Mobile devices in social contexts
Year: 2011
Type: book
Abstract: The development of mobile devices has occurred with unprecedented pace since the late\nnineties, and the increase of generic services has proliferated in most developed\ncountries, driven by the expanding technological capabilities and performance of mobile\nplatforms. This dissertation investigates how consumer objectives, orientation, and\nbehavior can aid in explaining the adoption and use of a new type of mobile devices:\n“app phones”. This dissertation focuses its effort on two focal influences of adoption and\nuse; social influences and competing forces. Through a qualitative case study and field\nstudy this dissertation explores early adoption and use of iPhones. The case study is a\none-shot cross-sectional case study that investigates five individuals, related through the\nsame social network, and their decision to adopt an iPhone prior to its release in\nDenmark. This adoption decision engenders high switching costs as adopters lack\nreferences to imitate and need skills to unlock and jailbreak their iPhones to make them\nwork on Danish networks. The specific purpose of the case study is to explore how social\ninfluences impact mobile users’ early adoption decisions, as it is well known in the\nliterature that people with similar characteristics, tastes, and beliefs often associate in the\nsame social networks and, hence, influence each other. The field study is cross-sectional\nwith multiple snapshots and explores fifteen individuals part of the same university study,\nwho receives an iPhone for a period of seven months short after its release in Denmark.\nThe specific purpose of the field study is to explore how competing forces of iPhone\nusage influence assimilation, i.e. the degree to which the iPhone is used, over time. The\ndissertation, furthermore, contains a systematic literature review. The main contribution\nof this dissertation is reported through four articles and is directed at both academic\nresearchers and practitioners. The study emphasizes the importance of social influences\nand competing forces in the investigation of adoption and use of certain mobile devices.
Author: Heidi Tscherning
Institution: Copenhagen Business School
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems and Management
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W127620104