Drivers and Barriers of Mobile Commerce: The Role of Consumers’ Personal Innovativeness

Abstract

Mobile commerce (m-commerce) has experienced rapid growth in recent years, gaining importance in both academia and industry. However, extant literature has paid little attention to how m-commerce value is shaped, particularly in emerging economies. This study develops a framework of m-commerce value by studying its determinants. These comprise of the benefit: ubiquity (time convenience and accessibility), and barriers to m-commerce: perceived risk (financial risk /performance risk), and perceived cost. Moreover, this research investigates the moderating role of personal innovativeness on the relationship between the drivers/barriers and value. The findings of the empirical survey-based study in emerging m-commerce economies reveal a positive impact of ubiquity on value, while risk and cost have a negative influence. Furthermore, innovativeness was found to moderate the relationships between the determinants and value, apart from that between cost and value. The results further show that value positively affects actual usage and is enhanced by consumer innovativeness.