Age in the Acceptance of Mobile Social Media: A Comparison of Generation Y and Baby Boomers Using UTAUT2 Model

This paper focuses on determining the age-based differences among consumers in terms of the acceptance of mobile social media. In doing so, the younger age group is represented by Generation Y and the elderly by Baby Boomers. Further, the famous UTAUT2 model is applied, and relationships mentioned in it are evaluated for the two age groups. For this purpose, a sample of 249 respondents was obtained from the online survey conducted in the state of Punjab in India. The statistical technique of multi-group path analysis using structural equation modelling (SEM) is applied to the generated data. The findings of the study reveal that the young age and elderly groups differ significantly in terms of the impact of effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation on behavioral intention, and facilitating conditions on use behavior. It may provide important implications for future research related to internet marketing and mobile social media.