The Adoption of M-Commerce in the United States Anthony A. Chew* [August 2006] * Anthony A. Chew is an undergraduate student in the College of Business Administration Honors Program at California State University, Long Beach, CA 90840. This manuscript serves to fulfill his Honors Thesis requirement. Address correspondence to Anthony Chew via email at [email protected] Adoption i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank all of the respondents who participated in my survey. Their participation has helped me learn firsthand about the critical concepts required for academic research. In addition, their opinions have provided the statistics necessary for both this research, as well as future research in the field of mobile commerce. Second, I would like to thank Professor Pamela Miles Homer of California State University, Long Beach for her continuous support throughout the writing of this thesis. Her dedication to the students of the College of Business Honors Program is greatly appreciated. Without her time, guidance, and expertise, this thesis would not be possible.M-Commerce Adoption 1 THE ADOPTION OF M-COMMERCE IN THE UNITED STATES ABSTRACT M-Commerce is thought to be the next big phase in technology involvement following the E-Commerce era. However, its adoption and level of use is low in the United States compared to other nations such as Sweden and Japan. Modeling Ajzen and Fishbein’s Theory of Reasoned Action (1980), and Davis and Bagozzi’s Technology Acceptance Model (1989), this study seeks to identify some factors that impact the adoption of M-Commerce technology in the United States. Through the use of written questionnaires and online surveys, this study presents and tests an intention to adopt M-Commerce technology framework. The critical antecedent factors include level of E-Commerce use, subjective norm, perceived trust or privacy, innovativeness, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use.M-Commerce Adoption 2 INTRODUCTION M-Commerce, or mobile commerce, is the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless handheld devices such as cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Through the use of M-Commerce technology, business can be conducted electronically from anywhere at anytime. Following the E-Commerce era, mobile commerce is thought to be the next big trend in technological evolvement due to the changing needs of consumers (Barnes 2002). Consumers today lead an increasingly fast-paced life and demand smaller, better, faster, and more reliable wireless technology to keep up with their lifestyles. M-Commerce is the solution to this demand because it makes traditional E-Commerce tasks available to be performed wirelessly through a cell phone or PDA. From a business-to-consumer (B2C) perspective, some capabilities of mobile commerce include being able to pay for food from vending machines or being able to pay for parking meters wirelessly through a cell phone or PDA. Tasks previously confined to E-Commerce channels, such as purchasing a book from the Internet or getting a restaurant recommendation, are becoming more readily available to consumers through their handheld devices. Mobile commerce not only opens up the possibilities for B2C to be conducted wirelessly, but it also allows business-to-business (B2B) commerce to achieve greater efficiency. Instead of conducting face-to-face meetings or videoconferences, employees can receive information from their managers through calls or text messages to their cell phones. For example, through the use of notification and monitoring applications, shop floor workers can receive notifications if production specifications have changed, as well as respond when they have made the necessary changes. Although the United States was a pioneer in the development of the Internet and E-Commerce era, the United States is only in its early stages of M-Commerce development andM-Commerce Adoption 3 adoption compared to many European and Asian countries (e.g., Sweden, Japan). Perhaps a big reason for the early success of mobile commerce in Japan and parts of Europe was their ability to introduce 3G, or third generation technology, as a standard for wireless communications in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Third-generation protocols support much higher data rates required for bandwidth-hungry applications such as full-motion video, pictures, games, location based services, television channels, or even full Internet access. The purpose of this study is to identify some factors impacting the adoption or acceptance of M-Commerce technology in the United States. Although cell phones and PDAs with M-Commerce technology are becoming more readily available in the United States, the number of Americans who choose to adopt or use such technologies is still relatively low compared to other countries. According to Forbes (June 22, 2006), the United States only had a 71 percent cell phone penetration rate amongst those aged between 15-59 years old, compared to 95 percent in Hong Kong and 93 percent in South Korea (see Figure 1). [Insert Figure 1 about here.] While cell phone companies are upgrading networks to the 3G standard, providing adequate coverage in major metropolitan areas, and providing consumers with content; this study analyzes Americans’ attitudes towards M-Commerce technology and their likeliness to use such technology. BACKGROUND AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Research on the acceptance of new innovations and technologies has gained importance and popularity, as evident in the number of studies dealing with the E-Commerce evolution. However, compared to E-Commerce, there is limited academic research available on M-Commerce because it is still in its early stages of development and most consumers have not had the chance to use or adopt the technology as part of their daily lives. E-Commerce adoption-M-Commerce Adoption 4 based studies provide a foundation for M-Commerce because the adoption of end-user services in M-Commerce may be treated as a technology adoption (Pedersen 2001): i.e. they serve as a “surrogate”. In addition, M-Commerce is to be considered as a use innovation because the success of an innovative marketing mechanism, such as M-Commerce, can only be ensured through continuous use by consumers (Bauer 2005). Furthermore, “it is impossible to empirically measure adoption and use acceptance; consequently, as is typical in these