Investigating effective factors and presenting a practical guideline to adoption of mobile ticketing

Abstract: Methods of doing business have seen changes during the recent years (Ngai &
Gunasekaran, 2007). Use of internet, wireless technology, mobile networks
and devices has brought new opportunities for different businesses to offer
a variety of products and services. This way of doing business via mobile
networks by the use of mobile devices is so-called as mobile commerce (m-
commerce) (Tsalgatidou & Pitoura, 2001).It also can be regarded as a subset
of e-commerce (Coursaris & Hassanein, 2002). One of the reasons for this
growth in the popularity of wireless services is their convenience (Rao &
Minakakis, 2003). Phones and personal digital assistants increase the
availability, frequency and speed of communication (Scharl et al., 2005).
Lots of theories have been developed to explain the adoption of technology
by the users but little research has been done for the adoption and
customer intention to use mobile ticketing. The objective of this research
is to study mobile ticketing in Tehran metro transportation system as one
of the applications of mobile commerce. This study will answer three
important questions about the important factors effective in customer use
intention and adoption of mobile ticketing, the most important factors
involved in the adoption and practical guidelines which the implementers
should take into consideration before the launch of this system.
The conceptual framework is based on a study by Mallat et al. (2008) is
mainly based on two models, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) developed by
Davis (1989) and Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) by Rogers (1983) .The
research approach is mainly quantitative. To design the research a library
research has been done to find the best models, besides interviews with 6
experts to approve the conceptual research framework so this section is
involved with exploration. Then a questionnaire was designed and
distributed to 600 metro passengers. 138 questionnaires were eliminated and
462 questionnaires were accepted so the response rate equals to 77%.
The data collected from the distributed questionnaires were analyzed using
the SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) method. The results of the analysis
show that first: all the factors are reliable and valid for the analysis by
testing them with Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett’s tests and the
communalities table. Second: their causality relationships were tested to
answer the research hypotheses. The results show that prior experience is
the most effective factor, and mobility, ease of use, risk, perceived
usefulness, trust and use context are also important factors in the use
intention at a lower level. These results also show that effect of
compatibility, cost, social influence and attitude on customer use
intention of mobile ticketing is really low.
Based on the results of the analysis, customers should be offered the
service before complete adoption and use intention of the service. Also,
mobile networks of the mobile operators should be strengthened in a way
that ensures the anytime, anyplace purchase will be achieved by the
customer which can be considered as the mobility issue. The interface
should be user-friendly and easy to work with because the ease of use is an
important factor for the customers. As well, mobile wireless networks
infrastructure, mobile middleware and wireless user infrastructure, all
should support the system use in order to satisfy the customers and result
in their frequent use of the system.
Theoretically, a wide range of literature review of mobile commerce,
applications use intention and adoption is given in this study which will
be helpful for academic applications. From the business point of view, this
study suggests guidelines which are helpful in the successful
implementation and launch of the mobile ticketing system.