Attribute perceptions as factors explaining Mobile Internet acceptance of cellular customers in Germany – An empirical study comparing actual and potential adopters with distinct categories of access appliances

Although demand for Internet access through cellular networks and portable appliances, i.e. Mobile Internet (MI), has recently soared in many countries, the majority of mobile network operator (MNO) customers has still never used MI. Therefore, it is important to gain a better understanding of (1) how MNO customers perceive attributes of MI offers, (2) how these perceptions are related to MI acceptance and (3) the extent to which these judgements and relationships differ as a function of an individual’s adoption status (actual compared to potential MI user) and the appliance category employed to access MI (handset compared to laptop). This study analyses these issues by drawing on MI attributes deduced mainly from diffusion of innovation (DOI) and information economic (IE) literature and by using data collected from a survey of 525 effective and 540 potential MI users in Germany. The multivariate results show that the perceived relative functional advantage and communicability of MI offers were significantly positively and their trialability was significantly negatively correlated with MI acceptance in both customer groups. Overall, perceived DOI-based attributes explained MI acceptance better for actual than for potential users. The share of search qualities relative to that of credence qualities which respondents assigned to MI had a small, but significant positive effect on MI acceptance among potential users. The effectively used or preferred appliance category for MI access exerted strong influence on DOI-based MI attribute assessments, especially among actual adopters: MNO customers who (prefer to) use a laptop to obtain MI access perceived MI features more favorable than persons who (prefer to) use a handset as their primary MI access device. These findings provide insights for MNO and appliance vendors on measures which may effectively promote the acceptance of MI.

Research highlights RHtriangle This article provides an empirical examination of differences between 525 actual and 540 potential German-speaking Mobile Internet (MI) users concerning their perceptions of MI attributes and the relationships between such perceptions and adoption-phase specific acceptance criteria.  RHtriangle The findings indicate that attribute perceptions of MI offers tend to have stronger impacts on MI use intensity among effective adopters than on MI use interest among potential adopters.  RHtriangle All in all, effective and potential MI adopters who (intend to) use a laptop for MI access perceive MI attributes more positively than the respective adopter groups equipped with a cellular handset.  RHtriangle Cellular customers, independent of the MI adoption status of and the MI appliance category used or preferred, tend to be convinced that almost 50% of the qualities of MI offerings are assessable only after the initial phase of effective service use; Put differently, MI is predominantly viewed as an “experience good”.