Research Proposal on "Mobile Services, Safety, Security, Usage and Acceptance"

Research Proposal 22 pages (5950 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Mobile Services, Safety, Security, Usage and Acceptance:

The Perception Of Consumers

Context of the Problem

Organization of the Study

Technology Acceptance Model: The Conceptual Framework

Mobile Banking

Technology Challenges and Security Risks

Near-Field Communications: Contactless Payments

Research Model (Kim, Koo & Song, 2007)

Relationships in Conceptual Model (de Ruyter, Kleijnen & Wetzels, 2004)

Conceptual Model (Bhatti, 2007)

Model of System of Relationships Influencing Use of m-services (Drennan & Mort, 2007)

Context of the Problem

This research paper presents some of the most important findings in the use of electronic services and communication changes over the past several years. Contemporary consumers have adopted an environment of electronic communications in order to manage business and personal transactions. Electronic communications has also changed the way organizations do business. "Over the past several years, electronic commerce has become the most important new way of doing business. Electronic commerce tends not to be perceived as just another example of the alliance of business and the new information technology; instead, the cross-organizational dimension of electronic commerce gives it a distinctive character in contrast to other applications of information technology to business" (Kreindler, Maislish, & Wang, 2004, p. 59). "As global competition intensifies, an organization's effective operational performance and strategic positioning will become more dependent upon its ability to successfully exploit information technologies. Of particular importance, in this context, is the Internet, which through its high levels of connectivity, reach and adoption has already impacted upon most sectors of the economy, including defense, banking, retail, manufacturing, healthcare and education" (Doherty & Ellis-Chadwick, 2006, p. 411).

Now there is a new form of electronic commerce marketers are calling, mobile commerce (m-commerce). "Wireless technology has been proclaimed as one of the most promising innovations of the last decade, creating tremendous business opportunities via the wireless infrastructure in terms of communication, transactions, purchasing, entertainment, trading, etc." (de Ruyter, Kleijnen, & Wetzels, 2004, p. 206). Firms have invested millions of dollars designing and implementing wireless infrastructures to support the shift to m-commerce.

Frolic & Chen (2004) stated, wireless Internet has become a valuable channel through which retailers interact with potential customers. The value of m-commerce is vast as it enables businesses to create more contact points with customers and to extend business into new markets (p. 53). eBay is an example of a firm that enables customers to participate in auctions utilizing mobile devices. Neilson Company reported nine million U.S. mobile-phone subscribers say they used their mobile devices to pay for goods or services in the first quarter of 2008. Nielson surveyed 30,000 wireless subscribers monthly. Nic Covey, director of insights at Nielson Mobile stated, "As more m-commerce services become available and consumers develop a greater trust for phone-based transactions, we expect commerce to be an increasingly important part of the mobile experience next year and beyond" ("9 Million," 2008).

It is obvious that the technology works and works well, the problem is will more consumers trust handling their business and personal transactions over wireless. Consumers need proof that mobile transactions will be a safe, affordable and an efficient balance to other methods of shopping and paying bills. Secondly, are consumers truly motivated to conducting their business wirelessly or are marketers pushing mobile technology through the market? "Firms that are considering implementing m-commerce strategies need to consider the behavioral aspects of consumers' use of m-commerce. Understanding these aspects of behavior would help businesses predict customers' reactions" (Kim, Koo & Song, 2007, p. 14).

This study will investigate what it will take for consumers to accept the new technology. The investigation will also include consumer behavior and characteristics, in addition to the characteristics of the technology.

Statement of the Problem

Many firms and retailers are increasingly moving from the traditional means of servicing their customers to a paperless and mobile form of communications. Consumer technology acceptance is a critical factor to the success of m-commerce. Consumers primarily will accept various means of new technology as long as it is easy to use, requires minimal effort on their part, and reasonably priced. This paper sets out to study the viewpoint and intentions of consumers and their perceived usefulness of mobile services in their daily lives.

Research Questions

Research has shown that organizations have already begun reengineering business processes and upgrading their network infrastructures to accommodate the use of mobile services by consumers. Researchers have also stated that marketers are vastly influencing the shift to m-services. The purpose of this research proposal is to attempt to understand how the impacts of mobile commerce affect consumers' behavior? To answer this question, the following subquestions will be addressed:

What are the technology characteristics and challenges of mobile communications?

What is the consumer trustworthiness of the technology and perceived ease of use?

What role does social influence play in consumers attitudes to the use mobile services?

Significance of the Study

This study is important in the sense that the lives of consumers are quickly changing toward an increased use of cyberspace. The author of this proposal will attempt to determine the differences between age and household income of mobile services adopters. Generations X, Y, and Z (the Internet Generation), are perceived to be more opt to use m-commerce where the baby-boomer generation would prefer more traditional means of banking and buying and selling of goods. The authors' interest will focus on investigating intentions of customers who currently use mobile services, those that will continue to use the services and users who will begin using mobile services in the future.

The author will leverage the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to assist in answering the research questions and to develop a theoretical model. Kim, Koo & Song (2007) stated that the TAM has been widely studied and accepted as a valid model in predicting an individual's behavior across various information technologies. In TAM, two factors are primary determinants of system use - perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness (p. 15).

Marketers are promoting a positive approach to mobile services. Society has become very much aware of the go green and save the world initiatives. It has been determined that consumers can contribute to going green by eliminating paper. M-commerce is a paperless service which may influence users to adopt at a faster rate. One of the main goals of the study will focus on social influences and awareness of m-commerce.

Research Design and Methodology

The research design and methodology of this paper will focus on a qualitative and quantitative style of research. The author will apply four methods of research; focus groups, observations, surveys, and empirical data from past research studies. With the use of these research methods the author is striving to capture a sampling of behaviors and to be as objective as possible when assessing the behaviors being studied.

The focus group will include a cross-sectional study of people of several different age groups, income levels, and ethnicity. In order for the author to obtain these sample data the intended method would be the use of a controlled online focus group. Online focus groups are appropriate for consumer research, business to business research and political research (Wikipedia, 2008). Interacting over the web avoids a significant amount of travel expense. It will allow the respondents from all over the world to gather electronically for a more representative sample. Often respondents open up more online than they would in person, which is valuable to the author of this study (Wikipedia, 2008). The online focus group will be limited to 8-10 participants.

Surveys will be utilized to obtain quantitative research results. "The survey questionnaire is an inexpensive way to gather information or data; it may be the only feasible way to reach a number of research participants large enough for a statistical analysis of the survey questionnaire responses. A survey questionnaire should be viewed as a multi-stage process beginning with a definition of the aspects to be examined and ending with interpretation of the results" (Strayer DRP Guidebook, 2006, p. 18). A web survey will be made up of respondents from an e-mail request to 25-30 participants. In order to reach consumers who do not regularly utilize the Internet and email, the survey process will also include additional 25-30 participants of face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, and written questionnaires. All survey types developed for this study will consist of the same series of questions for the purpose of gathering an accurate sampling of information from respondents.

The next research technique is gathering of data through observation. "Observational research techniques solely involve the researcher making observations. There are many positive aspects of the observational research approach. Namely, observations are usually flexible and do not necessarily need to be structured around a hypothesis" (Brown). The author will begin the research study with observation, because observing an individual(s) is time consuming and can be difficult to observe behaviors rather than attitude. The researcher will try to observe the phenomena as much as possible, but will not focus a lot of time on observation research during this study.

Finally, the researcher will review literature… READ MORE

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