Table 1: Researches on Mobile Service Adoption

2.2.  Mobile Coupon Redemption Behaviour

 A number of researchers have studied user acceptance of mobile technology and services such as the mobile Internet, text messaging, contact services, mobile payment, mobile gaming and mobile parking services based on IS adoption models.  Pedersen (2002) conducted an exploratory study about early adopters’ behaviour with regard to using mobile Internet services. He decomposed the TAM and the TPB to build a new research model in order to understand the phenomena. He found that, at least from a measurement perspective, adoption research models might successfully be applied to the study of mobile service adoption. However, he argued that simple IS adoption research models, e.g. the TAM, should be extended with both subjective norms and behavioural control in attempts to explain the adoption of mobile commerce services. He further recommended that his model could be modified when applied to study other mobile commerce services (Pedersen, 2002).

Kwon and Chidambaram (2000) used the TAM to investigate patterns of cellular phone adoption and usage in an urban setting. The results of their study confirmed that users’ perceptions influence their behaviour towards cellular phones, specifically, the perceived ease of use. Hung, Ku and Chang (2003) used the TAM for evaluating the acceptance and usage of mobile commerce by collecting data from students. The perceived usefulness and ease of use were found to have positive impacts on the users attitudes and behavioural intention. Lapczynski (2004) integrated four technology acceptance models (TAM, TAM2, TPB, TTF) and created a robust model for mobile computing devices. He added three new factors (adaptability, mobility, and security) that act as antecedents of perceived usefulness, which is one of two foundational belief constructs in technology acceptance model theory.

Kleijnen, Wetzels and Ruyter (2004) investigated consumer acceptance of wireless finance and found that the variables of perceived cost, system quality and social influence correlated significantly with attitude towards use. The variables such as participants’ age, computer skills, mobile technology readiness and social influence proved to have moderating effects in the mobile phone usage context. Social Influence was added to the model, and found to display significant effect on BI. Bedford (2005) used UTAUT model to investigate acceptance and use of m-commerce. He added trust as one of determinant of behaviour intent. The trust factor increased the total variance of basic model by 2%.  Lin and Wang (2005) tested integrated TAM model by adding, perceived credibility, perceived self-efficacy” and perceived financial resources. The results support the integrated model in predicting consumers’ intention to use m-commerce.

Hsu, Wang and Wen (2006) studied the factors influencing attitude and behavioural intentions of consumers using m-coupons using decomposed theory of planned behaviour. The results of the study demonstrate that personal innovativeness has no direct relation to behavioural attitude. Behaviour and attitude of consumers are largely influenced by endorsement of family and friends. Shen and Chen (2008) used an integrated research model (TPB) to explore the factors that influence consumer intention of using mobile advertising in China. Existing knowledge, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use all had positive effects on consumers’ usage intention. Amin extends the applicability of the technology acceptance model (TAM) to mobile phone credit cards and includes ‘‘perceived credibility (PC)’’, the ‘‘amount of information about mobile phone credit cards (AIMCs)’’ and ‘‘perceived expressiveness (PE)’’, in addition to ‘‘perceived usefulness (PU)’’ and ‘‘perceived ease of use (PEOU)’’. The results indicate that PU, PEOU, PC and the amount of information contained on mobile phone credit cards are important determinants to predicting the intentions of Malaysian customers to use mobile phone credit cards (Amin, 2007).

The results of these studies confirm that in the mobile technology context, traditional adoption models such as TAM could be applied, but need modification and extension in order to increase their prediction and explanation power (Han, 2005). The finding from these studies regarding mobile phone emphasis that social factors, perceived credibility compatibility and personal innovativeness should be included in the basic TAM model.

2.3.  Researches on Coupon Proneness, and Price Consciousness

Most of coupon research study involves a disaggregate-level analysis concentrating on the individual consumer’s demographic and psychological correlates (e.g., deal proneness, coupon attitudes, brand loyalty, and coupon proneness) of coupon redemption behavior (Pedersen, 2002; Mittal, 1994; Guimond, Kim, and Laroche, 1999). Lichtenstein et al. (1990) research findings show that consumers’ coupon redemption behaviours are induced by value consciousness rather than coupon proneness.

Price consciousness is defined as “the degree to which the consumer focuses exclusively on paying a low price” (Lichtenstein et al., 1990). Therefore, price conscious consumers are concerned about searching for a low price in the marketplace, and they derive emotional value and entertainment from shopping for lower prices (Alford and Biswas, 2002). Consumer price consciousness has been regarded as a key issue in sales promotions and store brand purchases. For example, Aliawadi et al. found that store brand purchases in particular were associated with price consciousness (Ailawadi, Neslin and Gedenk, 2001). Sinha and Batra (1999) also found that price consciousness was a significant reason driving consumers to buy store brands in some categories more often than in others. In particular, prior research in sales promotions has suggested that price consciousness moderated the effects of low price guarantees on consumers’ pre-purchase evaluations, behavioral intentions (Dutta and, Biswas, 2005), and store loyalty (Kukar-Kinney and  Walters, 2003).

Therefore, different consumer segments can be distinguished based on their price consciousness (e.g., high vs low). The research results reported by Palazon and Delgado (2009) indicate that price consciousness is a key consumer trait because it moderates the effectiveness of price discounts and premiums at moderate and high benefit levels.

3.       Research Model and Hypothesis

The success of mobile coupons hinges on consumer’s willingness to adopt new technology and engage in activities using systems and devices different from what they have used in the past. To be precise, eight important determinants of technology acceptance are studied: perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), social influence (SI) compatibility (COMP), perceived credibility (PC) and personal innovativeness (PI), coupon proneness (CP), mobile coupon attitude (ATT). Value Consciousness and Price Consciousness acts as the moderating variable for coupon redemption behaviour. 

H₁. The perceived usefulness by the consumer has a positive effect on their attitude towards using m-coupons.

H₂: The perceived ease of use by the consumer has a positive effect on their attitude towards using m-coupons.

H₃: The coupon proneness of the consumer has a positive effect on their attitude towards using m-coupons.

H₄: The perceived credibility by the consumer has a positive effect on their attitude towards using m-coupons.

H₅: The Personal Innovativeness of the consumer has a positive effect on the behavioural intention towards using m-coupons.

H₆: The Social Influence has a positive effect on the behavioural intention towards using m-coupons.

H₇: The compatibility of the consumer in using mobile phone has a positive effect on the behavioural intention towards using m-coupons.

H8: The mobile coupons attitude has a positive effect on the behavioural intention towards using m-coupons.

H9: The effect exerted by PU, PEOU on Attitude is greater for high value conscious customers.

H10: The effect exerted by PU, PEOU on Attitude is greater for high price conscious customers.

Fig 1. Research Model

4.       Methodology

A pre-test was conducted to validate the instrument. Feedback about the layout of the questionnaire and question ambiguity was obtained. Some changes were made to the questionnaires as deemed appropriate. The revised questionnaires were distributed to 1000 participants as noted earlier. The sample of this research was drawn from major cities of Malaysia. A stratified sampling method was used for this study. The whole population is divided into four strata’s based on total number of mobile phone users. Proportionate allocation was made in each of the strata that is proportional to that of the total population.

The areas covered for the survey are Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Sarawak. These areas are selected based on the number of hand phone users in Malaysia. 22.1% of hand phone users are located in Selangor, 13.5% in Johor, 8% in Sarawak and 8.6% in Kuala Lumpur (MCMC, 2008).

Table 3: Convergent Validity and Internal Consistency Reliability

5. Data Analysis and Results

 5.1. Measurement Model

Based on the literature review, the hypotheses have been conceptualized in the structural model presented in Fig. 1. A confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS 16 was conducted to test the measurement model. The Cronbach alpha’s for all the constructs were more than 0.8 and exceeded the suggested value of 0.70 recommended by Hair et al. (2006). The result demonstrated the survey results have high reliability and ensure a proper ground for further analysis. In this section, we will first examine the measurement model and then assess the structural model by following the two-step analytical procedures. As shown in Table 5, all the model-fit indices exceeded their respective common acceptance levels, suggested by previous research, and thus demonstrating that the measurement model exhibited a fairly good fit with the data collected.

Reliability and convergent validity of the factors were estimated by composite reliability; average variance extracted and factor loadings (See Table 4) (Hair et al., 2006). The composite reliability was estimated to evaluate the internal consistency of the measurement model. The composite reliabilities of the measures included in the model ranged from 0.7500 to 0.8747. All were greater than the benchmark of 0.70 recommended by Hair et al. (2006).  The average variance extracted of the measures included in the model ranged from 0.6081 to 0.8443. A variance extracted of greater than 0.50 indicates that the validity of both the construct and the individual variables is high (Hair et al., 2006).

Table 4: Factor loading, composite reliability and average variance extracted

Comparison of all fit indices, with their corresponding recommended values, provided evidence of a good model fit. Properties of the causal paths, including standardized path coefficients, t-values, and variance explained for each equation in the hypothesized model are presented.

The results indicate that all the hypotheses for the core model can be confirmed. Properties of the causal paths, including standardized path coefficients, t-values and variance explained, for each equation in the hypothesized model, are presented in    Figure 2 and Table 8. As expected, hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H4 H5, H6, H7 and H8 were supported in that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, coupon proneness and perceived credibility, had a significant effect on m-coupon attitude. Mobile coupon attitude, Compatibility, Social Influence and personal influence has direct effect on mobile coupon intention to use. They account for 66.5 percent of the variance in behavioral intention. Perceived usefulness strongly determines the attitude to use m-coupons. Perceived usefulness (beta = 0.491) contributing more to mobile coupon attitude to use then perceived ease of use (beta = 0.171), and coupon proneness (beta = 0.09), and perceived credibility (beta = 0.17). Attitude (beta = 0.57) strongly determines the intention to use mobile coupons followed by social influence (beta = 0.22) and Compatibility (beta = 0.21).

5.3.  Test of Moderating  Effect

We identified segments using cluster analysis of price consciousness construct. We used SPSS software to perform two step cluster analysis. The cluster solution leads to a group of 269 value seeking customers’ and 512 Non value consciousness customers. These two clusters serve as a grouping variable for a multiple group analysis. As we perform a cluster analysis and use the results for multiple group Structural Equation Modelling analysis.  Hypotheses about the moderating effects of user variables were tested by comparing path coefficients between the two groups produced for each moderator using t-value. In the case of t-value over 1.96 (over 95% confidence), we conclude the coefficient has moderator effect.

Figure 2. Structural model of Behavioral intention to use m-coupons

Table 5: Results of Moderating Effects of Price Consciousness

Table 6: Results of Moderating Effects of Value Consciousness

6.       Discussion and Conclusion

The objective of this paper is to examine the moderating effect of price consciousness in the effectiveness of price discounts and premiums at different promotional benefit levels. To accomplish this objective, the responses of more and less price conscious consumers to price discounts and premiums across moderate and high benefit levels have been examined because there are few publications to date that have analyzed its moderating effect. On the whole, the results largely support our main predictions.

The results also show that consumers with higher levels of price / value consciousness have a higher intention to redeem m-coupons. This supports previous research done by Palazon and Delgado (2009). As the results of this study show, highly price-conscious consumers are likely to search for a better price regardless of the level of advertised discount. Given this tendency, it seems that offering a low price guarantee may be an effective method to reduce the search intentions of highly price-conscious consumers.

The current study contributes to contemporary research on the mobile coupons by offering insights into the factors that contribute to consumer usage. The results obtained have important implication for business and future research. The findings of the study strongly support the appropriateness of using the extended TAM model to understand the acceptance of mobile coupons from consumers’ perspectives. First, we find that there is indirect effect of PU, PEOU, CP, PC on BI and direct effect on Attitude. SI, PI, COM, Attitude has a direct effect on BI. Social influence plays a very import role in behavioural intention. Based on the findings of this study, it appears that social influence has direct effects on consumer’s behavioural intention. The results indicate that all the hypothesised relationships in the core model were confirmed.

Table 7: Fit indices for measurement and structural models

Table 8: Verification results of relationship of each construct

The validated model provides a useful framework for managers needing to assess the possibility of success for m-coupon introductions, and to pro-actively design mobile coupon campaign. Results illustrate the importance of perceived usefulness related to the adoption of mobile coupons services. Increasing the perceived usefulness of m-coupon by potential customers is very important for mobile marketing practitioners. Social influence also plays a very important role in behavioural intention to redeem the mobile coupon. The attitude and behavior of consumers are still largely influenced by the endorsement of family and friends, marketing practitioners need to take into consideration when promoting the mobile coupons.

The ease of use of mobile coupons plays a significant part in adopting this new service. The cause of an underused m-coupon may be because potential users do not have enough knowledge resources required to use it. Furthermore, organizing education and training courses in various mobile computing technologies can facilitate people’s familiarity with m-coupon applications and help them develop positive ease of use beliefs in the m-coupons. The results also indicate that security and privacy issues are important concerns for consumers in using m-coupons. Mobile marketing practitioners need to get explicit permission from customers before they send the mobile coupons. Additionally, companies should overcome their concerns about spamming.

Although this study provides new insights into mobile coupon redemption, there are still various research avenues to pursue. The antecedents of mobile coupon behavioral intentions are similar for adopters and non-adopters. Motivation for not adopting mobile coupons which might illustrate different patterns and future research need to use different variables to study the reasons for not adopting this particular service. The second limitation concerns the sample. Although the sample size was quite large, it consisted of Malaysian consumers only. This has an effect on the generalization of the findings.  An interesting avenue for further research could be, for example, a detailed study on mobile service usage across countries. The third limitation is our data contain intention measures rather than behavioral measures. Therefore follow up studies should consider using actual behavioral data. The study results proved several factors that markedly affect the behaviour and attitude of consumers in using m-coupons, which can be used for further research in the future.

Several interesting managerial implications can be derived. First of all, increasing the perceived usefulness of m-coupon by potential customers is very important for mobile marketing practitioners. Additionally, the significant moderating effects indicate that a segmentation approach might be very effective in reaching the customers to adopt m-coupons. The cause of an underused m-coupon may be because potential users do not have enough knowledge resources required to use it. Furthermore, organizing education and training courses in various mobile computing technologies can facilitate people’s familiarity with m-coupon applications and help them develop positive ease of use beliefs in the m-coupons. The validated model provides a useful framework for managers needing to assess the possibility of success for m-coupon introductions, and to pro-actively design mobile coupon campaign. The study results proved several factors that markedly affect the behaviour and attitude of consumers in using m-coupons which can be used for further research in the future.