The Moderating Role of Consumer Technology Anxiety in Mobile Shopping Adoption: Differential Effects of Facilitating Conditions and Social Influences

ABSTRACTThis study examined whether consumers' levels of technology anxiety moderate the causal relationships among determinants of mobile shopping adoption in a modified Unified Theory of User Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. With the moderating role of technology anxiety, facilitating conditions were examined as an antecedent driver of utilitarian and hedonic performance expectancies in determining mobile shopping adoption in the modified UTAUT model. A sample of 400 mobile services users drawn from a purchased consumer panel participated in an online survey. Structural equation modeling analysis was used to examine the hypothesized paths in the adoption of mobile shopping. Results indicated that the effect of facilitating conditions on both utilitarian and hedonic performance expectancies is stronger for consumers with a low level of technology anxiety than for consumers with a high level of technology anxiety. Moreover, consumers with a high level of technology anxiety rely more on social influence in the use of mobile shopping than consumers with a low level of technology anxiety. The modified UTAUT model reveals insightful results and provides a holistic framework for predicting emerging mobile shopping adoption behavior.Keywords: Mobile shopping; Facilitating conditions; Social influences; Technology anxiety; UTAUT1. IntroductionThe ubiquitous characteristic of an Internet-enabled mobile phone is profoundly affecting the way people use services and information in their daily lives. This increased use of mobile internet and online services is enabling the creation of new services that promise alternative opportunities for companies [Yu 2012], In the retail industry, the rapid adoption of mobile Internet and smartphones has retailers attempting to capitalize on the promise of technology-mediated mobile services as a new and important channel to serve and connect with consumers [Liesse 2007], The mobile shopping channel has become a personal shopping assistant for consumers to enhance their shopping experiences and assist in making purchases across channels.While mobile shopping services may promise better consumer shopping experiences, there are concerns about whether consumers will actually adopt technology-mediated services when available. This new technology-mediated mobile shopping channel is different from traditional (e.g., in-store, catalog) and online shopping channels and it is not yet validated across consumer segments. Further, with the extremely private and personal nature of the mobile phone device, mobile shopping services often involve security and privacy issues resulting from transacting financial and personal information. Therefore, consumers' concerns for security and privacy may be higher in the mobile shopping channel than in other shopping channels. Due to its newness and uniqueness in shopping encounters (e.g., small screen size, using 4G & 5G mobile technologies), mobile shopping may provoke user anxiety in its embryonic stage of mobile shopping adoption. In that regard, consumer anxiety may be a significant barrier facing consumers at the moment when mobile shopping is used. If this is the case, consumer mobile shopping adoption might be leveraged by reducing consumer anxiety about using mobile shopping. Therefore, by understanding the relationships among consumers' underlying motivations to adopt mobile shopping and their associated anxieties, retailers may benefit by being proactive in designing mobile shopping services that help alleviate anxiety in the adoption stage.This study examines determinants of consumer mobile shopping adoption using measures suggested by Venkatesh et al. [2003]'s Unified Theory of User Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Although extant technology acceptance models and theories are well-established and validated in previous studies [e.g., Dabholkar and Bagozzi 2002; Davis 1989; Davis et al. 1989; Venkatesh 1999], testing that is based upon one technology acceptance model may bring skewed and blurred outcomes, particularly when examining a new technology phenomenon. …