To app or not to app: A business-to-business seller's decision

Although business-to-business (B2B) selling firms increasingly realize the benefits of adoption and usage of B2B mobile applications (apps), few studies examine this topic. Building on the technology organization environment and the technology acceptance model adoption frameworks, this research provides an integrative framework to identify and investigate the key determinants of B2B mobile apps for sellers that have not implemented B2B mobile apps for their buyers to use in their decision making. The results from 360 marketing executives at B2B selling firms indicate that perceived usefulness, top management support, and competitive pressure positively influence the decision to adopt B2B mobile apps in the near future. In addition, relative advantage and perceived ease of use indirectly affect adoption of B2B mobile apps through perceived usefulness. The research findings provide several theoretical and managerial implications related to B2B mobile apps adoption.     

What makes consumers use VoIP over mobile phones? Free riding or consumerization of new service

Consumer acceptance of technological innovations is crucial to marketing strategy and policy development. This study analyzes consumer behaviors in mobile voice over Internet protocol (mVoIP), focusing on the antecedents of consumers' intentions. Using a context-specific extension of the Technology Acceptance Model, mVoIP acceptance was investigated based on the salient belief of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and facilitating factors. The results show that quality factors of mVoIP significantly influence the usefulness and ease of use, which subsequently affect the adoption of the technology. Call and service quality were found to be significant factors, followed by mobility and coverage. The policy and managerial implications of mVoIP are discussed based on the model. In conclusion, this study provides in-depth analysis and heuristic data on the consumer drivers, market dynamics, and policy implication within the mVoIP ecosystem.     

A Manager's Perspective on Virtual Customer Integration for New Product Development

Despite the high potential of virtual customer integration (VCI) methods for new product development (NPD) mentioned in the literature, practical use is still limited. This paper aims to provide a deeper understanding of managers’ perspectives on VCI and their intentions to use these methods for NPD. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) served as basis for developing a research model, which considers managers’ cognition, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control as important factors affecting their intention to apply VCI. Because more recent literature has expressed doubts about the explanatory potential of the rather simple TPB model, a more complex alternative model was proposed for comparison. The alternative model included the market orientation of the company, the hierarchical position of the innovation manager as well as the manager's level of innovativeness as additional explanatory variables. An empirical online study was conducted in the field of consumer goods and services. Based on a sample of 216 German‐speaking innovation managers, the results show that the model derived from the TPB explains 68% of the variance in the managers’ intention to apply VCI compared with 69% of variance explained by the model containing additional explanatory variables. An extension of the model does not significantly improve its explanatory power. Managers show high interest in virtually integrating customers in NPD processes. Managers consider identification of future customer needs, a broader decision basis, increased efficiency in gathering and use of customer information, and increased customer retention as major advantages of VCI. Disadvantages considered by managers in making their overall judgment are the lack of secrecy and only incremental innovations. The perceived potential contribution of VCI to NPD, the assessment of its general acceptance within the company, and the perceived ability of innovation managers to successfully implement VCI mainly influence the adoption decision. Managers’ attitudes toward VCI have no significant influence on their intention to use VCI. The results suggest that strong promotion of VCI through senior management would enforce the positive effect of subjective norms on applying VCI. Measures such as including VCI on innovation managers’ personal scorecard, trainings offered, and cross‐functional meetings could help speed up VCI in NPD processes by increasing innovation managers’ perceived behavioral control toward VCI.     

Incorporating Network Externalities into the Technology Acceptance Model*

Research on network externalities has identified a number of product categories in which the market performance of an innovation (e.g., unit sales and revenues) is an increasing function of that innovation's installed base and the availability of complementary products. Innovation scholars have attributed these findings to the positive impact of network externality variables on consumer perceptions of innovation attributes. This paper provides the first empirical examination of these perceptual linkages by extending the Technology Acceptance Model to include consumer perceptions of network externality variables. The authors hypothesize that, when direct and indirect network externalities exist, consumer purchase intentions and consumer perceptions of an innovation's usefulness and ease of use will positively reflect perceptions of installed base size and the availability of complementary products. To test this reasoning, the authors developed new measures of consumer perceptions of network externality variables. These measures were incorporated into a survey that explored the attitudes in Japan of potential adopters toward digital music (DM) players at an early stage in the product life cycle. Findings reveal a direct positive relationship between ease of use and the perceived availability of digital music. The authors also find positive and significant relationships between both purchase intention and perceived usefulness and (1) the perceived size of the DM player installed base and (2) the perceived availability of digital music. An application of the Baron‐Kenny test for mediating variables reveals that (1) ease of use partially mediates the relationship between the perceived availability of digital music and perceived usefulness and (2) perceived usefulness partially mediates the relationship between the perceived availability of digital music and purchase intention. The research has important implications for future research on new product adoption and for the management of innovations that involve network externalities. The conceptual model provides a framework for testing alternative explanations of observed variations in the impact of network externalities within and across product categories. The empirical analysis provides guidance for managers who wish to manage the impact of network externalities on adoption. In addition to stimulating the size of the installed base and the variety of complementary products, executives must also manage consumer awareness of network externality variables and consumer understanding of the relationship between those variables and innovation attributes. Finally, traditional adoption models link consumer adoption decisions to perceptions of innovation attributes. The findings provided here imply that predictive accuracy of these models can be improved by including consumer perceptions of network externality variables.     

Mobile technology usage and B2B market performance under mandatory adoption

This paper investigates the relationship between mandatory adoption of mobile information technology and market performance in the business-to-business (B2B) setting. This study presents and tests the B2B technology satisfaction model (TSM), including perceived loss of control as the mandatory technology acceptance-specific variable. The results of this study reveal that integrating perceived loss of control with user satisfaction and the TAM (technology acceptance model) in a single model can better explain the B2B market performance model. The empirical results suggest that perceived loss of control has a negative effect on user satisfaction and perceived market performance is influenced by user satisfaction and perceived usefulness. Managerial implications of the study are discussed.     

Exploring the mass adoption of third-generation (3G) mobile phones in Taiwan

Given that no all new mobile telecommunications technology are accepted by the mass market, this study aims to understand the mass adoption of third-generation (3G) mobile phones that is hypothesized to comprise three consumer perceptions: new technology, new service, and new handset. Based on the theoretical framework of a consumer's decision making process, an empirical study of the mass adoption of 3G mobile phones in Taiwan was conducted. This study demonstrated that perceived utility of a new mobile service was a key factor that resulted in mass adoption. Further, it was found that perceived utility of a new handset directly stimulate consumers to purchase 3G mobile phones. Perceived risk and perceived expense are not negatively correlated with intentions as hypothesized. Moreover, perceived no need was another key factor that inhibited adoption and purchase intention.     

Understanding the trend to mobile-only internet connections:A decomposition analysis

A growing portion of internet users rely solely on mobile devices such as smartphones for their online access. The percentage of “mobile-only” households increased from 9% in 2011 to 20% in 2015, more than doubling in only four years. As this shift continues, it leads to the question of what factors are driving the rise in mobile-only adoption. Using nationally representative data, this study uses logistic regressions and a decomposition technique to understand the trend. The decomposition reveals that a significant portion (65%) of the growth was due to an increase in the download speeds of mobile networks. An increased acceptance of mobile-only access by households aged 55 and older was also partly responsible. Understanding (and developing a response to) the trend towards mobile-only adoption will be important as organizations and governments continue to work to close the digital divide.     

SMEs and artificial intelligence (AI): Antecedents and consequences of AI-based B2B practices

Development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is a key approach to achieving economic growth in the Middle East and successful adoption of technology is vital for SMEs' success and continuity. Artificial intelligence (AI) is part of a new generation of technologies that can facilitate competitive advantage but currently there is a lack of evidence regarding AI applications in relation to B2B SMEs in Middle East countries. Therefore, this study empirically examines antecedents to, and consequences of, successful acceptance of AI practices by B2B SMEs in Saudi Arabia. A conceptual model based on the technology-organisation-environment framework is developed which considers the impact of AI enablers and AI readiness on the acceptance of AI practices, and the impact of this on relational governance, performance, and SMEs' AI-based business customer interaction. The conceptual model was tested using structural equation modelling of survey data collected from B2B SMEs (n = 392). The results showed that, of the AI enablers, acceptance of AI practices was significantly influenced by both technology roadmapping and attitude but not professional expertise. Of the AI readiness variables, acceptance of AI practices was significantly influenced by infrastructure and awareness but not technicality. The acceptance of AI practices was found to significantly affect AI-enabled relational governance and performance, and SME's business customer AI-based interaction. This study provides a broader base for theoretical and practical understanding of issues related to AI practices in SMEs and the B2B sector in general.     

Information styles of marketing and R&D personnel during technological product innovation projects

Abstract The research question in the present article can be phrased in the following way: what are the elements which influence the perception of the utility of information received from another function? A field study research has been conducted in 40 Belgian companies. In each company, we have studied two on-going innovation projects (one planning project, one development project). Crossfunctional communication behaviours at the R&D/marketing interface have been measured by means of mailed structured questionnaires. Three-hundred and eighty-six questionnaires have been returned. The data analyses show that there are four underlying information dimensions, i.e. the perceived relevance, the perceived comprehensibility, the perceived novelty and the perceived credibility of information. We also discuss some contingency variables (function of the message receiver, stage in the innovation process) that might moderate the impact of these dimensions. It will be shown that the interaction between source and receiver has a significant impact on the perceived credibility, the perceived comprehensibility and the perceived novelty of the received information.     

Effects of degrees of acceptance and awareness on a rate system for lowering mobile bills

South Korea has the highest mobile bills among the OECD countries, and there is strong public demand in the country to reduce expenditure amounts. In response, the South Korean government and mobile carriers have implemented measures such as a “Smart Choice Service,” data-centered plan, and 20% discount scheme in order to reduce mobile bills. However, it is unclear whether these systems have actually led to such a reduction. The present study analyzes quantitatively how people's acceptance and awareness toward rate systems reduce or do not reduce mobile bills, based on the results of a survey conducted here. More specifically, to solve the endogeneity problem of saving behavior's effect on mobile bills, the study adopts the instrumental variables of degree of acceptance and awareness of systems relating to mobile bills. The results show that acceptance and awareness of the system do affect savings behavior and thus mobile bills. If the degree of savings behavior (affected by acceptance and awareness) goes up one step on a seven-point Likert-type scale, there is an average 8.28% savings effect on mobile bills. Thus, this study shows that degrees of acceptance and awareness of the rate system do affect mobile bills.     

Exploring the impact of trust and relational embeddedness in e-marketplaces: An empirical study in Taiwan

B2B transaction is a rapid growth section within e-commerce. However, despite the increase in the number of B2B transactions, only a few e-marketplaces have successfully attracted a large number of buyers and sellers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the underpinning forces that influence the organizational decision to adopt e-marketplaces and to improve competitiveness through continuous participation in e-marketplaces. This study applies the technology acceptance model, relational embeddedness, and the trust theory to explore the impact of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and relational embeddedness on trust associated with e-marketplace providers. This study further tests the impact of relational embeddedness and trust on relationship performance in the context of e-marketplaces. Based on 284 active buyers and sellers in well-known public e-marketplaces, the empirical findings suggest that perceived ease of use positively influences perceived usefulness of e-marketplaces; perceived ease of use influences user trust of e-marketplaces via perceived usefulness; and relational embeddedness leads to enhanced trust in e-marketplace providers, which subsequently leads to better relationship performance. Both relational embeddedness and trust also influence relationship performance directly. This research reveals the importance of perceived usefulness and relational embeddedness on trust associated with e-marketplace providers.     

MVNO services: Policy implications for promoting MVNO diffusion

This study seeks to validate a comprehensive model of consumer acceptance in the context of MVNOs. While the MVNO business model has gained much popularity over the past few years, it shows a sign of drastic decrease. This study uses the unified theory of acceptance and the use of technology (UTAUT) model with constructs from the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) such as compatibility, relative advantage and social influence. Structural equation modeling is used to construct a predictive model of attitudes toward the MVNO services. While the model confirms the classical role of technology adoption factors (i.e., perceived usefulness and ease of use are key antecedents to consumers’ intention), the results also show that users’ intention and usage are influenced by IDT factors. The model brings together extant research on MVNO and provides an important cluster of antecedents to eventual technology acceptance via constructs of behavioral intention to use and to the actual MVNO usage. Policy implications of MVNO are discussed in terms of consumer adoption and market diffusion.     

Factors Influencing the Adoption of Mass Customization: The Impact of Base Category Consumption Frequency and Need Satisfaction

Mass customization has received considerable interest among researchers. However, although many authors have analyzed this concept from different angles, the question of which factors can be used to spot customers most likely to adopt a mass‐customized product has not been answered to a satisfactory extent until now. This article explicitly deals with this question by focusing on factors related to the base category, which is defined as the group of all standardized products within the same product category as the mass‐customized product under investigation. Specifically, this article investigates the influence of a customer's base category consumption frequency and need satisfaction on the decision to adopt a mass‐customized product within this base category. A set of competing hypotheses regarding these influences is developed and subsequently evaluated by a combination of partial least squares and latent class analysis. This is done by using a sample of 2,114 customers surveyed regarding their adoption of an individualized printed newspaper. The results generated are threefold: First, it is shown that there is a significant direct influence of base category consumption frequency and need satisfaction on the behavioral intention to adopt. The more frequently a subject consumes products out of the base category or the more satisfied his or her needs are due to this consumption, the higher the behavioral intention to adopt a mass‐customized product within this base category. Second, the article provides an indication that base category consumption frequency has a significant moderating effect when investigating the behavioral intention to adopt in the context of the theory of reasoned action and the technology acceptance model. The more frequently a subject consumes products out of the base category, the more important will be the impact of perceived ease of use mediated by perceived usefulness. Finally, this article shows that different latent classes with respect to unobserved heterogeneity regarding the latent variables base category need satisfaction or dissatisfaction have significantly different adoption behaviors. Individuals who show a high level of need dissatisfaction are less interested in the ease of use of a mass‐customized product than its usefulness (i.e., increase in need satisfaction). On the other hand, subjects who have a high degree of base category need satisfaction base their adoption decision mainly on the ease of use of the mass‐customized product. These results are of managerial relevance regarding the prediction of market reactions and the understanding of the strategic use of product‐line extensions based on mass‐customized products. This work provides an indication that base category consumption frequency and need satisfaction positively influence the behavioral intention to adopt a mass‐customized product. Hence, mass customization can be seen as one way to deepen the relationship with existing clients.     

Is better access to mobile networks associated with increased mobile money adoption? Evidence from the micro-data of six developing countries

In several developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, accessibility to digital financial services is increasing because of the development of mobile money services. People previously excluded from the financial system have started to have access to financial services such as receiving and sending remittances, saving, and borrowing. This study examines the effect of network accessibility on the use of mobile money in six developing countries (Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Uganda) using GPS information on each household and mobile phone network coverage maps. We find that among these six countries, network accessibility is associated with the use of mobile money in a robust way only in Pakistan and Tanzania. In those two countries, when a household location becomes 10 km closer to the center of the area with multiple mobile networks, the probability of using mobile money increases by 10 percent. In the other countries, we did not find a robust relationship between the use of mobile money and network accessibility. This suggests that increasing network accessibility may not be an efficient method for increasing mobile money adoption in certain countries. The fact that mobile money use rates differ between Tanzania and Pakistan also suggests that the effect of mobile networks is unrelated to the overall level of mobile money adoption.     

Reducing the level of switching costs in mobile communications: The case of Mobile Number Portability

Switching costs are one of the most important economic forces that affect market competition in mobile communications. Both theoretical and empirical studies have shown that switching costs reduce market competition leading to higher prices, lower product and service quality, and lower customer welfare. Given their negative consequences, national regulatory authorities have designed policies aimed at reducing switching costs and fostering competition. One of the most important of these, in the mobile communications industry, is mobile number portability (MNP). The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of MNP on switching costs in mobile phone services. First, a hierarchical Bayes model is proposed to measure switching costs at the customer level and to investigate the impact of MNP on them. Second, this study examines the drivers of MNP adoption by customers using a binary logit specification. The results reveal that this regulatory policy has significantly reduced the cost of switching and that MNP adoption partially depends on customer-related variables.     

Commercializing Technological Innovation: Learning from Failures in High‐Tech Markets*

Commercialization is known to be a critical stage of the technological innovation process, mainly because of the high risks and costs that it entails. Despite this, many scholars consider it to be often the least well managed phase of the entire innovation process, and there is ample empirical evidence corroborating this belief. In high‐tech markets, the difficulties encountered by firms in commercializing technological innovation are exacerbated by the volatility, interconnectedness, and proliferation of new technologies that characterize such markets. This is clearly evinced by the abundance of new high‐tech products that fail on the market chiefly due to poor commercialization. Yet there is no clear understanding, in management theory and practice, of how commercialization decisions influence the market failure of new high‐tech products. Drawing on research in innovation management, diffusion of innovation, and marketing, this article shows how commercialization decisions can influence consumer acceptance of a new high‐tech product in two major ways: (i) by affecting the extent to which the players in the innovation's adoption network support the new product; (ii) by affecting the post‐purchase attitude early adopters develop toward the innovation, and hence the type of word‐of‐mouth (positive or negative) they disseminate among later adopters. Lack of support from the adoption network is found to be an especially critical cause of failure for systemic innovations, while a negative post‐purchase attitude of early adopters is a more significant determinant of market failure for radical innovations. There follows a historical analysis of eight innovations launched on consumer high‐tech markets (Apple Newton, IBM PC‐Junior, Tom Tom GO, Sony Walkman, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, Sony MiniDisc, Palm Pilot, and Nintendo NES), which illustrates how commercialization decisions (i.e., timing, targeting and positioning, inter‐firm relationships, product configuration, distribution, advertising, and pricing) can determine lack of support from the innovation's adoption network and a negative post‐purchase attitude of early adopters. The results of this work provide useful insights for improving the commercialization decisions of product and marketing managers operating in high‐technology markets, helping them avoid errors that are precursors of market failure. It is also hoped the article will inform further research aimed at identifying, theoretically and empirically, other possible causes of poor customer acceptance in high‐tech markets.     

Assessment of mobile technology use in the emerging market: Analyzing intention to use m-payment services in India

The potential use of mobile payment is enormous and it is receiving attention as an alternative mode of payment worldwide. The present study develops a conceptual model to analyze the intention to use mobile payment services in the emerging market. Data was collected in India, one of the biggest emerging market, through a survey. The research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling approach. The results offer support that innovativeness, stress and perceived ease of use influence the perceived usefulness of mobile payment services. Subsequently, perceived usefulness, perceived satisfaction, perceived risk and perceived trust influence the intention to use mobile payment services. The findings provide alternatives for companies to consolidate this technology-based payment service.     

Antecedents of consumers’ intentions to upgrade their mobile phones

The fourth generation (4G) mobile phone will soon be launched. Marketers need to know which factors determine whether customers choose to upgrade their mobile phones, as this will affect the diffusion of third generation (3G), 4G, and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access phones. This study integrates pre- and post-adoption theories, upgrading, and value-based theory to examine plans to upgrade to a newer model mobile phone among second generation (2G) and 3G mobile phone users. The empirical results show that the technology acceptance model fails to explain consumers’ intentions to upgrade in sequence. Although customers perceived next-generation mobile phones as being easier to use and more useful than their current model phones, this did not directly influence them to upgrade. When users were satisfied with their current model, they were not willing to upgrade to a newer generation model. Moreover, value assessments affect users’ plans to upgrade to next-generation mobile phones.     

Determinants of social media adoption by B2B organizations

This study contributes to the current dearth of knowledge on the potential of social media as a marketing tool in industrial settings, by focusing on factors that determine social media adoption by B2B organizations. A conceptual model, which draws on the technology acceptance model and resource-based theory, is developed and tested using quantitative data from B2B organizations in the UK. Findings suggest that perceived usefulness of social media within B2B organizational contexts is determined by image, perceived ease of use and perceived barriers. Additionally, the results show that adoption of social media is significantly affected by organizational innovativeness and perceived usefulness. The moderating role of organizational innovativeness is also tested but no support is found. The findings of the study are further validated via nine qualitative interviews with B2B senior managers, yielding additional interesting and in-depth insights into the drivers of social media adoption by B2B organizations.