Resumo

This article explores the context of m-commerce, the commercial transaction mediated by wireless technology, handled by mobile devices, a combination of e-commerce and mobility where individuals can purchase goods anywhere as long as they are connected. Although m-commerce is a topic of great managerial and academic interest due to its impacts on consumer behavior and purchase processes, m-commerce is not a mature system, demanding scientific research in order to understand its acceptance, risk and the behavior of users and non-users.

Literature signalizes the need of understanding the drivers and antecedents of m-commerce, answering the question of how we achieve m-commerce and what are the main factors leading to m-commerce usage. Although the Technology Acceptance Model has proved to be an alternative for m-commerce investigations, recent literature indicates the insufficiency of this model. Based on this, the aim of this article is to develop a model combining technology acceptance and m-commerce fundamental elements to explain m-commerce adoption.

We build our model based on two main theories: (i) the Technology Acceptance Model and its two central cores (perceived utility and perceived usage facility); and (ii) the three dimension of m-commerce (ubiquity, convenience, localization and personalization). We explore these two research streams to find convergence between them, in order to adapt the TAM to the context of technology adoption.

A model with six factors (perceived convenience, situation-dependent context, ease of use, hedonic dimension, utilitarian dimension and privacy concerns) was tested in a sample of 282 users of a food delivery app. Hypothesis were tested using structural equation modeling.

We have reached a model composed by perceived convenience, utilitarian aspects and privacy safety, conforming the drivers of m-commerce adoption. Perceived convenience is the main driver, covering personalization and ubiquity traits, conforming an amplified construct. The utilitarian aspects are connected to the convenience brought by m-commerce, since consumers tend to value more the utilitarian dimension that the hedonic dimension of the app. Finally, contradicting our expectations, the privacy safety perceived by consumers are another driver of m-commerce adoption.

We updated the TAM to the context of m-commerce. Perceived convenience, the utilitarian dimension and privacy safety are the drivers of m-commerce adoption. Perceived convenience is the main driver, covering personalization and ubiquity traits. Our findings put light into a new behavior of consumers, since they do not feel impacted by technology anymore – this impact has become part of their routine and changes may happen even without their acknowledgement, raising a new phenomenon to be further investigated.

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