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Students demand for smartphones

Structural relationships of product features, brand name, product price and social influence
Norazah Mohd Suki
Labuan School of International Business & Finance and Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Labuan International Campus, Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose The study aims to examine structural relationships of product features, brand name, product price and social influence with demand for Smartphones among Malaysian students. Design/methodology/approach Data collected from 320 valid pre-screened university students studying at the pubic higher learning institution in Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia who have experience in using and owning Smartphones, using a structured questionnaire, with closed-ended questions, employing a convenient sampling technique, were tested against the research model using the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach via AMOS 20.0 computer program. Findings Empirical results via SEM divulged that brand name and social influence have an effect on the increasing demand for Smartphones among Malaysian students. The first is confirmed as the most influential factor, followed by the latter. This is according to standardised path coefficients and their statistical signicance. Research limitations/implications This study contributes significantly to a more thorough understanding of the determinants of demand for Smartphones among Malaysian students by emphasizing the dimensions of product features, brand name, product price and social influence. Students demand for Smartphones is highly influenced by aspects of the brand name of the Smartphone itself and social influence from friends and family members. Practical Implications Smartphone providers, manufacturers, application developers and programmers should improve the current ability and performance of Smartphones by upgrading hardware and software driven services for better user interaction and engagement in order to be marketable and sustainable in meeting consumer unlimited needs and wants. They should also emphasize their brand name in advertising to be well positioned in consumers minds when making the decision to purchase and own a Smartphone. Positive viral marketing spread via social networking sites could help Smartphone providers to strengthen the competitive advantage of their product brands. The attractiveness of the message content of the advertisement on the social networking sites could improve marketing strategies of the Smartphone brand. Originality/value This study provides valuable insight into consumer behavior regarding Smartphones demand by examining the factors that influence students demand for using and owning Smartphones, which is not much covered in the literature in Malaysia context. The lessons can also be replicated in other countries for marketing Smartphones. Keywords Smartphones, Product features, Brand names, Product price, Social influence, Structural equation modeling, Malaysia Paper type Research paper

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Campus-Wide Information Systems Vol. 30 No. 4, 2013 pp. 236-248 r Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1065-0741 DOI 10.1108/CWIS-03-2013-0013

1. Introduction Smartphones are a combination of personal device assistants and mobile phones that use advanced operating systems and permit users to install new applications, be constantly connected to the internet, and provide multifarious functionalities of both. Smartphones are increasingly entwined in peoples everyday activities as it makes their lives easier access the internet 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a

year anywhere. The top smartphones that consumers own include the iPhone 5, Galaxy S III, and HTC One X, because they are able to transfer more mobile data than the iPad or Galaxy Tab 2 10.1. Mobile phones have become an inseparable part of everyday life and a majority of people carry them all the time (Smura et al., 2009). Heavy mobile phone users possess a higher level of knowledge, have more social participation, maintain extensive interpersonal networks, and have contact with people not only within the social system but also outside it (Suki and Suki, 2007). Consumers do not view smartphones just as devices for calling and texting, instead as multi-use devices for gaming, socializing, and downloading applications which results in a radical shift in behaviour patterns (Shin, 2012), lifestyle and status. Forest Interactive (2013) stated that IE Market Research reported Malaysia will have 41.9 million mobile subscribers in 2013 with 17.3 million (41.4 per cent) subscribing to Maxis, 13.8 million (33.0 per cent) to Celcom, and 10.7 million (25.6 per cent) to DiGi. Malaysia is the third most mobile payment-ready nation in Southeast Asia after Singapore and Philippines, as reported by Mastercard (2011). The increase in use of smartphones among consumers including students has made it unlimited consumer demands. Hence, this study aims to examine structural relationships of product features, brand name, product price, and social influence with demand for smartphones among Malaysian students. The paper is organized as follows: the next section reviews prior studies on the relationships between product features, brand name, product price, and social influence with demand for smartphones among users. The next section, methodology, describes the data, variables, and analysis approach. In the results section, model results are presented. The last section recapitulates the key ndings and provides a number of practical implications and future directions. 2. Literature review Factors affecting users demand for smartphones are complex and cannot be determined using a single factor or a simple reason (Chow et al., 2012) and it varies among individuals. This section emphasizes product features, brand name, product price, and social influences. 2.1 Product features Product features are related to the attributes of a product that help to meet the satisfaction level of consumers needs and wants through owning the product, use, and utilization of the product (Kotler and Armstrong, 2007). smartphones like iPhone and BlackBerry have larger and higher resolution screens and offer consumers a wide array of features, including mobile web browsing, thousands of applications, e-mail, instant messaging, picture messaging, video, and audio playback, global positioning system (GPS), games, a video camera, picture, and video editing (Persaud and Azhar, 2012). The most popular operating systems for mobile phones are Symbian, RIM Blackberry, Apple iPhone, Windows mobile, Google Android, and Linux. Googles Android operating system has propelled Samsung to the top of global smartphone sales in 2011 in Southeast Asia (GfK Retail and Technology, 2011). Users largely value the smartphone features such as full-screen viewing for images and video and larger text and buttons with stylish design according to their preferences. Design was found to be the most important determinant of consumer response and new product sales success (Bloch, 1995; Crilly et al., 2004; Mohd Azam et al., 2012). Usability is also

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affecting consumer choice of the mobile phone (Mack and Sharples, 2009). Hence, the study proposed the following hypothesis: H1. Product features significantly influence students demand for smartphones.

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2.2 Brand name Brand is an exclusive name which indicates product to the market. The legal term for brand is trademark. More and more companies realize that one of their most priceless assets is the brand name related to their products or services (Cornelis, 2010). Users prefer a widely accepted brand of smartphone as it reflects a unique status symbol that displays information quickly with minimal aggravation and clean graphical interface for touch screen interactions. For instance, brand of smartphone available in the market includes Samsung, BlackBerry, Apple, HTC, Nokia, and LG. Interestingly, Apple, a brand of smartphone, has very high brand loyalty because it discriminates different types of consumers by selling different versions with different amounts of storage space, and different colours, at different price points (ChangeWave Research, 2010). Khasawneh and Hasouneh (2010) found that the products brand name influenced consumers evaluation and subsequently affected their buying decision. Thus, the following hypothesis is posited: H2. Brand name significantly influences students demand for smartphones. 2.3 Product price Product price is the amount of money expected, required, or given in payment for a product (Swani and Yoo, 2010). There are two types of product price. High-priced products are market brands where image is seen as the key factor. Low-priced brands tend to be purchased for utilitarian value, with the consumer relying on the perceived value for price. Consumers typically look for low prices of brands or substitutes to get the best value (Swani and Yoo, 2010). Smartphone owners use channels such as mobile coupons, apps, QR codes, text messages, links to information videos, and mobile display ads to compare prices among retailers and research products on their smartphones (Moosylvania, 2013). Furthermore, they are not afraid of spending large sums on their devices. Product price influences consumers buying decisions and the sales margin (Bloch, 1995; Crilly et al., 2004; Mohd Azam et al., 2012). Based on the above, the following hypothesis is developed: H3. Product price significantly influences students demand for smartphones. 2.4 Social influence Social influence related to an individual may cause another person to change his or her feelings, attitudes, and behaviour, intentionally or unintentionally (Rashotte, 2007). Friends and family members are social influences that are. Consumers are dependent on their smartphones when they have high continuous use and are reluctant to be apart from them (Tian et al., 2009). Their expectations for future purchase behaviour will be affected by their past experience as they are heavily dependent on smartphones because of the underlying motives (Kuhlmeier and Knight, 2005). Users are concerned whether their friends like the brand of smartphone they are currently using and would

buy a smartphone if it helped them to fit in with their social group. Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed: H4. Social influence significantly affects students demand for smartphones. Based on the above said reviews of literature, a theoretical framework is proposed (see Figure 1). 3. Methodology Data were collected from pre-screened university students studying at the pubic higher learning institution in Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia who have experience in using and owning smartphones via the self-administered questionnaire, a method of quantitative research employing convenience sampling techniques, from 1 to 30 September 2012. Initially, 400 questionnaires were administered, however a total of 320 unique and usable responses were successfully collected for a response rate of 80 per cent. The structured close-ended questionnaire was designed in line with this studys research objective of examining structural relationships of product features, brand name, product price and social influence with demand for smartphones among Malaysian students. The questionnaire comprised three sections. Section A consisted of demographic profile of respondents, Section B requested the respondents to provide responses on their personal experiences using smartphones and Section C examined the factors affecting users demand for smartphones. In total, 17 items (described in Appendix A), were used to measure the four independent variables: product features, brand name, product price, and social influence, and five questions were used to measure the dependent variable: demand for smartphones on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree. Survey instruments were adapted from the following sources: product features (Market Analysis and Consumer Research Organization, 2004), brand name (Rio et al., 2001), product price (Cheong and Park, 2005), social influences (Tian et al., 2009), and demand for smartphones (Park and Chen, 2007; Venkatesh et al., 2003). Completed questionnaires were keyed in the computer program Statistical Package for Social Sciencesversion 20.0 to process and analyse the data in the form of descriptives such as frequencies, mean, standard deviation, skew, and kurtosis. Next, a graphical model development known as path diagram was drawn using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique via AMOS 20.0 computer program which has the ability to ensure the consistency of the model with the data and to estimate effects among constructs.
Product Features Brand Name Price H4 Social Influence

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H1 H2 H3 Demand for Smartphones

Figure 1. Theoretical framework

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4. Data analysis Table I displays the demographic profile of the respondents. A total of 320 participants were included in the final sample, out of which more than half of the respondents were female (58.8 per cent), the remainder (41.2 per cent) were male. They were mostly 18-20 years old (90.3 per cent), and nearly half held STPM certification (49.7 per cent). 4.1 Experience using smartphones The users experience using smartphones is presented in Table II which infers that the preferred type of operating system currently used is Android (53.1per cent), followed by iPhoneRIM (30.6 per cent). OS Windows is less used (2 per cent). More than threequarters can afford to buy smartphones for under RM2,000. However, about 5 per cent of the users bought smartphones costing more than RM2,501. Almost half of the respondents used smartphones for social network purposes (49.4 per cent), followed by text messaging (SMS) (24.7 per cent). They also used smartphones to play games (15.3 per cent) and listen to music (5 per cent). The activity least often performed was searching maps and using GPS (1 per cent). The most preferred news on smartphones is from sources like Twitter and Facebook (52.2 per cent), followed by Google News, Yahoo News (34.7 per cent). About one-quarter of the users spent less than two hours on smartphone each day and 30 per cent have spent more than six hours. 4.2 SEM A two-step SEM approach, measurement model and structural model, was employed to confirm the reliability and validity of the measures before examining the structural relationship between constructs. This study used maximum likelihood for the estimation method as it provides a consistent approach to parameter estimation problems that can be developed for a large variety of estimation situations. 4.3 Measurement model The measurement model was assessed via the evaluations of the reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the construct measures. 4.4 Reliability The reading of Cronbachs a and composite reliability for all the variables, as summarized in Table III, is 40.50, except for PR1: I am willing to buy a Smartphone

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Frequency Gender Male Female Age (years old) 18-20 21-23 424 Education level STPM Matriculation Diploma

132 188 289 29 2 159 122 39

41.2 58.8 90.3 9.1 0.6 49.7 38.1 12.2

Table I. Demographic profile of respondents

Frequency Preferred type of operating system currently using iPhoneRIM BlackBerry Android OS Window Price of smartphone oRM1,500 RM1,501-RM2,000 RM2,001-RM2,500 RM2,501-RM3,000 4RM3,001 Activities performed using smartphone Social network Text messaging (SMS) Map, GPS Playing games Official and documentation Listening to music Preferred news views on a smartphone Google news, Yahoo news Twitter and Facebook Receive news alert on Smartphone Listen to audio news (podcast or streaming audio) Watch news video Time spent on smartphone within 24 hours 1-2 3-4 5-6 46

Demand for smartphones

98 45 170 7 197 82 26 8 7 158 79 4 49 14 16 111 167 20 12 10 75 93 57 95

30.6 14.1 53.1 2.2 61.6 25.6 8.1 2.5 2.2 49.4 24.7 1.3 15.3 4.4 4.9 34.7 52.2 6.3 3.8 3.0 23.4 29.1 17.8 29.7

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Table II. Experience using smartphone

even if the price is higher, on their expected factor, indicating a relatively high level of construct reliability (Hair et al., 2010). 4.5 Convergent validity The standardized loading items shown in Table III were considered significant as they surpassed the cut-off value of 0.50 (Hair et al., 2010). The average variances extracted (AVE) of latent constructs, range from 0.765 to 0.809, and exceed the recommended threshold value of 0.50 (Hair et al., 2010), which meant that more than one-half of the variances observed in the items were accounted for by their hypothesized constructs. Hence, the current data have good convergent validity. 4.6 Discriminant validity Discriminant validity was checked by comparing the shared variances between factors with the square root of AVE for each construct. Table IV shows that all shared variances of one construct with other constructs were lower than the square root of AVE of the individual factors, confirming adequate discriminant validity. Hence, each construct was statistically different from the others. The results described in Table IV reveal that there is a signicant positive correlation between all variables at the 0.01 level. Product features has the strongest correlation

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Constructs Product features

Items PF1 PF2 PF3 PF4 PF5 BD1 BD2 BD3 BD4 PR2 PR3 PR4 SI1 SI2 SI3 SI4 DD1 DD2 DD3 DD4 DD5

Standardized loadings 0.834 0.891 0.877 0.874 0.835 0.753 0.843 0.824 0.784 0.748 0.573 0.784 0.696 0.720 0.780 0.662 0.593 0.771 0.717 0.817 0.740

Cronbachs a 0.939

Composite reliability 0.826

Average variance extracted 0. 821

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Brand name

0.891

0.834

0.747

Product price Social influence

0.748 0.783

0.853 0.874

0.810 0.807

Demand for Smartphone Table III. Reliability and validity analysis

0.855

0.847

0.811

with demand for smartphones (r 0.639, po0.01), followed by brand name (r 0.633, po0.01). Hence, there is no multicolinearity problem in this research. All the item ranges are negatively skewed from 0.094 to 0.590, however, still beneath 72.0. The kurtosis values range from 0.583 to 0.202, well below the cut-off value of 710. Both the skewness and kurtosis are less than the threshold value, thus ensuring that the data used in the study is normally distributed. Means for all constructs range from 3.235 to 3.459 on a scale of 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree. These means demonstrated that most of the respondents had a positive demand for smartphones.

1 1 Product features 2 Brand name 3 Product price 4 Social influence 5 Demand for smartphone Mean Standard deviation Skewness Kurtosis 0.906 0.811** 0.639** 0.440** 0.639** 3.53 1.10 0.590 0.583

Table IV. Inter-construct correlations

0.864 0.642** 0.395** 0.633** 3.30 1.02 0.466 0.458

0.900 0.351** 0.500** 3.29 0.848 0.323 0.202

0.898 0.542** 3.12 0.796 0.094 0.059

0.900 3.27 0.764 0.141 0.141

Notes: **Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed). Diagonal elements show the average variance extracted; off-diagonal elements show the shared variance

4.7 Structural model The structural model in the SEM was evaluated by examining fit indices and varianceexplained estimates. A variety of indices were used to assess the models overall t (see Table V). The results indicated that the w2 of the model was 396.151 with 170 of freedom (w2/df 2.330) and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of 0.065. The indices value for comparative fit index (CFI), goodness of fit index (GFI), and normed fit index (NFI) were above 0.90 and RMSEA below 0.08 (Bentler, 1990; Byrne, 2001), indicating a satisfactory fit. Therefore, the hypothesized model was a good fit and acceptable. The results in Figure 2 exhibit that all independent variables accounted for 65 per cent of the total variance in demand for smartphones (R2 0.65). As a consequence, the results are a sign of adequate model fit between the proposed research model and the empirical data. Table VI and Figure 2 disclose the standardized path coefficients of the structural model under investigation which indicate the strength of the direct relationship between constructs. The strongest significant determinant of the demand for smartphones among Malaysian users was brand name (b2 0.573, po0.05), supporting H2. Next, social influence (b4 0.317, po0.05) as posited in H4 also significantly influenced the demand for smartphones users. Unexpectedly, the demand for smartphones among Malaysian users is not affected by two factors: product features (b1 0.054, p40.05) and product price (b3 0.006, p40.05), thus H1 and H3 were not sustained. 5. Discussion Empirical analysis across a sample of 320 respondents via SEM technique was executed in examining structural relationships of product features, brand name, product price and social influence with demand for smartphones among Malaysian students. Results divulged that brand name and social influence affected the positive demand for smartphones among Malaysian students, thus supporting H2 and H4. The first is confirmed as the most influential factor, followed by the latter. This is according to standardized path coefficients and their statistical signicance as shown in Table VI and Figure 2. As expected, brand name was found to have a significant effect on the demand for smartphones among Malaysian students. This portends that users who are particular about brand names are more likely to have positive demand towards buying and using smartphones. The ndings are consistent with preceding discovery by Khasawneh and Hasouneh (2010). Most of the users are likely to select smartphones that are internationally recognized, branded, and trustworthy. Besides that, they will only buy their favourite brands of smartphone. For example, Samsung and iPhone are the most preferred brands of smartphones. Further investigation of the study uncovered that the increasing demand for smartphones among Malaysian students is also affected by social influence. This in

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w2 Recommended values Model values n/a 396.151

df n/a 170

w2/df o3.0 2.330

CFI 40.9 0.950

GFI 40.9 0.901

NFI 40.9 0.916

RMSEA o0.08 0.065

PNFI 40.5 0.741

PCFI 40.5 0.769 Table V. Goodness-of-fit indices for structural model

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1 e1 1 e2 1 e3 1 e4

PF1 PF2 PF3 PF4 PF5

1=0.054
1

Product Features

244
e5 e6

BD1
1

1 e7 1 e8 1 e9

BD2 BD3 BD4

Brand Name 2=0.573
z1 1

DD1
R 2=0.65

1 e18 1 e19 1 e20 1 e21 1 e22

DD2 DD3
1

Demand of Smartphone

DD4 DD5

1 e11 1 e12 1 e13

3=0.006

PR2 PR3 PR4

Price

4=0.317
1 e14 1 e15

SI1
1

SI2 SI3 SI4

Social Influence

Figure 2. The results of structural model

1 e16 1 e17

turn implies that students who have strong social influence from friends and family members tend to have positive demand for smartphones, signifying their decision making and use rates are mostly influenced by people around them. This is in accordance with findings by Goldman (2010), Park and Chen (2007) and Rashotte (2007). For example, when users want to purchase a smartphone, they will seek recommendations from their friends and family members who have a lot of experience using and owning smartphones in order to make a more informed choice of smartphone and benefit from reduced perceived risk. They also execute viral
Path H1 H2 H3 H4 Product features-demand for Smartphone Brand name-demand for Smartphone Product price-demand for Smartphone Social influence-demand for Smartphone Estimate 0.054 0.573* 0.006 0.317* SE 0.111 0.147 0.095 0.061 CR 0.367 3.476 0.063 5.165 p 0.714 0.000 0.950 0.000

Table VI. Relationship with demand for smartphone Note: *po0.05

marketing regarding smartphone latest product information, features, and promotions and sharing it with friends by posting it to Facebook page. Smartphones enhance social influences as they enable owners to view visual information, full-screen product imagery, dynamic zoom, 360 spin, and enjoy product tours. The design of smartphone which is slimmer and lighter offers users some convenience in accessing applications such as FaceTime, Passbook, Quickoffice, Drop Box, Instagram, and Maps without any fuss. Moreover, the FaceTime feature allows users of smartphone to talk to each other with video. Though users worldwide choose smartphones based on the attractive design and applications, better product quality, speedier internet accessibility, and outstanding operating system (i.e. Apple iPhone, RIM Blackberry, Google Android or others), the more advanced features of cutting edge smartphones still had no impact on the current respondents in affecting their demand for smartphones, thereby not supporting H1 and contrary to support by foregoing studies (Bloch, 1995; Crilly et al., 2004; Mack and Sharples, 2009; Mohd Azam et al., 2012). Likewise, the effect of price on demand for smartphones did not appear, meaning that H3 is not sustained. This is divergent with discoveries of prior research work (Bloch, 1995; Crilly et al., 2004; Mohd Azam et al., 2012; Swani and Yoo, 2010). Consumers will only buy smartphones during price reduction periods as they treat buying smartphones like buying high-risk products. However, they are willing to buy smartphones even though the price is higher as they think that owning and using a smartphone could enhance their image. 6. Conclusion and recommendations This study contributes to a more thorough understanding of the determinants of demand for smartphones among Malaysian students by emphasizing the dimensions of product features, brand name, product price, and social influence. Students demand for smartphones is highly influenced by aspects of the brand name of the smartphone itself and social influence from friends and family members. Smartphone providers, manufacturers, application developers, and programmers should improve the current ability and performance of smartphones by upgrading hardware and software driven services for better user interaction and engagement in order to be marketable and sustainable in meeting consumer unlimited needs and wants. They should also emphasize their brand name in advertising to be well positioned in consumers minds when making the decision to purchase and own a smartphone. Positive viral marketing spread via social networking sites could help smartphone providers to strengthen the competitive advantage of their product brands. The attractiveness of the message content of the advertisement on the social networking sites could improve marketing strategies of the smartphone brand. There is opportunity for future research to expand the sample size and investigate in different geographical areas in order to enhance the understanding of demand for smartphones. The R2 for this study was 0.65, implying there are additional factors that affect demand for smartphones to be explored further, other than product features, brand name, product price, and social influence. Further research could enhance the proposed model by inputting mediating variables, such as lifestyle, culture, as well as demographics such as gender or age, etc. Furthermore, it would be relevant to investigate differences in product demand among smartphone users and basic mobile phone users. However, this study advanced understanding by the smartphone providers, manufacturers, application developers, and programmers to obtain

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empirical and actionable insights about the determinants of demand for smartphones and how to improve smartphone user experience and plan directions in the smartphone market.
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Moosylvania (2013), The shopping experience in a smartphone world, available at: www.internetretailer.com/2012/12/31/smartphone-owners-want-more-mobile-informationstores (accessed 23 November 2012). Park, Y. and Chen, J.V. (2007), Acceptance and adoption of the innovative use of Smartphone, Industrial Management and Data Systems, Vol. 107 No. 9, pp. 1349-1365. Persaud, A. and Azhar, I. (2012), Innovative mobile marketing via Smartphones: are consumers ready, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Vol. 30 No. 4, pp. 418-443. Rashotte, L. (2007), Social influences, available at: www.blackwellpublishing.com443/sociologt/ docs/ (accessed 5 October 2012). Rio, A.B., Vazquez, R. and Iglesias, V. (2001), The role of the brand name in obtaining differential advantages, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol. 10 No. 7, pp. 452-465. Shin, D.H. (2012), Cross analysis of usability and aesthetic in smart device: what influences users preferences, Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 563-587. Smura, T., Kivi, A. and Toyli, J. (2009), A framework for analysing the usage of mobile services, Journal of Policy, Regulation and Strategy for Telecommunications, Information and Media, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 53-67. Suki, N.M. and Suki, N.M. (2007), Mobile phone usage for m-learning: comparing heavy and light mobile phone users, Campus Wide Information System, Vol. 24 No. 5, pp. 355-365. Swani, K. and Yoo, B.H. (2010), Interactions between price and price deal, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 143-152. Tian, L., Shi, J. and Yang, Z. (2009), Why does half the worlds population have a mobile phone? An examination of consumers attitudes toward mobile phones, CyberPshychology and Behaviour, Vol. 12 No. 5, pp. 513-516. Venkatesh, V., Morris, M.G., Davis, G.B. and Davis, F.D. (2003), User acceptance of information technology: toward a unified view, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 425-478. Further reading Auter, P.J. (2007), Portable social groups: willingness to communicate, interpersonal communication gratifications and cell phone use among young adults, International Journal of Mobile Communication, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 139-156. Bouwman, H., Reuver, M.D. and Visser, A. (2010), Understanding trends in mobile service bundles, available at: www.tbm.tudelft.nl/fileadmin/FaculteitTBM/Over_de_Faculteit/ Afdelingen/Afdeling_Infrastructure_Systems_and_Services/Sectie_Informatie_en_ Communicatie_Technologie/medewerkers/mark_de_reuver/Publications/doc/Bouwman_ et_al__Understanding_trends_in_mobile_service_bundles.pdf (accessed 17 October 2012). ( The Appendix follows overleaf. )

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Appendix

Product features PF1 I like smartphones design PF2 Smartphone has more applications than basic mobile phone PF3 Smartphone provides high quality of games 248 PF4 Smartphones internet accessibility is speedier than basic mobile phone PF5 I use smartphone due to its operation system (Apple iPhone, RIM Blackberry, Google Android or others) Brand name BD1 I prefer to buy an internationally recognized smartphone BD2 I prefer to buy a trustworthy brand of smartphone BD3 I will only buy my favourite brand of smartphone BD4 Brand name is a major factor that influences my decision towards buying a smartphone Product price PR1 I am willing to buy a smartphone even though the price is higher PR2 I will only buy a smartphone during a price reduction period PR3 I think that using smartphone is expensive overall PR4 Price is my main consideration when deciding whether to buy a smartphone Social influence SI1 Almost all of my friends and family members use smartphones SI2 My friends and family members think that we should all use smartphones SI3 My friends and family members influenced me to buy smartphone SI4 People around me have encouraged me to use smartphone Demand for smartphone DD1 I intend to continue using smartphone although there is new mobile phone in the market DD2 I intend to increase my use of the smartphone in the future DD3 I intend to use smartphone for e-commerce DD4 I will find more details about smartphones Table AI. Measurement instruments DD5 I intend to recommend others to use smartphone

About the author Norazah Mohd Suki is an Associate Professor at the Labuan School of International Business & Finance, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Labuan International Campus. She has successfully supervised several postgraduate students at MBA and PhD level. Her research interests include Electronic Marketing, E-Commerce, M-Commerce, Consumer Behaviour, Mobile Learning and areas related to Marketing. She actively publishes articles in international journals. She is the Editor-in-Chief to Labuan e-Journal of Muamalat & Society, a member in advisory board for several outstanding journals. She has sound experiences as a speaker to public and private universities, government bodies on courses related to Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Research Methodology. Norazah Mohd Suki can be contacted at: azahsuki@yahoo.com

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