Local and Cultural Factors in Mobile Data Communications: The Case of the SMS in China and Hong Kong SAR Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Xu Yan (xuyan@ust.hk)
Introduction ! Studies from the social psychology perspective have revealed that local and cultural factors are key determinants for technology acceptance ! The contrast between the booming of the SMS in China and the sluggish response to the SMS in Hong Kong is a new evidence
Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) Attitude toward Beliefs and Evaluations behavior(A) Behavioral Actual Intention Behavior (BI) Normative Beliefs and Subjective Norm (SN) Motivation to comply ! A person’s performance of a specified behavior is determined by his behavior intention (BI). ! BI is a measure of the strength of one’s intention to perform a specified behavior.
Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) ! BI is jointly determined by the person's attitude (A) and subjective norm (SN) ! A is determined by his or her salient beliefs about consequences of performing the behavior and the evaluation of these consequences. ! SN refers to the person’s perception that most people who are important to him think he should or should not perform the behavior in question. It may also refers to social pressure.
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) + Perceived External Usefulness + Variables (PU) Behavioral Actual + + Attitude (A) Intention to System + (BI) Acceptance Perceived External Ease of Use Variables (PEOU) ! TAM, on the basis of TRA, is specifically used for modeling user acceptance of information technology/systems. ! It posits that two particular variables, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, are of primary relevance for IT acceptance behaviours
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) ! Perceived usefulness (PU) is defined as the prospective user’s subjective probability that using a specific application system will increase his specified performance ! Perceived ease of use refers to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free of effort
Research Framework Model P e r c e iv e d E x te r n a l U s e fu ln e s s + V a r ia b le s ( P U ) A c tu a l S y s te m + P e r c e iv e d A c c e p ta n c e E x te r n a l E a s e o f U s e o f S M S V a r ia b le s ( P E O U ) + E x te r n a l S u b je c tiv e V a r ia b le s N o r m ( S N )
Growth of Mobile Users in China 300,000 250,000 Digital 200,000 Analog 150,000 100,000 50,000 - 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 (Source: The Ministry of Information Industry)
Growth of Mobile Users in Hong Kong M o b ile u s e r s , Hong Kong, China (million) 7 2.5G us ers 6 Other prepaid "A c tiv ated" 5 prepaid 4 us ers A nalogue PCS 1.7/ 1.8 GHz 3 2 Dig ital, 800/900 M Hz 103 % mobile 1 penetration by 2003 Source: OFTA 0 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002.8 Source: ITU, OFTA
Subscribers are not Necessarily Users 500 500 450 450 439 431 400 400 393 366 366 350 350 MOU (minutes) 334 ARPU (Yuan) 324 322 300 299 300 296 250 250 234 231 213 207 200 200 189 176 150 150 141 122 115 103 100 100 99 86 72 63 50 50 0 0 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Blended ARPU Contract User Prepaid User Blended MOU Contract User Prepaid User
Explosive Growth of the SMS in China 45100 40,690.00 40100 35100 Million Messages 27,800.00 30100 25100 20100 12,600.00 15100 10100 4,775.70 1,299.70 313.4 126.7 5100 100 1H 2000 2H 2000 1H 2001 2H 2001 1H 2002 2H2002 1H2003
Sluggish Response to the SMS in Hong Kong 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 Oct-02 Nov-02 Dec-02 Jan-03 Feb-03 Mar-03 Apr-03 May-03 Jun-03 Jul-03 Aug-03 Sep-03
Mean Comparison by T-test and One- way ANOVA Mean (SD) N Significantly F P-value different? Beijing Hong Kong Beijing HK PU1 4.0950(.9000) 3.5610(.8620) 200 82 20.976 .000 Yes PU2 3.4450(.9117) 2.7604(.8914) 200 96 37.102 .000 Yes PEOU1 4.1700(.8089) 3.4881(.9999) 200 84 36.382 .000 Yes PEOU2 4.1150(.9307) 2.2500(.9468) 200 100 264.65 .000 Yes SN1 4.040(.9967) 2.5054(.8923) 200 93 160.58 .000 Yes SN2 2.950(1.097) 2.6000(.8921) 200 95 7.355 .007 Yes UA1 3.715(1.0999) 2.5684(.9963) 200 95 74.265 .000 Yes UA2 4.030(1.0886) 2.1064(1.041) 200 94 205.17 .000 Yes UA3 4.175(1.0724) 2.3951(1.147) 200 81 152.46 .000 Yes
Frequency of Using the SMS 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% Beijing Hong Kong 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Daily Once a Week Once a Month Others
Information Infrastructure Level ! A substitute to e-mail wireline Internet ! 206.6 million mobile subscribers but only 49.7 million Internet subscribers by 2002 ! Not all mobile services are more advanced than the fixed! 45% 41% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 16% 12% 15% 10% 8% 7% 10% 6% 5% 0% E-mail Stock News Game Shopping Banking Others Transaction Demand to Mobile Data Services in China
Preference of Using the SMS to Send Message 40% 35% 30% 25% Beijing 20% Hong Kong 15% 10% 5% 0% Strongly Disaggree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
Culture ! Users in China are reluctant to talk to machine ! Users in Hong Kong has been used to leaving voice mail
Market Competition ! The competitiveness of mobile voice service makes the SMS a relatively expensive service in HK Price Perception of SMS 70% 60% 50% 40% Beijing Hong Kong 30% 20% 10% 0% Cheap Reasonable Expensive
Political Factor ! The SMS is Now a New and Informal Literature ! Bypass the Government’s censorship ! Social pressure to access and share with the others The SMS Content 50% 45% 40% 35% 30% Beijing 25% Hong Kong 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Greetings Jokes Advertisement Others
Business Model: Forming a Positive Feedback Payment Content Content
Input Methods of the Chinese ! Pin Yin is simple and popular in China ! Cheong-chi is a complicated method of inputting Chinese in Hong Kong Respondence to "SMS is easy to use" 50% 40% 30% Beijing Hong Kong 20% 10% 0% Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Disagree
The SMS Acceptance Model Language: Input Method Perceived Ease of Use Information Infrastructure Level: (PEOU) Alternative Substitution of Wireline Internet + Culture: Actual Alternative Substitution to Voice Message + Perceived System Usefulness Acceptance (PU) of SMS Market Competition: Alternative + Substitution to Highly Priced Voice Service Political Censorship: Subjective Access and Share Information that are not Norm Available in the Public Media (SN) Business Model: Enhance Information Richness and Benefit from Network Externality
Conclusion ! Good technology or bad technology? That is not a problem. ! User will accept a new technology only when they perceive it as a useful technology ! There are many local and culture determinants that lead to the perceived usefulness ! Perceived ease of use should be paid with attention by vendors and operators ! Social pressure is one of the key factor to achieve critical mass
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