2012 International Conference on Management Science & Engineering (19th)

September 20-22, 2012 Dallas, USA

Research on Consumers’ Attitudes and Acceptance Intentions

toward Mobile Marketing
ZHANG Rui-jin，LI Xiang-yang
School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, P.R.China, 150001

Abstract: This study built an effect mechanism mandatory SMS marketing generally carrying out has
model on consumers’ attitude and intention of mobile been the resentment of many consumers. How to carry
marketing, which had an empirical study on the model out the mobile marketing, which is more efficient, more
using customer investigation data of China for the recognized by consumers and more appealing to
research object. It assumes that perceived usefulness, consumers to participate in, has become the focus of
perceived credibility, and subjective norms positively Chinese enterprises lack of the relevant experience.
influence attitude and willingness, while perceived Therefore, researching on the consumer attitude towards
interference negatively influence attitude. Attitude mobile marketing and consumer's intention to
positively influences intention is another assumption. A intervention for mobile marketing has practical
path analysis is used to examine the model and significance for enterprises to carry out mobile marketing.
hypotheses. In the final results, perceived usefulness, Based on the analysis and validation results of the model,
perceived credibility and subjective norms positively the paper gives some proposals with feasibility for
influence attitude while perceived interference negatively enterprises to carry out mobile marketing.
influence attitude. At the same time ,consumer attitude
significantly influence consumer behavioral intention. 2 Literature review
Some feasible suggestions for enterprises to develop
mobile marketing have been made. 2.1 Perceived usefulness(PU)
Keywords: mobile marketing, SMS, attitude, In the proposed technology acceptance model,
intentions, path analysis Davis (1989) defined perceived usefulness as follows:
the extent of their job performance will be improved
1 Introduction when Individual uses a particular system. The higher
users’ perceived usefulness is, the more positive their
When walking around the Starbucks and the KFC, attitudes to use will be. Kawasaki (2003) and other
you take out your cell phone to sign in the appropriate scholars found that consumers will not accept mobile
stores on a roadside network or Renren network, and you marketing messages unless they get benefits from mobile
will get a virtual gift, coupons or other small gifts, just advertising. The mobile marketing benefits consumers
enjoying the surprise and concessions given by the store through providing them with useful information such as
you have signed in. This is the current portrayal of new product information, discount information or other
consumers' fashionable lifestyle, which is the silhouette purposes, so that consumers can receive mobile
of mobile marketing based on mobile communication. marketing both from the concept and action. When
When we get the gift or dine with dining coupons mobile marketing provides them no purpose and benefits,
excitedly, a precise and efficient marketing activity is consumers will not join the mobile marketing campaigns
happening to us. and will abandon the information conveyed by mobile
On the era when everyone has a phone, mobile marketing. In summary, propose the following
marketing with features of accuracy, timeliness, assumption:
interactive and personalized, is attracting more and more H1: Consumer perception of the usefulness has a
enterprises to join in the ranks of mobile marketing. positive effect on consumer attitude to mobile marketing.
China's mobile marketing is still in the early stages of
development, compared to Japan, South Korea, Europe 2.2 Perceived credibility(CRE)
and the United States. Many companies carrying out In the research on consumer attitudes towards
mobile marketing are lack of experience, and the mobile marketing, Tsang、Ting-Peng Liang（2004）and
others studied the impact of the entertainment,
interference, credibility and license towards mobile
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of advertisement. In the case of having been licensed, the
China.(71172156)

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978-1-4673-3014-5/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE
entertaining and informative features are important performance expectations, social impacts and consumer
factors influencing consumer attitudes towards SMS license have positive impacts on the consumers’ behavior
mobile advertising. In the case of not having been intention to receive mobile advertising. Behavior
licensed, the credible feature is the only important factor intention positively affects consumer behavior.
influencing it When the message delivered in mobile In general, consumers with positive and active
marketing can not be trusted or consumers consider it attitude towards mobile marketing are more willing to
unauthentic, consumers will choose to ignore the receive mobile marketing messages and join in mobile
received information in order to avoid being fooled or marketing campaigns. So propose the following
deceived, and will not join in mobile marketing assumption:
campaigns, in this instance, the effect of mobile H5: Consumer attitude to mobile marketing
marketing campaigns carried out by enterprises will be positively influence consumer intention to get involved
greatly reduced. Providing consumers with credible in mobile marketing.
mobile marketing information, or carrying out credible The research of Arno (2005) took the willingness of
mobile marketing activities, will increase the enthusiasm consumers as a factor measuring whether SMS
of consumers joining in mobile marketing. So propose marketing is successful. However most studies did not
the following assumption: study the factors which may decide mobile marketing is
H2: Consumer perceived credibility has a positive successful or not directly, but focus on the factors
effect on consumer attitude to mobile marketing. affecting the consumer willingness to accept mobile
marketing (Hyunjoo, Daejoong, Jungho, Sungjoon, 2010;
2.3 Perceived interference (IRR) Ran Wei, 2008; Buyukozkan, 2009).
When mobile marketing can not provide the According to the classical theory of reasoned
information desired by consumer, or transfers the action(TRA) (1975, Fishbein and Ajzen), Technology
consumers' attention on other interesting things, it will Acceptance Model (TAM) (1989Davis) and Internet
result in consumers’ impatience or even offense. In turn, Advertising Attitude Model (2001, Brackett, and Carr),
it will bring negative impact on consumer attitude combined with the studies on mobile marketing and
towards mobile marketing. So propose the following assumptions about factors affecting consumer attitude
assumptions: and intentions towards mobile marketing, establish the
H3: Consumer perception of interference has model of consumers attitudes towards mobile marketing
negative effect on consumer attitude to mobile to analyze how perceived usefulness, perceived
marketing. interference, perceived credibility and subjective norms
influence consumer attitude to mobile marketing.
2.4 Subjective norms(SN) It should be noted that perceived ease of use is also
Perceived usefulness of mobile services (Davis, an influencing factor of consumer attitude towards
1989; Koufaris, 2002), perceived ease of use (behavioral mobile marketing in many study. Currently, in China,
control) and subjective norms influence behavioral SMS marketing is the most important marketing tool,
intentions. Shen Xiang (2008) found that attitude and every one can send messages basically, there is not
towards mobile advertising, subjective norm and the problem about easy to use or difficult to use. So in
perceived behavioral control have direct impacts on the this survey, we didn’t involve the perceived usability in
user's intention. The attitude of users towards mobile the variable scope.
advertising is the most important factor affecting users' The research model is presented in Figure 1:
intention. In addition, external variables such as
perceived serviceability, perceived ease of use, perceived Subjective Norms
risk and the user's existing knowledge have indirectly
impacts on behavioral intention through affecting mobile
advertising attitudes and perceived behavioral control.
When consumers take actions, they easily get influenced
Perceived Credibility Consumer attitude
by people around them. The higher subjective norm is,
the higher the social pressure they get or their
compliance willingness is. So propose the following
assumptions:
Perceived Usefulness
lingness and consumer behaviors are factors of
measuring the success of SMS marketing (Arno,, Astrid,
Jamie, 2005). Becker (2005) found that the recognition Consumer intention
and acceptance of consumer towards mobile marketing
are on the rise. Liu Shuzhen and Li Cheng (2008)studied Perceived Interference
Chinese consumers' attitudes towards mobile services are
authorized affecting consumer attitudes towards mobile
advertising. Fig.1 Model of consumer attitude and intention toward
He Dehua and Lu Yaowu (2009) found that the mobile marketing

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3 Methodology attitude on mobile marketing in the overall; the average
score of intervention intention is 2.26, it indicates
Using online questionnaire by the research, consumers are not willing to intervene in the campaigns
distributing 224 questionnaires and recovering 208 carried by businesses or enterprises. Because of
questionnaires, the recovery was 92.86%, 199 valid consumers most often contact the SMS marketing and
questionnaires, questionnaire response rate of 95.67%.As most of consumers do not like SMS marketing, SMS
the young groups like trying new things, having the high marketing is likely to dominate the negative attitude of
acceptance of new things, and especially the highly consumers on mobile marketing. The specific data of
educated young people are often some new things, led consumers’ attitude on mobile marketing is in the table2.
the survey respondents showed a high level of education
and age-small demographic characteristics. Tab.2 Measurement index of consumer attitudes and
The research of consumer perceived usefulness, intervention intention
perceived playfulness, perceived credibility, perceived Index Std
interference and subjective norms all take the five-class N Minimum Maximum Mean .Deviation
scales, 1 point expresses disagree, 5 point expresses very ATT1 199 1 5 2.62 .819
agree. The average score of consumers’ perceived ATT2 199 1 5 2.35 .814
usefulness is 2.81, it indicates that consumers do not feel INT1 199 1 4 2.62 .669
the usefulness from the mobile marketing; the average
INT2 199 1 3 1.90 .603
score of consumers’ perceived playfulness is 2.38, it
indicates that consumers do not feel the playfulness from Valid N
199
(list wise)
the mobile marketing, they think mobile marketing is not
fun and interesting; the average score of consumers’
perceived interference is 3.50, it indicates that consumers This study adapted Cronbach's α coefficient to
believe mobile marketing disturb their work or life a assess the scale reliability. As Table 3 shows, the
certain degree; the average score of consumers’ Cronbach's α of all latent variables are0.827 to 0.903,
perceived credibility is 2.50, it indicates consumers which are higher than the standard value 0.80.The results
basically do not trust mobile marketing messages or also proved model constructs as reliable .
mobile marketing campaign; the average score of
subjective norms is 2.39, it indicates consumers fell the Tab.3 Tests of reliability
social pressure is small in the mobile marketing. The Variables and Factors Cronbach’s α Number of Items
specific data of consumer perception and subjective All variables 0.862 17
norms is in the table1. Perceived usefulness(PU) 0.891 3
Perceived interference(IRR) 0.901 3
Tab.1 Measurement index of consumer perception
and subjective norms Perceived credibility(CRE) 0.846 2
Subjective norms(SN) 0.903 3
Std. Consumer attitude(ATT) 0.827 2
Index N Minimum Maximum Mean
Deviation
Consumer intention(INT) 0.881 2
PU1 199 1 5 2.76 .036
PU2 199 1 5 2.89 .007
4 Findings and applications of the results
PU3 199 1 5 2.77 .962
IRR1 199 1 5 3.51 .984 Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) tested the
IRR2 199 1 5 3.54 .973 hypotheses in the study analysis, which examined the
IRR3 199 1 5 3.44 .987 extent to which perceived usefulness, perceived
CRE1 199 1 5 2.82 .936 interference, perceived credibility and subjective norms
influence consumer attitude to mobile marketing. After
CRE2 199 1 5 2.36 .798
analysis with the maximum likelihood estimates
SN1 199 1 5 2.29 .762 produced by AMOS7.0 (Arbuckle and Wothke,1999), the
SN2 199 1 5 2.46 .802 structural model fit indices were within accepted
SN3 199 1 5 2.43 .775 thresholds. The structural model results of the analysis
are depicted in Table 4.and Figure 2.
Consumers attitude on mobile marketing also takes The hypotheses testing results of the study are
the five-class scales, 1 point expresses very disagreement, shown in Table 5.The standardized path coefficient of
5 point expresses very agreement, higher score indicates consumer attitude to intention is the largest (β=0.974),
consumers attitude is more positive on mobile marketing attitude has a highly positive correlation with intention.
and they more like mobile marketing. In this survey, the Hypothesis 5 was supported, thus indicating that through
average score of consumers’ attitude on mobile forming a positive attitude towards mobile marketing, we
marketing is 2.50, it indicates consumers hold negative can improve consumers’ intention to involve in mobile

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 marketing. The highly correlation between attitude and
.22
1 intention indicated that, attitude has a predicting function
e13 SN1
.11 .84 .50 on intention.
1
e12 SN2
1.03
SN .15 .22 Followed by subjective norms to consumer attitude
.10
1
1.00
e14 e15
(β=0.676), and the standardized total effect of the
e11 SN3
subjective norms to the attitude is 0.854. Among all
.12 .41 1 factors that affect consumer attitude, subjective norm is
1
d3 the most notable. Hypothesis 4 was supported. It
.33
1
1 .63 ATT1 indicated that strengthening subjective norms can be
e10 CRE1 1.23
ATT2 effective to promote consumers to form positive attitude
.27
1
1.00 CRE 1.00 towards mobile marketing and thus can enhance
e9 CRE2 .92
.41 consumers’ intension to involve in mobile marketing.
.38
From the model results, we can see that the standardized
.28
1 ATT path coefficient of subjective norms to perceived
e3 PU1 1.15 .59 credibility was 0.536, indicating that strengthening
.17
1 1.19 PU
1 subjective norms can effectively increase consumers '
e2 PU2
.33 1.00 -.09 .07 perceived credibility. Subjective norm’s effect on
1 .68
e1 PU3 d1 consumer attitude is actually through its positive effect
d4 -.28
on the perceived credibility, and its coefficient of
1
.25
.61 standardized indirect effects on attitudes was 0.178.
1
e6 IRR3 1.00 .01 The standardized path coefficient of the perceived
IRR
.22
1
1.00
d2 usefulness to the perceived credibility was 0.547, and the
IRR2 .99
e7 standardized path coefficient of the perceived usefulness
.25
1 .11
1
to the perceived interference was -0.254.It indicated that
e8 IRR1
e17
1
INT1 1.30 enhancing the perceived usefulness can help improve the
.16
1
1.00 INT perceived credibility and reduce the perception of
e16 INT2 interference. Through affecting the perceived credibility
and the perceived interference, the perceived usefulness
Fig.2 Analysis result of structural equation model influenced consumer mobile marketing attitudes.

Tab.4 Analysis of overall model fit

PU SN IRR CRE ATT INT
IRR（direct effect） -.254 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
IRR(indirect effect） .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
IRR（total effect） -.254 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
CRE（direct effect） .547 .536 .000 .000 .000
CRE（indirect effect） 000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
CRE（total effect） .547 .536 .000 .000 .000 .000
ATT（direct effect） .000 .676 -.112 .333 .000 .000
ATT（indirect effect） .210 .178 .000 .000 .000 .000
ATT（total effect） .210 .854 -.112 .333 .000 .000
INT（direct effect） .000 .000 .000 .000 .974 .000
INT(indirect effect) .205 .831 -.109 .324 .000 .000
INT（total effect） .205 .831 -.109 .324 .974 .000

Tab.5 Hypothesis testing results

Standardized Standardized total
Hypothesis Result
coefficient effect
H1:Perception usefulness→Attitude to mobile marketing 0.210 0.210 supported
H2:Perceived credibility→Attitude to mobile marketing. 0.333*** 0.333 supported
H3:Perception interference←Attitude to mobile marketing. -0.112** -0.112 supported
H4:Subjective norms→Attitude to mobile marketing. 0.676*** 0.854 supported
H5: Attitude→Intention to mobile marketing 0.974*** 0.974 supported

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 The standardized path coefficient of the perceived a) According to the characteristics of the consumer
credibility to the attitude is .333.Hypothesis 2 was true. It spending, information needs, we can provide consumers
indicated that enhancing consumers' perception of with relevant, timely, accurate information and services
credibility was good for the formation of the positive to enhance consumers' perceived usefulness.
attitude of consumers on mobile marketing. In facts, true b) Providing consumers with more convenient
and reliable marketing information and a sense of trust information access and more convenient methods of
can really guide more consumers to mobile marketing payment to enhance the usefulness of consumer
campaigns. perception, thereby enhancing the intention of the
The standardized coefficient of the perceived consumers involved in mobile marketing.
usefulness to attitudes was.21.Hypothesis 1 was 2) Enhance consumers' perceived credibility
supported. It indicated that enhancing consumers' Perceived credibility has positive impacts on
perceived usefulness can promote the formation of a consumers' attitude towards mobile marketing, and
more positive attitude of consumers on mobile marketing, consumers' attitudes towards mobile marketing and
to enhance the intention of the consumers involved in consumers' intention to be involved in mobile marketing
mobile marketing. have positive correlation .Therefore, in order to enhance
The standardized path coefficient of the perceived the consumers' intention to be involved in mobile
interference to the attitude is -.112.Hypothesis 3 was true. marketing and improve the effectiveness of mobile
It indicated that reducing the perceived interference is marketing ,we can enhance consumer perception of
good for the formation of the positive attitude of mobile marketing credibility.
consumers on mobile marketing. a) Consumers' perceived credibility of the mobile
marketing is based on the authenticity, reliability and
5 Conclusion and recommendations perception of mobile marketing messages.
b) Selecting professional mobile marketing service
Based on a variety of mobile marketing tools, platform in order to improve consumers' perceived
through investigation and analysis ,the research proves credibility.
that the consumer's perceived usefulness, perceived c) Improving the information content coupled with a
interference, perceived credibility and subjective norms corporate logo to enhance consumer perceived
influence the attitude of consumers on mobile credibility.
marketing .Attitude affect consumer intention to d) Encouraging the transmission of information
intervene in mobile marketing. between consumers to enhance consumer perception of
First, perceived usefulness, perceived credibility credibility, and thus enhance the intention of the
and subjective norm have positive impacts on consumers involved in mobile marketing.
attitude ,while perceived interference has negative 3)Enhance the subjective norm
impacts on attitude .Perceived playfulness has no effect a) Enterprises can encourage its costumers to invite
on attitude and subjective norm has the most significant their friends by sharing, forwarding and other activities
impact on attitude .When providing consumers with to strengthen the subjective norms and improve the
timely, accurate and valuable information and services, intention of the consumers involved in mobile marketing.
and selecting a professional platform to transfer b) Enterprises can enlarge its reputation among
information timely, properly and moderately , which customers to enhance the consumers' participation in
does not interfere with consumers' lives, consumers will mobile marketing.
tend to hold a positive attitude toward mobile marketing. 4) Reduce consumers' perceived interference
Second, perceived usefulness and subjective norms a) Selecting the appropriate time period to send
can enhance the perceived credibility and perceived mobile marketing information to reduce consumer
usefulness can reduce the perception of interference. perception of interference.
Consumers will not feel interfered if valuable b) Controlling the transmission frequency of mobile
information and services are provided. Consumers would marketing messages to consumer to reduce consumer
be easier to accept their friends' recommendations on perceived interference, and enhance the intention of the
mobile marketing activities or information. consumer participation in mobile marketing.
Third, Consumers' attitude towards mobile 5) In mobile marketing, we recommend that
marketing have strong effects on heir intentions to be enterprises choose a professional mobile marketing
involved in the market and attitude is a good guide to services platform to build a platform to strengthen the
intention, which confirms the theory of social interaction among consumers. According to the needs of
psychology .Consumers who hold an active and positive consumers and consumer features, enterprises provide
attitude towards mobile marketing are more willing to consumers with relevant, timely, accurate and valuable
receive mobile marketing messages involved in mobile information and services to send management plan and
marketing activities. integrate a variety of mobile marketing tools to enhance
Based on these results, we conclude the following the intention of the consumers' participation in mobile
recommendations to improve mobile marketing : marketing.
1) Enhance consumers' perceived usefulness In addition, it can be seen from the fact that

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