Title: Mobile ICT use in early adopter vs. late majority countries

Authors: Gregory Gimpel; Frantisek Sudzina; Katarina Petrovcikova

Addresses: Department of Computer Information Systems, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 4015, Atlanta, GA 30302-4015, USA ' Department of Business and Management, Aalborg University, A.C. Meyers Vænge 15, Copenhagen 2450, Denmark ' Department of Commercial Business, University of Economics in Bratislava, Tajovskeho 13, Kosice 04130, Slovakia

Abstract: The rapid global diffusion of smartphones has not been uniform. This study uses Triandis' theory of interpersonal behaviour to investigate what drives smartphone use in early adopter (USA) versus late majority (Slovakia) countries. By surveying both current and potential owners, we also revisit Karahanna et al.'s question: Do potential adopters and users of IT hold the same behavioural and normative beliefs? Partial least squares analysis finds that habit, affect, and perceived social norms explain 65% of the intention to buy a smartphone. Surprisingly, perceived consequences (i.e., perceived usefulness) and whether people live in an early adopter versus late majority country, are not significant. Comparing users and non-users finds that they differ in almost every attribute measured in the study, and that users intend to continue using a smartphone whereas non-users have more ambivalent intentions.

Keywords: cross-country comparison; innovation diffusion; early adopter countries; late majority countries; mobile computing; m-computing; normative beliefs; behavioural beliefs; partial least squares; PLS; smartphones; smartphone use; technology acceptance; technology use; theory of interpersonal behaviour; ubiquitous computing; users versus nonusers; wireless communications; mobile communications; mobile ICT; USA; United States; Slovakia; habit; affect; perceived social norms; intention to buy; perceived usefulness.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2016.079305

International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2016 Vol.14 No.6, pp.610 - 631

Accepted: 27 Mar 2016
Published online: 26 Sep 2016 *

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