Factors That Determine the Adoption Intention of Direct Mobile Purchases through Social Media Apps

Abstract

In the last few years, a number of social media e-business models including the social networking giants of Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram have offered direct purchase abilities to both their users and the involved enterprises. Hence, individuals can buy directly without having to leave the social media website. At the same time, there is a significant increase in the number of online purchases through mobile devices. To add to this, nowadays, the vast majority of internet users prefer to surf via their smartphone rather than a desktop PC. The aforementioned facts reveal the abilities and potential dynamics of Mobile Social Commerce (MSC), which is considered not only the present but also the future of e-commerce, as well as an area of prosperous academic and managerial concern. In spite of its several extant abilities and its booming future, MSC has been little examined until now. Therefore, this study aims to determine the factors that impact smartphone users’ behavioral intention to adopt direct purchases through social media apps in a country where these kinds of m-services are not yet available. In specific, it extends the well-established Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model with the main ICT facilitators (i.e., convenience, reward and security) and inhibitors (i.e., risk and anxiety). The suggested conceptual model aims to increase the understanding on the topic and strengthen the importance of this major type of MSC. Convenience sampling was applied to gather the data and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was then performed to investigate the research hypotheses of the proposed conceptual model. The results show that performance expectancy exerts a positive impact on behavioral intention. Furthermore, all ICT facilitators examined do impact significantly on smartphone users’ decision to adopt direct mobile purchases through social media apps, whereas anxiety exerts a negative effect.

A Comparative Study of Users versus Non-Users’ Behavioral Intention towards M-Banking Apps’ Adoption

“…Following Corbitt et al's [94] allegation that there should be a connection between risk and anxiety, however, this study confirmed this relation to both groups of respondents. This relation has been also proved from Saprikis & Avlogiaris' [73,78] studies in the broad context of m-commerce. According to our knowledge, this is the first empirical study where this relationship has been confirmed in the m-banking apps field.…”

“…Androulidakis & Androulidakis [84] mentioned that if users are subject to get rewarded when they conduct a transaction via a mobile device, they would be encouraged to use these services more frequently. Up to now, several studies have confirmed the positive effect of reward to the adoption of e-commerce (e.g., [78,82,85]). Hence, if banks enhance their m-banking app functionality with services such as financial incentives, they might have a greater chance of being adopted by their customers.…”

“…Khalilzadeh et al [77] defined perceived security as "the degree to which a customer believes that using a particular m-payment procedure will be secured". Particularly in the pre-adoption stage where individuals do not have any earlier experience, the absence of such actions can definitely prevent them from adopting a novel technology [78]. Likewise, Salisbury et al [79] expressed that it is vital for individuals to feel secure when they pay mobile, as their worries are reduced.…”

“…Moreover, Corbitt et al [90] mentioned that there should be a connection between risk and anxiety, as individuals' anxiety in conducting online purchases can be minimized if the perceived risk levels are as low as possible. As a result, Saprikis & Avlogiaris [73,78] proved the strong positive effect of risk on anxiety. Hence, it is assumed that: Hypothesis 7 (H7).…”

Redes Sociales, una alternativa de comercio electrónico para la MYPE

“…El eCommerce a través de RRSS o comercio social ya es una tendencia, se considera incluso una alternativa obvia e inevitable (Lv et al, 2020). El comercio social también ha mostrado ser un fenómeno que cada vez se utiliza más por los compradores, pueden hacer un comparativo de productos, concretar compras, atribuyéndole de igual forma que consideran que es una actividad cómoda y que tienen contacto directo con la empresa (Saprikis y Avlogiaris, 2021).…”