A Thesis for the Degree of Master Understanding User Resistance towards Participation in Multihop Communications

The users sometimes relay data packets on behalf of other users in a 4G wireless network. Most multihop applications are expected to be realized on the assumption that users will participate voluntarily. However, there is no justification regarding why users participate in multihop communications despite technical, privacy, and behavioral obstacles. Therefore, this study aims to investigate users’ resistance towards multihop communications. To better understand the nature of resistance and its sources, this study reviews 4G wireless network and user behavior literature. We propose a set of four antecedents of perceived resistance in multihop communications – perceived network quality concern, perceived privacy concern, perceived lack of cohesion, and perceived resource sacrifice. The proposed structural model is empirically tested using online survey. The results reveal that perceived network quality concern, perceived lack of cohesion and perceived resource sacrifice are critical to understand resistance. The main contribution of this study is to focus on user point of view to consider multihop communications and provide empirical results. Further implications are discussed.