Comparison of mobile shopping continuance intention between China and USA from an espoused cultural perspective

Mobile shopping on smartphone platform is becoming popular in many countries. Motivated by research suggesting that behavioral models do not universally hold across cultures, this study investigated mobile shopping continuance intentions under the influence of user espoused cultural values in China and the United States. A research model drawing on UTAUT was developed with perceived effort expectancy, performance expectancy, mobile social influence, and privacy protection as the key determinants. Data from a US sample of 656 and a Chinese sample of 866 were analyzed using Partial Least Square (PLS) procedures to test this model, including the hypothesized antecedent role of some espoused cultural values. The product-indicator approach was adopted to test the hypothesized moderating effect from the espoused cultural values. Contrary to our expectation, the empirical data did not show strong support for the moderating effect of the espoused cultural values. Our data show espoused cultural values more of an antecedent or predictor of mobile shopping continuance. The findings show that culture exerts impact on the mobile shopping continuance decision process both at the macro (country difference) and micro (individual difference as espoused values) level. Relevant discussion, limitations and implications are also provided.