (i.e., excited– or calm–happiness game types and game immersion) were further assessed. The results of two experiments revealed that game‐product congruity lead to better consumers’ responses toward ads and advertised products. The positive effects of game‐product congruity were more salient when consumers played calm–happiness games and were less immersed in the game. Theoretical implications on integrating perspectives across disciplines such as schema theory, happiness, and immersion within the media‐context framework, as well as practical suggestions are discussed.     

Text mining approach to explore determinants of grocery mobile app satisfaction using online customer reviews

In recent years, there has been proliferation of grocery mobile apps as grocery shopping on mobile has found increasing acceptance among customers accelerated by multiple factors. Maintaining high level of customer satisfaction is important for grocery mobile apps in the highly competitive app market. Online reviews have been a rich source of information to analyze customer satisfaction with a product or service. This paper explores the determinants of customer satisfaction for grocery mobile apps using online reviews. Latent Dirichlet Analysis (LDA), which is a text mining technique, is used to analyze online customer reviews of 27,337 customers to identify determinants of customer satisfaction. The determinants identified were further analyzed using a series of analysis to understand the importance of each determinant. Dominance analysis examined the relative importance of the determinants of customer satisfaction based on the overall rating. Correspondence analysis identified determinants which cause satisfaction separately from the determinants which cause dissatisfaction. The results from this study will provide insights to business managers of grocery mobile apps for decision-making on customer satisfaction management.     

Exploring the determinants of usage continuance willingness for location-based apps: A case study of bicycle-based exercise apps

This paper investigates how mobile app design and social media can be used to influence the intention for continued use of location-based mobile apps. Uses and gratification theory and information systems success model are used to explore the key factors of continued usage intention. Three hundred and fifty-six valid questionnaires were collected to test the research model. The results showed that perceived usefulness, enjoyment, sense of belonging would significantly influence the usage habit and satisfaction of bicycle-based exercise app. In particular, the habit and satisfaction had strong impact on the intention for continued use. This study extended the findings of exercises with mobile apps and provided implications for the developers and operators of fitness and leisure-oriented apps.     

Role of mobile food-ordering applications in developing restaurants’ brand satisfaction and loyalty in the pandemic period

Retailers and their supply-chain partners should reconsider their competitive advantages in today's technology-enhanced environment and search for opportunities to collaborate. Mobile applications have emerged as a special form of e-commerce that provide convenience for consumers by saving time and effort. In the pandemic days, people prefer using mobile applications in particular to order food from restaurants and protect themselves from COVID-19. Even though there are many previous studies regarding mobile application usage, they have investigated the antecedents of mobile app adoption. Today, consumers already have adopted them, yet there is a need to understand the outcomes of mobile application usage, especially for mobile food-ordering apps (MFOAs). To fill this gap, this study first positions the MFOAs among other mobile food applications regarding their business models. Then, a structural model was developed and tested by focusing on the outcomes of MFOA usage. A survey of 217 participants was conducted, and the data were analyzed using partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM). The main contribution of the results is the finding that MFOA satisfaction plays a critical role in developing restaurants' brand satisfaction and loyalty. Thus, brands should cooperate with MFOA providers.     

‘Regrettable-escapism’ the negative effects of mobile app use: A retail perspective

Despite the enhanced shopping opportunities that mobile devices offer to consumers, there is a fine line between consumers enjoying the mobile shopping process and them regretting the time spent involved in it. Through the lens of Uses and Gratifications Theory (U>) and drawing on Flow Theory, this study aims to understand the effects of consumers' interactions with mobile shopping apps on their intention to reuse the app in the future, loyalty towards the brand and brand reputation. Study 1, through a questionnaire (n = 1024), provides insight into the positive and negative relationships between Utilitarian and Hedonic gratifications on intentions to reuse a retailer's mobile app, loyalty towards the b,rand and the brand's reputation. Through undertaking 24 in-depth interviews, Study 2 provides deeper insight into these relationships to uncover the complex nature of the negative effects of escapism. Findings demonstrate that the addictive nature of retailers' shopping apps lead to regrettable escapism. The flow state of mind experienced during escapism, becoming engrossed and notions of time-distortion, leave consumers with feelings of guilt and frustration due to the perceived wasted time spent on the retailer's app. Accordingly, this study advances theoretical understanding of escapism and its negative effects with ubiquitous, portable smartphones. The research provides implications for retailers and policy makers, while offering avenues for future research.