Exploring factors affecting the adoption of mobile commerce in Singapore

M-commerce is defined as any direct or indirect transaction conducted and facilitated through a wireless telecommunication network. There are currently 94.9 million M-commerce users worldwide in 2003 and the segment is expected to grow to 1.67 billion by 2008. This research explores how Singaporeans are influenced to adopt the M-commerce. The research employs the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to examine factors affecting Singaporeans’ attitudes toward this emerging mobile technology and applications. The research uses a quantitative approach to survey 866 Singaporean students examining their decision-making process to adopt M-commerce. Empirical data from regression analyses reflect consumer perceived usefulness (PU) influence attitude toward using (AT) M-commerce. It is also found consumer innovativeness, past adoption behavior, technology cluster adoption, age, and gender affect their adoption behavior. Results from multiple regression analyses further reveal that male respondents tend to perceived M-commerce favorably. The majority of positive relationships between PU, PEOU, AT, innovativeness, adoption behavior, and demographics are supported by the empirical data. Results also support the applicability of TAM and its extension to examine M-commerce adoption by Singapore consumers. This research also validates the robustness of TAM to study emerging technologies outside the U.S. context.