Key factors influencing the adoption of apparel mobile commerce: an empirical study of Chinese and U.S. consumers

Jing Sun

In recent years, the development of m-commerce has been extraordinary. As apparel is one of the most popular products in e-commerce, scholars and marketers have argued that mcommerce could provide another lucrative sales channel for apparel brands and companies to reach the target consumers. This study determines the key factors influencing the Chinese and American consumers' intentions to use apparel m-commerce. First, this study reviewed the existing e-commerce/m-commerce research theories and models (i.e., Diffusion of Innovation Theory, Theory of Reasoned Action, and Technology Acceptance Model) to propose an integrative consumer's apparel m-commerce adoption model. Second, online survey instrument was developed based on the existing consumer behavior and marketing scales to gather primary data on both latent constructs and consumers' demographic variables. A total of 287 eligible responses were collected in China, while a total of 317 eligible responses were gathered in the U.S. The psychometric properties of the proposed model were examined using survey data. Factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were utilized for data analysis and hypothesis testing. The significant factors influencing the Chinese and American consumers' intentions to use apparel m-commerce were determined. For the Chinese consumers, perceived usefulness, perceived ease-of-use, subjective norm, compatibility, and past non-store shopping experience had positive effects on intention to use apparel mcommerce. In contrast, for the U.S. consumers, perceived usefulness, subjective norm, compatibility, and past non-store shopping experience had positive effects on intention to use apparel m-commerce. Managerial implications were imparted based on the findings of this study. In addition, the correlations between demographic variables (including gender, age, education level, personal annual income level, and ethnicity) and investigated latent constructs were determined. For the Chinese consumers, the effects of the demographic variables on the investigated latent constructs were insignificant except the positive relationship between income level and perceived ease-of-use toward apparel m-commerce. However, for the U.S. consumers, demographic variables showed more significant relationships with latent constructs. Future studies should include the measurement of actual usage of apparel m-commerce. Qualitative methods might be used in future studies to provide a comprehensive picture on the adoption of apparel m-commerce.

Key factors influencing the adoption of apparel mobile commerce: an empirical study of Chinese and U.S. consumers

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