Mobile Commerce Adoption in Organizations: A Literature Review and Future Research Directions

The paper comprehensively reviews research conducted on mobile commerce adoption in organizations. From the literature, factors adopted form a number of adoption theories such as the diffusion of innovation theory, the technology acceptance model, etc. are identified, analyzed and tabulated together with a set of research propositions in order to demonstrate areas in need of further research. The paper proposes 15 adoption factors that may affect the intention to adopt mobile commerce in organizations. These factors are categorized into three groups, namely environmental and organizational, technological, and managerial and other factors. We conclude our argument by presenting a proposed adoption model and showing potential areas of interest to future researchers. DOI: 10.4018/jeco.2012040104 62 Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations, 10(2), 61-78, April-June 2012 Copyright © 2012, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. facilitates the existence of m-commerce to offer many services to mobile consumers (Siau, Lim, & Shen, 2001). M-commerce is directly linked to electronic commerce (e-commerce) (Tiwari, Buse, & Herstatt, 2006). Whereas e-commerce provides “anytime” access to online services, m-commerce potentially allows users to perform online transactions “anytime and anywhere” (Saidi, 2009). This concept of “anytime and anywhere” transacting and accessing important business information can be considered as one of the most significant advantages of m-commerce that draws the attention of businesses and their employees (Varshney, Mallow, Ahluwalia, & Jain, 2004). According to Siau et al. (2001), m-commerce “is about delivering the right information to the right place at the right time” (p. 5) meaning that they are ubiquitous and purposeful tools reshaping the landscape of commerce. M-commerce can be considered as the next generation of e-commerce. Therefore, to understand m-commerce as a modern concept, it is important to be aware of the definition of e-commerce; that is, “the sharing of business information, maintaining business relationships and conducting business transactions using computers interconnected by a telecommunication system” (Rajaraman, 2005, p. 90). These telecommunication systems can be a secure private network or a public network such as the Internet (Rajaraman, 2005). On the other hand, m-commerce can be defined as any transaction (such as data entry and purchasing) or content delivery (such as reporting and notification) with monetary value that is performed through mobile networks and devices (Clarke III, 2008; Leung & Antypas, 2001; Zhang, Yuan, & Archer, 2002). There are many applications for m-commerce; for example, users can download ringtones or music, buy tickets to performances, perform banking transactions, shop for goods, send or receive emails, play interactive online games, and trade stocks (AlHinai, Kurnia, & Johnston, 2007). Other examples of m-commerce may include purchases from vending machines or paying for fuel using a cell phone’s credit as a payment option. A recent study by ABI Research (2010a) estimated that in 2015, the m-commerce market would reach about $119 billion, representing about 8% of the total e-commerce market. Mcommerce also can improve productivity, and thus, organizations and businesses have opted to innovate and adopt m-commerce to offer greater and more widespread services to their different stakeholders. M-commerce is not only an extension of e-commerce, it also represents a different business philosophy which requires the introduction of new business models (Alvarez et al., 2009; OECD, 2007; Stoica, Miller, & Stotlar, 2005; Tsalgatidou & Pitoura, 2001). Moreover, Nohria and Leestma (2001) stated that m-commerce is a modern channel of consumerism and a very powerful way to reach customers. According to Nohria and Leestma (2001), m-commerce offers ideal opportunities for companies that understand how consumers can benefit from a collaborative market such as a mobile services market. Furthermore, Varshney et al. (2004) stated that “in today’s marketplace, where more and more organizations are decentralized and workers are increasingly more mobile, the ability of an organization to equip its workforce with access to vital information, anytime and anyplace, is becoming a strategic asset” (p. 356). Siau et al. (2001) was one of the first to foresee the current movement towards mobile business and stated that “m-commerce will likely emerge as a major focus of the business world and telecommunication industry in the immediate future” (p. 4) , but embracing mcommerce has its difficulties. Due to the importance of the topic and the lack of research about m-commerce organizational adoption, this review of the literature has been conducted in order to give some directions for future research. According to Ngai & Gunasekaran (2007), m-commerce is an emerging area of research as it offers a number of promising opportunities at the research and applications level. Their trend is evident on many levels; for instance, Al-Mashari (2002) stated that m-commerce is increasingly growing as the new Internet business model, in which 16 more pages are available in the full version of this document, which may be purchased using the "Add to Cart" button on the product's webpage: www.igi-global.com/article/mobile-commerce-adoptionorganizations/70214?camid=4v1 This title is available in InfoSci-Journals, InfoSci-Journal Disciplines Business, Administration, and Management. Recommend this product to your librarian: www.igi-global.com/e-resources/libraryrecommendation/?id=2