Understanding the Adoption of Mobile Data Services: Differences among Mobile Portal and Mobile Internet Users

This study attempts to investigate the potential differences among individual adoption patterns between m-portal and m-internet services usage. A theoretical model that reflects a set of unique predominant factors of IS usage was developed. The model was empirically tested using data collected on mobile data services adoption. The results indicate that there are differences among the adoption behavior of mobile portal users and mobile internet users. Specifically, mobile internet use is likely to be driven by utilitarian expectations and overall usefulness of accessing the web through this alternative medium. On the contrary, mobile portals use is likely to be dependent on the users’ current state of innovativeness and not being affected by the actual utility of the mobile data service. The paper concludes with theoretical and practical implications of our findings.