Two Tales of One Service: User Acceptance of Short Message Service (SMS) in Hong Kong and China

The Short Message Service (SMS) has been available in Hong Kong and China since the late 1990s. However, the user acceptance patterns for this service have been evidently different in these two regions. Based on fieldwork in Hong Kong and China, this study attempts to explain these differences through the information technology acceptance framework, which posits that various external factors impact on a person’s perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and subjective norms, leading to user acceptance of the SMS. This study contributes to telecommunications research by delineating the various stimuli to consider for successful technology acceptance in a global setting, which can account for differential impacts across regions. These stimuli include the economic development level, cultural differences, political censorship, business models, market competition, and input language. The findings of this study can assist telecommunications operators in formulating an effective region-specific strategy when launching a wireless data service in a particular environment.