Mobile application user behavior in the developing countries: A survey in Iran

Mobile applications are increasingly presented by service providers to fulfill the users' tendency for mobility and access to services from anywhere and anytime; thereby, service platforms and a long range of tasks from banking to gaming are enabled by this technology. Although different companies offer a growing number of mobile services for potential users, only a few of them become popular and are perceived to be useful from the users' viewpoint. The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors, which directly or indirectly influence mobile applications' adoption by users. In other words, this study investigates the decision making process of users considering different factors such as subjective norms, attitude, perception and quality. Employing analytical approach in the literature review led to the development of a comprehensive model covering influential factors from different theories such as TPB and TAM as well as system quality, information and service quality approach. Incidentally, 39 hypotheses were developed and classified into nine different groups based on the originated theories. The model and hypotheses were tested by a sample of 1348 potential mobile application users in Iran and the data were analyzed through structural equation modeling techniques. Different internal and external variables were investigated, among which the effect of satisfaction on intention to recommend, the trace of trust on subjective norms and the influence of perceived ease of use on perceived behavioral control were more potent. In addition to offering a few suggestions for mobile application providers and marketers, this research proposes an integrated model of influential variables from different perspectives for scholars.