Determinants of mobile internet usage and opportunities for m-marketing among youth in the Republic of Macedonia

Abstract

The number of mobile Internet users is growing rapidly worldwide and the use of mobile Internet is changing consumer behaviour. Therefore, companies are extending their marketing opportunities and reaching their audience via mobile devices. Mobile marketing is gaining popularity in the last couple of years, due to the possibilities offered by new technologies embedded in smart phones. There have been several theoretical models that explain technology acceptance. Building on the extensions on UTAUT, consumer use and acceptance of technology led to UTAUT2 model. The aim of the research is to connect use of mobile Internet among young people in the Republic of Macedonia and opportunities of mobile marketing. The penetration rate of smart phones is increasing globally and in the last trimester of 2015 more than 72% of the Internet users in the country used smart phones to access the Internet (DSZ, 2015). The survey was conducted in April /May 2016 among more than 300 young people. Original UTAUT2 model is proposed to examine the influence of several constructs that influence use behaviour (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, price value, and habit). The factors are explained in the context of the research and attention is paid on habit, hedonic motivation and price value as predictors of the mobile Internet usage. The results of the empirical study are fully supporting the model. Namely, all relationships hypothesized in the model are proved to be significant in our sample. However, the moderators such as age, gender and experience used in the original UTAUT2 model were not included, but are expected to be influential when analysed in larger and more representative sample. The significance of the proposed predictors can help managers formulate their marketing strategies and profound their marketing communication efforts.