Exploring Gender Influence on Customer's Intention to Engage
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
RESEARCH Abstract Exploring Gender Influence on Customer’s This study conceptualizes and tests a theoretical framework that investigates Intention to Engage Permission-based customers’ intention to engage in permis- sion-based mobile marketing communica- Mobile Marketing tions with a firm in the hospitality sector and examines the effects of gender. The HEIKKI KARJALUOTO, HEIKKI LEHTO, MATTI LEPPA¨NIEMI AND model proposes that perceived usefulness, CHANAKA JAYAWARDHENA perceived ease of use and perceived trust affect attitude toward advertising, which in turn, together with perceived behavioural control over mobile communications and reference group influence, affects intention to engage in permission based mobile communications with a firm. Data is collected by the means of an online survey (n58,578) and analysis incorporates con- firmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. The results support the conceptual model and show specifically that perceived usefulness of mobile communica- tions explains a considerable amount of INTRODUCTION Telecoms and Media (2006) estimates attitude toward advertising. Attitude was that wireless advertising spend will found to explain a considerable amount of With the notion of one-to-one mar- more than double from 2006 levels the intention to receive messages from a keting, which contends that custo- to over US$1.5bn in 2007 (US$ 871 firm. Furthermore, women are found to have a stronger relationship between mobile mers should be addressed individually, million in 2006), although still marketing communications with both inten- one at time (Peppers and Rogers remaining very minor in the overall tions to visit and actual visits compared to 1993, Peppers et al. 1999), marketers advertising landscape. men. The implications of these results are are increasingly shifting away from In this article we focus on per- discussed, together with managerial impli- mass marketing (Barwise and Farley mission-based SMS advertising, cations, study limitations, and future 2005). Similarly, marketing thinking which is the most common form research directions. is experiencing a reconstruction of mobile advertising today and towards service dominant logic, which thus also most relevant to market- Keywords: permission marketing, mobile accelerates relationship marketing by ers. Permission-based mobile mar- advertising, technology acceptance, providing better interactivity and con- keting can be defined as a message behavioural intention Downloaded By: [Schmelich, Volker] At: 14:47 24 March 2010 nectivity with the help of technology that has been requested by the in serving customers (Peppers et al. consumer as a part of an opt-in Authors 1999, Vargo and Lusch 2004). system (e.g. a consumer fills in their Companies are nowadays effectively mobile phone number on a website Heikki Karjaluoto utilizing digital marketing channels andagreestoreceiveinformationof ([email protected]) is Professor in Marketing at the University such as e-mail and SMS (text) messa- interest). In effect, the permission of Jyva¨skyla¨, Finland. His research ging to reach their target audiences. to market to the consumer is received by the marketer. interests include electronic business in SMS advertising, where a text message general and mobile business and Permission-based advertising mes- is used as a vehicle for the distribution commerce in particular. of promotional messages, is rapidly sages are powerful because by Heikki Lehto gaining foothold as an important ([email protected]) is Chief 2008 Electronic Markets direct marketing tool (Barnes and Chanaka Jayawardhena Technology Officer at Brandson, Ltd, ß Scornavacca 2004, Trappey and ([email protected]) is Finland. His research interests are in Woodside 2006). In fact, global Lecturer in Marketing at Loughborough digital marketing communications and University Business School, UK. His consumer behaviour. brands such as McDonald’s, Coca- Copyright Volume 18 (3): 242-259. www.electronicmarkets.org DOI: 10.1080/10196780802265793 research interests are in consumer Matti Leppa¨niemi Cola, Pepsi, MTV, Volvo, Sony behaviour in new technologies and ([email protected]) is Researcher Pictures, Nike, Disney and Adidas service evaluation; he has won numerous in Marketing at the University of Oulu, have already begun to exploit mobile research awards including two Best Finland. His major areas of interests marketing concepts (e.g. Sultan and Paper Awards at the Academy of include mobile commerce, especially Rohm 2005). Globally, Informa Marketing Conference. mobile marketing. Electronic Markets Vol. 18 No 3 243 signing up to an opt-in marketing list, the consumer is Nysveen et al. 2005a). In general, the overall attitude requesting the information from the marketer rather toward technology has been used as a major determinant than simply being exposed to it (Martin et al. 2003). of whether a person is willing to use an information Thus marketers can gain better value for their market- system or not (Davis 1993). Although the attitude ing expenditure, as the message recipients have already toward technology has not been used in the original indicated a level of interest in the messages. TAM model, it acts as a central part of the TAM as an Consumer intention to engage in digital marketing antecedent of intention (Davis 1993, Lee et al. 2006, communications is a fresh topic and it is not surprising that Mathieson 1991). Technology acceptance literature has there is less literature on the subject compared to more not widely recognized the role of familiarity with the established subjects. Moreover, relatively less academic system or object under investigation, and thus most research has been devoted to the topics of examining the studies have not taken into account whether respondents driving forces of consumer intentions to use mobile services are experienced or inexperienced users of the system in general (Jayawardhena et al. forthcoming, Kautonen et (Taylor and Todd 1995a). Therefore it is suggested to al. 2007, Nysveen et al. 2005a) or, more specifically, to the investigate technology acceptance in the light of whether investigation of the antecedents of the intention to use the people have experience with the technology or not. mobile channel as a part of customer relationship manage- There is extant literature on the effects of technology ment (CRM) programmes (Sinisalo et al. 2007). Although experience on Internet use and online shopping the growing importance of mobile media for marketing behaviour (McKechnie et al. 2006, Montoya-Weiss et activities is widely recognized (e.g. Balasubramanian et al. al. 2003). The literature is consistent in proposing that 2002, Nysveen et al. 2005, Watson et al.2002),gapsexist the more experience people have of the Internet, the in our understanding of this emerging marketing phenom- more positive attitudes they hold and therefore the more enon (Jayawardhena et al. forthcoming, Venkatesh 2005). willing they are to use various online services. With Furthermore, the literature also implies that behaviours respect to mobile marketing communications, it can be that result from mobile communications may be a function expected that prior experience is similarly associated with of gender. For instance, research appear to suggest females attitude. value enjoyment, fun and the social dimensions related to mobile service usage (Nysveen et al. 2005b). This is consistent with the view that women behave differently A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF INTENTION TO USE from men (Stern 1999). Thus there are theoretical reasons MOBILE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS to expect that women may experience mobile marketing communications differently to men. The conceptual model displayed in Figure 1 shows the The present study is designed to contribute to the theory causal links mainly established by previous studies of the acceptance of permission-based mobile marketing concerning technology acceptance and use. The model communications as a part of companies’ CRM programmes. is an integration of three theoretical foundations, albeit The main objective of the study is to develop and test a all originating from the Theory of Reasoned Action model of permission-based mobile marketing acceptance in (TRA) (Ajzen and Fishbein 1980, Fishbein and Ajzen relation to a real-life digital marketing campaign drawn from 1975), namely the Technology Acceptance Model Downloaded By: [Schmelich, Volker] At: 14:47 24 March 2010 the hospitality sector. This research also examines the (TAM) (Davis 1989, Davis et al. 1989, Davis and impact of gender on behavioural intentions. Venkatesh 1996, Mathieson 1991), and its modifica- The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. The tions such as TAM2 (Venkatesh and Davis 2000), the next section outlines the different frameworks regarding Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen 1991), and the investigation of intention to use new technology, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of particularly mobile services. This will be followed by the Technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh et al. 2003). presentation of the conceptual model and the hypotheses The literature is full of various modifications of the related to it. Subsequently, we present the methodology theories applied, mobile settings in general (Nysveen et and the analysis of data. The final section of the article al. 2005a), and mobile marketing in particular (Bauer et outlines the contributions of the present study, the al. 2005, Muk and Babin 2006). However, the limitations