Adoption and Usage of M-commerce: a Cross-cultural Comparison of Hong Kong and the United Kingdom

Researchers and industry commentators alike have been both fascinated and perplexed by variations in take-up and usage of m-commerce services in different countries around the world. Our research compares m-commerce usage in the United Kingdom and in Hong Kong, areas with apparently similar mobile telecommunications infrastructures but with markedly different cultural profiles. We find significant differences between the UK and Hong Kong in usage of and attitudes to m-commerce services. We attribute these differences to the levels of collectivism and power distance in the cultures and to structural differences between the two markets. Attitudes to m-commerce services are formed by cultural and structural factors, consequently the search for a single, global killer application may be misguided. An understanding of the cultural dimensions of a market can aid marketers immensely in developing appropriate m-commerce services, marketing these appropriately and in setting realistic adoption targets.