The Influence of Culture on Consumers Perceptions of Paradoxes of Mobile Technology and Attitudinal Loyalty Preliminary Findings

Transcription

1 The Influence of Culture on Consumers Perceptions of Paradoxes of Mobile Technology and Attitudinal Loyalty Preliminary Findings 1. Introduction Consumers demand for mobility urges the development of more advanced technologies, particularly in the area of mobile telecommunications, enabling communication to become ubiquitous. The massive growth in the adoption of these technologies globally has many researchers and marketers wondering how to benefit from this trend. Mobile phones, especially, appear to be a major product in the mobile technology market, as they are often the only device people have with them all the time. Some people are even obsessed with their mobile phones, because they consider them implying their social status (Campbell & Park, 2008). However, the concern and attention being paid to how users of mobile phones perceive the whole experience for example, being able to reach out and being reached anytime and anywhere is very little. If consumers experiences, especially negative ones, are neglected, the products or industries would lose their customers gradually. Mick and Fournier s (1998) paradoxes of technology was the first to introduce the contradictory impacts on people from using technological products. The research has been extended to a mobile technology context, and a set of eight paradoxes has been identified by Jarvenpaa and Lang (2005). As an example to illustrate one of the paradoxes, empowerment vs. enslavement entails mobile technology empowering consumers to be able to connect to others 24/7, but they are also expected to be reached 24/7, which prevents users from creating and maintaining distance from others. This forces consumers to interact with other people through mobile devices, which represents the perception of enslavement. By understanding the paradoxical impacts of mobile phone usage with both benefits and consequences Jarvenpaa and Lang (2005) have provided a sound finding in revealing different experiences consumers have encountered. Research in trying to understand the paradoxical impacts of using mobile technology is limited in number and context, e.g. in a consumer behaviour context (e.g. Arnold, 2003) and in an organisational behaviour context (e.g. Middleton, 2007; Middleton & Cukier, 2006). Also, Mak and his colleagues (Mak, Nickerson, & Isaac, 2009; Nickerson, Isaac, & Mak, 2008) have conducted research in a multinational context to investigate the perception of the impact of using mobile phones in public. Their findings are related to only one paradox (Private/Public) and the results are location based. Nationality and where the respondents were living during the research are the only two variables the paradox associates with. In other words, the results can only explain how the people in those countries (both in terms of where they live and where they are from) perceive. The application to other countries or markets is limited. Therefore, research investigating the perceptions of different paradoxes of mobile technology in different cultures is needed. Accordingly, the present research chose UK and Taiwan, representing opposite cultural characteristics based on Hofstede (1991, 2001) and his colleagues (Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010) studies, as two cultures to compare. By understanding the relationship between cultural characteristics/dimensions and the perceptions of paradoxes, we can predict the perception of people from different countries which possess similar cultural dimensions. Therefore, the purpose of the present research is to extend Jarvenpaa and Lang s (2005) research in paradoxes of mobile technology to a crosscultural context, by understanding the relationships between cultural dimensions and the perceptions of paradoxes, and the choices of coping strategy. By adding a new construct consumer loyalty the current research wishes to further understand if culture and the paradox constructs influence consumer loyalty. The present research also tries to echo Mick 1

2 and Fournier s (1998) call for the extension of studying the paradox construct in a quantitative and cross-cultural context. The paper is structured as follows. Firstly, the theoretical framework is presented based on the literature review. Then, the research model is developed, and research hypotheses are made based on the model. Next, the research design is outlined and the preliminary findings from the analysis are presented. Finally, the implications and limitations of the present research are discussed. 2. The Theoretical Framework As stated earlier, four constructs are considered in the present research: cultural dimensions, paradoxes of mobile technology, coping strategy and attitudinal loyalty. In order to find out the relationships between these constructs, the Technology Acceptance Model TAM (Davis, 1989) has been adopted. TAM is a model which provides a systematic way to explain how the characteristics of technological products affect their adoption/acceptance by users. A vast amount of extended TAM studies has been conducted, mainly adding more constructs/variables around the TAM. A common extension of TAM is to include consumer characteristics as external variables to explain consumers propensity to adopt/accept technological products. Therefore, the characteristics of consumers and products have become the two research paradigms, which are trait variables and belief variables (Porter & Donthu, 2006), in most of the extended TAM studies. Trait variables (e.g. gender, age and nationality) are considered as moderators and belief variables are mediators that influence attitudes and intention to behave. Based on the extant literature, three other constructs in extended TAM are also frequently studied. They are attitude, (actual) behaviour, and behaviour intention. Based on the frequently researched constructs in extended TAM, the present research concludes five paradigms in the extended TAM and these are shown in the top part of Figure 1. The research constructs of the present research fit into four of the research paradigms of the extended TAM, as shown in the lower part of Figure 1. Figure 1 Theoretical Framework Source: Adapted from Porter & Donthu (2006) Thus, four research paradigms in the extended TAM are adapted in the present research. They are trait variables (cultural dimensions), belief variables (perceived paradoxes), behaviour (coping strategy) and behavioural intention (attitudinal loyalty). 2.1 Cultural Dimensions as Trait Variables Cultural dimensions refer to Hofstede s (1991, 2001) national cultural dimensions, which demonstrate that national and regional culture influences people s behaviour. He developed a 2

3 framework consisting of five cultural dimensions later expanded to six. The original dimensions were (low/high) power distance (PDI), individualism vs. collectivism (IDV), masculinity vs. femininity (MAS), uncertainty avoidance (UAI), and long/short term orientation (LTO). The newly derived dimension from Hofstede and his colleagues latest work (Hofstede et al., 2010) is called indulgence vs. restraint (IVR), which relates to happiness and life control. Based on the extant literature, Hofstede s cultural dimensions are related to perceptions (e.g. de Mooij, 2011; Yoo & Donthu, 2001). Therefore, we assume that cultural dimensions are related to the perceived paradoxes. 2.2 Perceived Paradoxes as Belief Variables Paradoxes of technology were first introduced by Mick and Fournier (1998). Jarvenpaa and Lang (2005) conducted research based on the similar idea to mobile technology, taking mobile phones as a proxy, and the result has largely supported Mick and Fournier s (1998) research. The paradoxes of mobile technology from Jarvenpaa and Lang (2005) are: 1. empowerment vs. enslavement, 2. independence vs. dependence, 3. fulfils needs vs. creates needs, 4. competence vs. incompetence, 5. planning vs. improvisation, 6. engaging vs. disengaging, 7. public vs. private, and 8. illusion vs. disillusion. These paradoxes are experienced by consumers, and perceptions are accordingly formed based on the experiences. According to TAM, perceptions based on product attributes form the beliefs of the products. The perceived paradoxes of mobile technology refer to a post-adoption experience in the use of technological products. Two reasons can be used to highlight the importance of the postadoption experience. Firstly, consumers experiences of using products affect their product/service evaluation and then influence their next purchase (Schiffman, Hansen, & Kanuk, 2008). Secondly, their experiences may possibly influence other people s purchasing intentions through word-of-mouth (Jiang, 2009). These factors indicate that perceived paradoxes would influence consumer behaviour and loyalty to the product. 2.3 Coping Strategies as the Behaviours Together with paradoxes of the technology, how to cope with the paradoxes defined as coping strategy has also been investigated in both Mick and Fournier (1998) and Jarvenpaa and Lang s (2005) works. Two strategies are proposed: avoidance and confrontation. Beaudry and Pinsonneault (2005, p. 494) define coping as dealing with the adaptational acts that an individual performs in response to disruptive events that occur in his/her environment. The interpretation of this is that an avoidance strategy means that individuals who employ it try to avoid facing similar disruptive events, whereas a confrontation strategy entails tackling such events and trying to prevent anything similar happening again. Therefore, the coping strategies people employ are the behaviours as a result of what happened. A positive relationship between coping strategies and behavioural intention has been found (Cui, Bao, & Chan, 2009). Therefore, we assume that coping strategy as behaviour influences consumers loyalty in the present research. 2.4 Attitudinal Loyalty as the Behavioural Intentions When it comes to consumer loyalty, it is often related to a brand (Mascarenhas, Kesavan, & Bernacchi, 2006). Brand loyal consumers are less price-sensitive and are willing to pay a premium for the product (Mellens, Dekimpe, & Steenkamp, 1996). In the present research, the focus is not on a specific brand but on the whole mobile phone industry, with the aim of understanding consumers behaviour after they have perceived paradoxes of mobile technology. Thereby the paper also aims to infer their loyalty to the mobile phone industry. Consumers attitudinal loyalty is conceptualised in this research as the behavioural intention to stay on with this technology. In order to distinguish between the intention to 3

4 use/purchase/adopt a new product and to stay on using the same product, some studies use continuance intention to replace behavioural intention in TAM related research (e.g. Bhattacherjee, 2001). Regardless of different names, behavioural intention in the present research represents attitudinal loyalty, which is often presented as the on-going relationship with a product or brand (Mascarenhas et al., 2006). 3. Research Model The research model was developed according to the literature review above and is shown in Figure 2. Figure 2 Research Model 4. Research Hypotheses Based on the extant literature, the current research hypothesises that cultural dimensions will affect how consumers perceive the paradoxes (H1), perceived paradoxes will affect what coping strategies consumers employ (H2), and consumers attitudinal loyalty (H4). Furthermore, coping strategy will influence consumers attitudinal loyalty towards mobile technology (H3). 5. Research Design and Data Collection The targeted cultures are the British and Taiwanese, representing relatively opposite cultural dimensions (Hofstede et al., 2010). The target audiences are British and Taiwanese nationals who lived in their own countries when the research was conducted. A two-stage study was designed, and a mixed-method was employed. The first stage of study employed focus groups to conduct qualitative data collection and analysis. The purposes of the first stage were to validate the existence of the paradoxes that were proposed by Jarvenpaa and Lang in 2005, and to gather scenarios for developing paradox measurement items, as there was no suitable existing instrument to measure the paradoxes. A survey strategy was employed and a questionnaire was the data collection instrument in the second stage study. The questionnaire consisted of the measurements of the four research constructs. Cultural dimensions and attitudinal loyalty measurements were adopted and adapted from the existing literature, and the measurements for paradox perceptions for mobile technology and coping strategy were developed by the researcher. A web-based questionnaire was designed and distributed by s and Facebook. A total of 510 valid respondents, aged 16 and above, from two cultures (209 British, 301 Taiwanese) were included in the analysis. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) acted as the analytic method, and AMOS v.21 and SPSS v.21 were the data analysis tools for the quantitative data. 6. Preliminary Results and Findings As a preliminary analysis before comparing two cultures and reporting the detailed analysis, this paper only highlights the main features of the preliminary findings. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted to test the research model, which was specified based on the structure model in Figure 2. The model showed an acceptable fit (X 2 = , df = 307, p<.000, CFI=.902, GFI=.893 RMSEA=.056). Around 54% of the variance in attitudinal loyalty (R 2 =.54) was explained by the predictors (cultural dimensions, perceived paradoxes and coping strategies) in the model. 4

5 The impact of cultural dimensions on perceived paradoxes was mainly shown on UAI, of which had significant impacts on all paradox constructs. H1 is therefore partially supported. As to the perceived paradoxes, only two paradox constructs had significant impact on the choice of coping strategy H2 is partially supported. However, most of them had a significant impact on attitudinal loyalty H4 is supported. Finally, coping strategy had a significant impact on attitudinal loyalty H3 is supported. 7. Implications and Limitations The findings before comparing two cultures provide several insights: Consumers intention to continue using mobile technology is largely influenced by cultural dimensions, perceived paradoxes and coping strategy. The perceptions of paradoxes are the key to influencing loyalty, and cultural dimensions are the antecedent that influences their perceptions. The coping strategies that consumers employ to react to the perceived paradoxes do have an impact on loyalty, but the choice of coping strategy is indirectly affected by cultural dimensions too. The attitudinal loyalty in the present research refers to consumers on-going relationship with the mobile phone industry, because currently there is no competing product or industry that consumers can turn or switch to despite of perceiving those paradoxes. Low loyalty to mobile phone industry does not necessarily indicate that consumers will eventually stop using mobile phones. It may mean a reduction in the usage of mobile phones in order to avoid experiencing the paradoxical impacts. Reducing the usage implies a lack of interest in the products, further to imply a decline in demand, which is bad for the industry. As the perceptions of paradoxes of mobile technology are key factors in affecting consumers loyalty to mobile phones, the mobile technology industry (including handset manufacturers, network providers, and marketers) should focus on reducing the negative impact perceived by consumers. This may include working on the improvement of devices (e.g. battery life) and network services (e.g. reception) to increase product performance. However, good performance of the product does not always lead to good experience/perceptions (Jarvenpaa and Lang, 2005). Some paradoxes are perceived based on other users behaviour. Therefore, the industry should also work on building up social protocol in using mobile technology via adverts or marketing campaigns. By incorporating cultural dimension elements, the industry would know what should be emphasised in different cultures. For example, in Cui et al. s (2009) studies, people in Hong Kong accept talking loudly on mobile phones in public, and also in business meetings. Therefore, this aspect does not need to be emphasised in cultures similar to Hong Kong, but other aspects should be worked on in order to increase people s loyalty to this industry. How to deliver positive messages to consumers in different cultures/countries, in order to increase their positive perceptions towards using mobile technology without compromising their usage, will be a challenge to the industry. However, both the cultural dimensions and paradox constructs which relate to each other are not specified here because the analysis is not finalised yet. The final results of the present research will provide more precise and comprehensive recommendations to the industry as well as to the marketing theories. The present research inevitably has some limitations. A web-based questionnaire was designed for data collection, thereby excluding potential respondents who do not have access to the Internet. By employing convenience sampling, the samples available to the researcher may not be representative, which would limit its reliability in generalising the results. 5

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