Can Perceived Ease of Use Improve M-Commerce Adoption?: Role of Mobile Network Service Quality

1. Introduction

M-commerce has evolved from a trend to reality. Customer demand trends and technological advancement have mitigated challenges and narrowed the line between offline and online trade. E-commerce is part of our shopping habits today, from purchasing groceries to appliances (Tam, Loureiro & Oliveira, 2019). Nowadays, online retailers are using the Internet to convey, communicate, and disseminate information, sell the product, receive feedback, and conduct satisfactory customer surveys. On the other hand, customers used the Internet to purchase the product online and compare prices, product features, and after-sales service facilities that they would receive if they purchased the product from a particular store (Sarkar, Mukherjee & Lahiri, 2020).

Furthermore, as customers have become more tech-savvy, so e-commerce executives need to comprehensively consider the needs and factors of customers that affect their preference to choose and shop on e-commerce websites. There are usually two points of understanding the behaviour of online consumption. The first phase involves how to persuade customers to shop online, and the second phase is to encourage them to buy back, which is vital to the success of an M-commerce portal (Chiu & Cho, 2019).

Developing countries have seen an incredible and impressive increase in infrastructure production for telecommunications technology over the past decade. In terms of improving access to wireless connectivity, which has a tremendous effect on the lives of billions of people worldwide, development is remarkable. Internet access has not only improved the simplicity and speed of communication, but has also provided marketers with the ability to redefine the art of communicating with potential consumers. A good mobile telecommunications service network is also favourably correlated with a country's economic growth (Yadav, Sharma & Tarhini, 2016). Data services are insightfully changing our lives. Anywhere and anytime, cellular providers make internet connectivity available. This enables instant access to social networks, intranet employment, shopping, internet browsing, entertainment, etc. Cellular companies are striving to improve service and provide their users with a better experience. The growth and advancement of cellular broadband services have been enabled by research and development in different areas of cellular technology (Alomary & Kostanic, 2013).

This study investigates the impact of mobile network service quality on the adoption of mobile commerce services with the help of one mediator, i.e. perceived ease of use (PEOU). First, we will examine whether the determinants of the mobile network service quality, which are: speed, trust, satisfaction, security, privacy, and cost, have an impact on M-commerce services or not. Second, we will examine that, with the mediator's help, i.e., perceived ease of use (PEOU), its adoption will increase or not. Perceived ease of use also has their determinants that are: convenience, and website quality.