Designing mobile business applications for different age groups

• We investigate influential drivers of mobile business application adoption.
• We propose and empirically test an advanced theoretical model based on the TAM.
• We analyze how adoption drivers differ among distinct age groups.
• Convenience is found to be more important for younger users.
• Ease of use is more relevant for older users.

Mobile business applications are changing the way we work and interact. Organizations have to understand why individuals choose to adopt or reject mobile business applications to effectively utilize potential benefits. Researchers and practitioners have to take into account that adopters differ from one another. In this context the demographic change is a serious challenge. Therefore, this paper investigates influential drivers of adoption for mobile business applications and examines how they differ among the rising segment of the digital natives and the increasing share of the greying market. After synthesizing research on adoption as well as on technology acceptance, we propose a new theoretical model. Subsequently, we empirically test our model with a heterogeneous sample of 653 participants using structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis. We find that convenience, perceived quality, enjoyment, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness influence the acceptance of mobile business applications. The analysis of different age groups reveals that convenience is more important and ease of use is less important for younger users than for older individuals. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for designers of mobile business applications.