Mobile payment apps filling value gaps: Integrating consumption values with initial trust and customer involvement

This study aims to understand the consumption values that positively influence the adoption of mobile payment apps (MPAs). The theory of consumption values and two more constructs, initial trust (INT) and customer involvement (COI) are used to create a model tested using structural equation modeling with data collected from 880 Indian consumers. The results obtained from the analysis identified functional (FUV), conditional (COV), epistemic (EPV), and emotional (EMV) values having a significant positive impact on MPA adoption intention. While INT mediated all consumption values, COI positively moderated the relationship of FUV, EPV, and EMV with adoption intention. The critical contribution is using INT and COI to test the mediating and moderating effect utilizing the theory of consumption values. It explains factors contributing directly and indirectly to MPA adoption intention. The study results demonstrate that all consumption values except social value (SOV) positively influence MPA adoption intention. The cross-sectional data was collected during the pandemic from the urban population, which may not be generalizable with other developed nations. The study suggests that promoters of MPAs must focus more on FUV, COV, EPV, and EMV. Governments can promote MPAs with an increased focus on building trust through policy measures and special drives to increase trustworthiness in MPAs. Businesses could increase efforts to involve customers when introducing MPAs and collate critical information from customer touch points for improved consumer involvement. Through greater usage of MPAs, governments can substantially reduce the cost of printing and handling currency bills, saving taxpayers’ money and diverting it to social spending.     

Why is South Korea at the forefront of 5G? Insights from technology systems theory

South Korea became the first country in the world to launch a nationwide 5G network and commercialize 5G services. The Korean government played an essential role in the development of 5G, creating a tailored institutional arrangement that allowed South Korea to be at the forefront of 5G. In particular, the government set up a detailed time plan on how to go about 5G deployment and commercialization. The government also facilitated collaborative work between companies, research institutes, and academia, and strongly promoted R&D work for the development of 5G equipment, devices, and applications, providing financial and administrative support, opportunities for field trials, and various forms of incentive, including tax benefits to companies. This study analyzed the 5G socio-technical system in South Korea through the lens of technology systems theory, identifying and discussing crucial factors that have propelled 5G development and major latent aspects, such as the lack of killer applications for consumers and in vertical industries, which may potentially hinder the further growth and stabilization of the 5G system in South Korea.     

Effects of mobile networks and Covid-19 on mobile shopping sales in South Korea

Covid-19 has driven us abruptly to a new world of contactless society. It also compelled us to use online shopping, especially mobile shopping in South Korea, where the dominant mode of wireless communication was already 4G services when Covid-19 broke out. This paper examines the different roles of mobile networks and the Covid-19 pandemic in transforming mobile shopping submarkets in South Korea by estimating the long-term and short-term effects of these two factors on mobile shopping sales. We used a cointegration and an error correction model to estimate long-term and short-term effects separately. This paper finds that Covid-19 was a major short-term factor affecting sales in mobile shopping submarkets, while mobile network subscribers were a key long-term driving factor of mobile shopping sales growth.     

The economic impact of mobile broadband speed

Based on panel data of 116 countries in 2014–2019, this paper investigates the association between mobile broadband speed and labor productivity. It finds no robust contemporaneous relationship for the total sample, but there is a significant and robust association when a one-year lag of mobile broadband speed is introduced. The interpretation of the results is that a 10 percent increase in mobile broadband speed in period t-1 is associated with 0.2 percent increase in labor productivity, ceteris paribus. The results are only robust for non-OECD and low-income countries, respectively.     

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.     

The role of mobile value and trust as drivers of purchase intentions in m-servicescape

Building on the premises of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), this study introduces the concept of mobile servicescape (m-servicescape) and explores the drivers of purchase intentions in the mobile service environment. Data were collected from a sample of 284 service mobile users and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results show that the dimensions of m-servicescape (i.e., aesthetic appeal, perceived security, and layout and functionality) generate mobile value (i.e., hedonic and utilitarian), which in turn, leads to user purchase intentions. Utilitarian value was found to have a higher effect on purchase intentions than hedonic value and trust was found to enhance this effect. We highlight theoretical contributions and offer managerial insight for mobile marketers and designers on the specificities of consumer behavior in the service mobile environment.