University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2009 Toward a Theory of Consumer Interaction With Mobile Technology Devices Charles Scott Rader University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons Recommended Citation Rader, Charles Scott, "Toward a Theory of Consumer Interaction With Mobile Technology Devices. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2009. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/104 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Charles Scott Rader entitled "Toward a Theory of Consumer Interaction With Mobile Technology Devices." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Business Administration. Daniel J. Flint, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: David W. Schumann, Ernest R. Cadotte, Ronald E. Taylor Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Charles Scott Rader entitled “Toward a Theory of Consumer Interaction with Mobile Technology Devices.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy with a major in Business Administration. Daniel J. Flint Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: David W. Schumann Ernest R. Cadotte Ronald E. Taylor Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official records) TOWARD A THEORY OF CONSUMER INTERACTION WITH MOBILE TECHNOLOGY DEVICES A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Charles Scott Rader August 2009 Copyright © 2009 by Charles Scott Rader All rights reserved. ii DEDICATION To my daughter, Sophia Kotomi, with whom every interaction is most human. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank everyone who helped me complete my PhD. While many people were involved, I would specifically like to thank Dr. Dan Flint for not only supporting my work, but also for showing me “the path less traveled” via interpretivist research and then allowing me to travel it. I would like to thank Drs. Dave Schumann, Ernie Cadotte, and Ron Taylor – three wise men who I appreciate for serving on my dissertation committee as well as providing mentorship and counsel throughout my academic journey. I would like to thank Dr. Tom Mentzer for providing an important foundation in philosophy of science and inquiry paradigms which certainly proved to be fundamental in the development of this dissertation. I would like to thank Joachim “Joe” Grass for engaging in many scholarly discussions and acting as a “reality check” during wayward efforts at conceptualization. I would like to thank my cohorts Xiaojing “Jing” Sheng and Rod Thomas for their support during the last four years. Lastly, I would especially like to thank my research participants, who are not mere “subjects” to be studied, but real people with real stories who are experiencing everyday life with their mobile technology devices. iv ABSTRACT The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the phenomenon of consumer interaction with mobile technology devices (MTDs). MTDs include electronic “gadgets” such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smartphones that are carried and used frequently by consumers. The emphasis in this dissertation was on developing an explanatory framework to account for everyday experiences of MTD consumption. In light of limited consumer research on the pervasive phenomenon, an inductive, theory-building approach was taken, employing the constant comparative methodology of grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss 1967; Glaser 1978). Data was gathered primarily through in-depth interviews with 20 participants who had extensive familiarity with the phenomenon. Convergence on a “core category” of Cultivating the Self explained the majority of variance in participants‟ social psychological processes while interacting with MTDs. By Cultivating the Self, consumers interact intimately with mobile technology devices in myriad ways over time, investing “psychic energy” (Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton 1981) into the products in order to actualize goals and therefore actualize themselves, all the while becoming closer to the devices, both figuratively and literally. The core category is comprised of three interrelated stages: Transitioning, Integrating and Bonding. By Transitioning to their devices, consumers undergo a fundamental and totalizing “ecological” change in their lives as they come to understand and assimilate interactions with MTDs. Through Integrating their devices, consumers select and align activities in their daily lives with capabilities that arise from interacting with their MTDs, “offloading” tasks to the products in a process that blurs the distinction between “personal” and “professional” lives. By Bonding, consumers make the products “their own” as they become increasingly proximate and intimate with their MTDs through customizing, personifying and interacting playfully with them. Extant theory was considered in extending properties of the core category, with special attention given to the ontological and epistemological differences between structuralist and interactionist paradigms underlying prior research on human-object relations. A symbolic interactionist view of human behavior was demonstrated as supporting emergent conceptualizations of the phenomenon. The interactionist approach and emergent theory developed through this dissertation provides support for the Service-Dominant Logic views currently evolving in contemporary marketing thought. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION & PERSPECTIVES ON THE PHENOMENON ......................1 Chapter Outline ...........................................................................................................................1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................1 Evolution of Mobile Technology Devices ..................................................................................9 The Phenomenon of Consumer Interaction with Mobile Technology Devices ........................15 Mobile Devices Defined ................................................................................................... 16 Consumer Interaction Defined .......................................................................................... 21 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 28 Perspectives on the Phenomenon ..............................................................................................28 A Categorization of Perspectives ...................................................................................... 30 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 44 Purpose of the Research ............................................................................................................45 Initial Research Questions ................................................................................................ 46 Chapter Summary......................................................................................................................47 CHAPTER 2 PHILOSOPHY AND METHODOLOGY ..............................................................48 Chapter Outline .........................................................................................................................48 The Role of Philosophy of Science in Research .......................................................................48 Inquiry Paradigms .....................................................................................................................50 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 50 Evolution of a Revolution: Major Philosophy of Science Contenders ............................ 52 Inquiry Paradigm for this Dissertation .............................................................................. 60 Strategy for Choosing Research Methodology ................................................................. 62 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 64 Symbolic Interactionism ...........................................................................................................65 Introduction ......................................................................................................................