Exploring Consumers’ Behaviour in the Context of Mobile Commerce

Abstract

Maximising consumers’ usage of mobile commerce applications for shopping and payment is critical to increasing e-commerce transactions and achieving e-commerce development programme goals under the Saudi Vision 2030. However, achieving this objective requires understanding the factors influencing consumers’ behaviour towards mobile commerce applications for shopping and payment, which remains an unexplored area of research in Saudi Arabia. This thesis bridges the research gap by presenting three studies exploring mobile commerce applications usage in Saudi Arabia for omnichannel shopping, mobile shopping, and payment. All three studies adopt Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to test their conceptual models. The first study focuses on the factors driving customer loyalty in omnichannel retailing from the perspective of retail application users. It draws upon the SERVQUAL model to explore how the perception of retail application design aesthetics, delivery, product return, customer service, and channel consistency of omnichannel retailers influence customer loyalty. A survey method using Qualtrics was employed to collect data from retail application users in Saudi Arabia. A total of 250 responses were analysed using SmartPLS 4. The findings of study one reveal the significance of product delivery, customer services, and retail application design aesthetics in driving customer loyalty in omnichannel retailing. However, product return and channel consistency do not influence customer loyalty in omnichannel retail from the perspective of retail application users. The second study investigates the factors predicting behavioural intention and use behaviour in relation to mobile shopping applications by employing the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) extended with service quality. A survey method using Qualtrics was used to collect data from users of mobile shopping applications in Saudi Arabia. A total of 255 responses were analysed using SmartPLS 4. The second study's findings indicated the effect of effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, habit, and service quality on the behavioural intention towards using mobile iv shopping applications. The second study suggests that social influence, price value, and hedonic motivation do not significantly affect the behavioural intention to use mobile shopping applications. The results also show that behavioural intention significantly influences the usage of mobile shopping applications. The third study extends the UTAUT2 model with trust to examine the predictors of consumers' behavioural intention and their use behaviour regarding mobile wallet applications. A survey method using Qualtrics was used to collect data from users of mobile wallet applications in Saudi Arabia. A total of 220 responses were analysed using SmartPLS 4. The findings of study three showed that performance expectancy, facilitating conditions, social influence, habit, and trust significantly influence the behavioural intention to use mobile wallet applications in Saudi Arabia. The third study indicates that price value and hedonic motivation do not considerably affect the behavioural intention towards using mobile shopping applications. The results also confirm that behavioural intention significantly influences the use behaviour of mobile wallet applications. This thesis presents theoretical implications for mobile commerce and omnichannel retail research by exploring consumer behaviour in Saudi Arabia in a relatively novel area that includes omnichannel retail, mobile shopping applications and mobile wallet applications. This thesis also offers practical implications for decision-makers, omnichannel retailers, and mobile commerce vendors in Saudi Arabia to assist in refining their strategies, optimising mobile commerce functionalities and services, and building lasting relationships with mobile consumers in Saudi Arabia.