JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

ADOPTION AND USAGE OF M-COMMERCE VAS (VALUE ADDED SERVICES) : COMPARISON BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS

1 DR. VIJAYKUMAR M. CHAVDA, 2 MR. S.C. MALAV,3MR. MAHESH K.PATEL

1Asst. Professor, S.V.Institute of Computer Studies, Kadi. India

2Lecturer, BDKM BCA College, Palanpur. India

3Programmer, BDKM BCA College, Palanpur. India

1, 2,

3

ABSTRACT :The importance of information technology cannot be overstressed with ICT affecting all aspects of life such as education, entertainment, and the internet. My research compares m-commerce VAS (Value Added Services ) usage in Urban and the Rural areas with apparently similar mobile telecommunications infrastructures but with markedly different cultural profiles. I find significant differences between the Urban and Rural area in usage of and attitudes to m-commerce services. I attribute these differences to the levels of collectivism and structural differences between the two markets. Attitudes to m-commerce services are formed by cultural and structural factors. An understanding of the cultural dimensions of a market can aid marketers immensely in developing appropriate m-commerce services, marketing these appropriately and in setting realistic adoption targets.

ISSN: 0975 –671X| NOV 09 TO OCT 10| Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 1

JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

1. Introduction

As we know, Today mobile technology and services are widely used in the world. But rural area in India is not developed as so much as compare to the urban area. My research find significant differences between the Rural and Urban area in usage of and attitudes to m-commerce services. Also my study finds reason behind , why the adoption rates in Rural area and respondents there have experience of fewer m-commerce services there than in the Urban area ?. Rural area respondents are consistently less satisfied with m-commerce services and consistently find them less useful, but consider them to be less expensive than the Rural respondents do.

2. Research Methodology

2.1 Primary Research

Primary research using a quantitative survey was chosen as the data collection method given the need to take measurements of a range of m-commerce variables. Data collection took place between May and June 2009

2.2 Questionnaire design

Questionnaires were developed for Rural and the Urban and were divided into three parts covering behavioral, attitudinal and demographic/socio-economic questions respectively. The questionnaires were designed with applicability to both cultures in mind, and were as far as possible identical; minor modifications were required to take account of the differences in mobile phone network provision between Rural and the urban areas, differences in income structure and education, and to take account of the fact that m-commerce enabled gambling operates differently in the two units. The questionnaires were written in English for both Rural and Urban areas. One point scales were used in Part Two of each questionnaire to enable respondents to rate their frequency of use, the perceived usefulness and expensiveness and their perceived satisfaction with each m-commerce application.

2.3 Sampling

The target sample was 50 mobile phone users in each of the Urban and Rural areas. 100 questionnaires were distributed in Urban and Rural area using the convenience sampling method. 50 questionnaires were collected in Urban and Rural .

Sample profile– demographic and socio-economic criteria

Table 1 provides a detailed comparison of the two samples and demonstrate their similarity. The main areas of difference are a slightly older age profile in Rural and a higher proportion of students in the Rural, resulting in a lower income profile in the Rural.

2.4 Sample profile – behavioral criteria

Table 2 shows that multiple phone and subscriber use is more prevalent in urban area. This demonstrates the structural difference of mobile markets in Urban and Rural area

ISSN: 0975 –671X| NOV 09 TO OCT 10| Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 1

JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

.

ISSN: 0975 –671X| NOV 09 TO OCT 10| Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 1

JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

Table 1 DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILE OF SAMPLE

Urban area
/ Rural area
Respondents / Percentage / Respondents / Percentage
Male / 24 / 48 / 35 / 70
Female / 26 / 52 / 15 / 30
Age (< 30) / 44 / 88 / 42 / 84
Age (>30) / 06 / 12 / 09 / 19
Mean age / 21 / 24
Student / 37 / 74 / 40 / 80
Employed / 11 / 22 / 06 / 12
Unemployed / 02 / 04 / 04 / 08
Graduate/diploma / 14 / 28 / 10 / 20
Post graduate / 03 / 06 / -- / --
Under graduate / 33 / 66 / 40 / 80
Earn none / 35 / 70 / 38 / 76
Earn < 50,000 / 05 / 10 / 04 / 08
Earn 50,000-1 lac / 07 / 14 / 06 / 12
Earn 1-3 lacs / 03 / 06 / 02 / 04
Earn > 3 lacs / -- / --
Total / 50 / 100 / 50 / 100

Table 2 Behavioral profile of sample

Urban area / Rural area
Respondents / Percentage / Respondents / Percentage
Number of mobile phones held currently
1 / 30 / 60 / 38 / 76
2 / 15 / 30 / 09 / 18
3 or More / 05 / 10 / 03 / 06
Number of service Providers used currently
1 / 30 / 60 / 38 / 76
2 / 15 / 30 / 09 / 18
3 or More / 05 / 10 / 03 / 06
Length of usage of mobile phone
Less than 1 year / 08 / 16 / 19 / 38
1-2 years / 12 / 24 / 12 / 24
2-3 years / 08 / 16 / 10 / 20
More than 3 years / 22 / 44 / 09 / 18
Total / 50 / 100 / 50 / 100

ISSN: 0975 –671X| NOV 09 TO OCT 10| Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 1

JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

3. Research Findings

3.1 Adoption of m-commerce

services

Table 3 summarizes the adoption rates of the various m-commerce services, grouped into the four categories of communication, transaction, information and entertainment. The adoption rates of communication services are the highest of the four categories in both Rural and urban area. Adoption rates are generally higher in the Urban area.

Rural area consumers in general show a higher propensity to adopt the hedonic entertainment services rather than the utilitarian transaction and information services. Compared to their adoption of the other types of m-commerce service, Urban area consumers show a relatively low propensity to adopt transaction services though the adoption rate is almost similar to that in Rural area, suggesting that transaction services are at a similar stage of development in both markets.

ISSN: 0975 –671X| NOV 09 TO OCT 10| Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 1

JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

Table 3 Adoption rates (%) of m-commerce services

% Adoption among sample
Urban area / Rural area

Communication Services

Voice / 100 / 100
SMS / 92 / 74
MMS / 08 / 06
Video / 36 / 30
E-mail / 08 / 06

Transaction Services

Ticket purchase / 06 / 02
Payment / 04 / 04
Banking services / 12 / 08
Stock Trading / 10 / 02

Information Services

Entertainment news / 18 / 12
Sports news / 24 / 14
Headline news / 08 / 08
Stock /commodity info / 10 / 0
Future/weather forecast / 10 / 0

Entertainment Services

Download Game / 34 / 16
Download Ring tones / 46 / 20
Download Wallpaper/Screen saver / 16 / 16
Browse Internet / 16 / 08

ISSN: 0975 –671X| NOV 09 TO OCT 10| Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 1

JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

4.Limitations

The samples were not identical in terms of age profile, with the mean age of the Urban sample being slightly younger than that of the Rural sample. In both Urban and Rural students constituted a significant part of the sample; while students are likely to be enthusiastic adopters of m-commerce, their relatively low income may influence the nature of the services which they adopt. The numbers of respondents adopting some m-commerce services was extremely small and this precluded much statistical analysis. Larger samples in both culti-units wouldhave been helpful in overcoming this problem. The consistently lower usage and attitude scores obtained in Rural area. The nature of my data has not enabled me to engage in formal hypothesis testing; this represents a major opportunity for further research. Some of my findings are not statistically significant, and i wish to address this in future research studies.

5. Conclusion

I find significant differences between the Rural and Urban area in usage of and attitudes to m-commerce services. Overall, adoption rates are lower in Rural area and respondents there have experience of fewer m-commerce services there than in the Urban area. Rural area respondents are consistently less satisfied with m-commerce services and consistently find them less useful, but consider them to be less expensive than the Rural respondents do.

I find that Voice services are used more frequently in Rural area than in the Urban However, attitudes to browsing the mobile internet are significantly more less in Rural than in the Urban area. Adoption rates are generally lower in the Rural area and this may be a function of the week signal or band width problem of the value-added services compared with voice. I also find that discounts and free trial are much more likely to influence adoption in Rural area .

In conclusion, my findings provide some support for the view that culture plays a major role in shaping usage of and attitudes to m-commerce services. I intend to investigate these relationships further . In particular, further research is required to investigate the relationship between pricing strategy, m-commerce usage, and culture as my data do not allow me to isolate these. Although the m-commerce infrastructures in Rural is week as compared to Urban area, pricing structures are markedly different and my research has not enabled me to examine the impact of this. My findings are of importance to marketers of m-commerce services in that it is unrealistic to expect consistent levels of adoption of m-commerce across the world and the search for a single, global killer application is perhaps misguided. An understanding of the cultural dimensions of a market can aid marketers immensely in developing appropriate m-commerce services, marketing these appropriately and in setting realistic adoption targets.

6. REFERENCES

[1 ]Principles of Internet Marketing by Ward Hanson

[2 ]Strategic Electronic marketing in Managing E-business By Brad A. Kleindl Ph.D.

[3 ]The Internet Marketing Plan: The Complete Guide to Instant Web Presence, 2nd Edition . By Kim M Bayne

[4 ]M-Commerce: Technology, Services and Business Models by Norman Sadeh

[5 ]Adoption and usage of m-commerce: A cross cultural comparison of Hong Kong and the united Kingdom by Patricia Harris

ISSN: 0975 –671X| NOV 09 TO OCT 10| Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 1

JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

ISSN: 0975 –671X| NOV 09 TO OCT 10| Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 1