User willingness to purchase applications on mobile intelligent devices: evidence from app store

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the facilitating and inhibitory factors on paid app downloading intentions based on an integrated valence theory, considering two social environmental factors and two intermediate variables: perceived value and perceived trust. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on the integrated valence theory. After collecting users’ data, partial least square analysis is used to examine the main driving and constraining factors for users to download paid apps in Apple mobile devices. Findings The empirical results show that mediated through perceived value, perceived usefulness and perceived compatibility are the absolute positive factors that affect user’s willingness to purchase apps, whereas perceived cost is the main barrier for users to do so. Social environment where the users are in also plays an important role in their purchase intentions. Practical implications This study hopes to offer guidance to paid app developers and general app markets, and to help expand the consumer group, make the purchase experience more efficient and promote the development of paid app market. Originality/value The finding not only enriches the adoption theory of mobile apps from the perspective of valence theory, but also provides pricing and functional suggestions for platform suppliers and software developers of paid apps.

What Makes Consumers Purchase Mobile Apps: Evidence from Jordan

“…Similar to previous research on mobile Apps [38], App enjoyment is found to be another important factor that influences purchasing intentions. Furthermore, a previous study [11,81] supports the importance of perceived enjoyment with regard to behavioral intentions to download mobile Apps. Enjoyment has a positive relationship with consumers' purchasing intentions.…”

“…Therefore, hedonic value has been recognized as one of the key antecedents that significantly influences how consumers make their purchasing decisions [34]. It has been argued by Tang et al [11] that "App consumers focus more on satisfying their own inner spiritual needs rather than targeting practical purpose" (p. 1632). Further, enjoyment positively influences mobile App usage intentions because, when consumers' entertainment requirements are met, the pleasurable feelings about the App are realized.…”

“…It has been found that price value is among the core factors that determines mobile App purchase [32,37,38], especially in light of the fact that the current market for mobile Apps is dominated by free Apps. In mobile App stores, there are several different Apps with comparable functions, and the majority of these Apps are free, which subsequently minimizes consumers' motivation to purchase paid mobile Apps with the same functions [11]. This assumption holds true even if paid mobile Apps provide an improved functional quality in comparison with other Apps.…”

“…Thus, free Apps dominate the majority of the market share as 90% of mobile Apps in the market are free, and it is expected that the revenue generated from paid Apps will dramatically decrease in the coming years [10]. Therefore, paid App publishers and developers have been actively seeking methods to boost sales and increase the revenue generated by such Apps [11]. Furthermore, along the same lines, App markets such as App Store and Google Play are employing various marketing practices such as App rankings regarding sales and popularity, online feedback tools (e.g., reviews and rating), and are introducing trial versions to increase sales.…”

Mobile Location-Based Services’ Value-in-Use in Inner Cities: Do a Customer’s Shopping Patterns, Prior User Experience, and Sales Promotions Matter?

“…Accordingly, the value-in-use components should not represent knock-out criteria for the first use. Research has shown that privacy concerns have a negative influence on a customer's intention to download a mobile app (Tang et al 2019;Klumpe et al 2018;Wottrich et al 2018;Gu et al 2017), which is why we assume that privacy concerns are such a knock-out criterion of use. Therefore, we conclude that privacy concerns are not a component of value-in-use, but rather an upstream construct that affects the customer's initial decision to use the app for the first time.…”