Investigating mobile application adoption and its switching behavior among university students

Abstract

Mobile phones and the internet have revolutionized the communication realm in Pakistan. The country has come a long way from slow dial-up internet connections to fast and efficient 3G/4G connections. With the advancement of information and communication technology, smartphones have become ubiquitous. The operating system and more importantly, the applications differentiating smartphones from regular phones have received significant importance due to its expanding worldwide market. Mobile application space has risen exponentially in recent years, and companies are working tirelessly to remain market competitive when launching new applications. Therefore, it is important to study the current usage patterns of mobile apps and factors across gender and age groups. Published international studies have revealed that the adoption of free mobile applications is influenced by enjoyment and facilitating conditions, perceived usefulness, and the attitude of consumers’ social networks. In contrast, self-efficacy and peers influence are the key determinants of influence for the paid applications. Still, no extensive study has been conducted with respect to Pakistan. This study is designed to analyze determinants that affect mobile application adoption and switching behavior of students considering National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) as a case study. Moreover, the determinants are analyzed against age and gender of the respondents. The study also highlights the most desirable features of future mobile applications. A sufficient sample of 354 students, guided by literature and statistical measure, has

been used to collect information through an online survey. The sampling schemes were snow- ball and convenient sampling. Results reveal that the most used applications are Whatsapp

(99.4%), Youtube (99.7%), Instagram (89%), Facebook (85%), Snapchat (76%), and Email (73%). Social media has the highest influence of 64% on the respondents while installing an application, followed by friends (42%) and reviews and ratings (39%). Too many

advertisements and false advertisements with a percentage of 63.5% and 45.4%, respectively, are the major determinants for uninstalling an application. For future applications, the desirable features include Artificial intelligence (50.1%), Virtual shopping (38.1%), and Delivery drone (31%). Comparative analyses with respect to gender reveal that males are more inclined towards commuting applications (with an increase of 10%) and financial or banking applications (with an increase of 20%). With respect to daily time spent on mobile, 45% females spend 6+ hours daily compared to 30% males. In the group of social media applications, Instagram and Snapchat are preferred choices of females while males’ preferences are Twitter and LinkedIn. For the time required to learn mobile application, majority of the respondent selected the category of ‘few hours’. Specifically, 89.6% males opted for this option while the percentage of females was 84.5%. The outcomes of the study provide a useful insight of the trends and tendencies of various determinants influencing the mobile application and switching behavior of the local community. The comparison of gender and various age groups can help understand the preferences, desires and specific details of the users for future developments and modifications with respect to the mobile applications.