Empirical Investigation of the Relationship between the Operational Competence of Service Providers and the Use and Adoption of Mobile Commerce

This study models the operational competence of mobile service providers as an endogenous factor that presumably impacts the mobile commerce (m-commerce) adoption of consumers and examines the relationship between the perceptions of consumers toward the operational performance of m-commerce providers and their m-commerce adoption likelihood. Quantitative research is applied with data collected from wireless Internet consumers in South Korea. The data is analyzed using factor analysis and structural equation modeling methods. The findings suggest that the operational competence of m-commerce providers is a significant antecedent to the m-commerce use and adoption of consumers in Korea. In this environment, the operational competence of mobile service providers in managing facilities, equipment, systems and technology plays a central role in enhancing m-commerce use and adoption. Based on the results, important managerial implications are discussed.