Analyzing the factors that affect the adoption of mobile services in Taiwan

Most previous research studies on the general factors related to the adoption of mobile services have used multiple regression methods (the technology acceptance mode or structural equation modeling) and some have used MCDM tools. However, these studies still have some shortcomings, so they cannot provide the enough precise information about these factors and their weightings. This information is needed by firms so that they can allocate their limited resources to the most important factors and draw appropriate strategies to improve the content and quality of their mobile services. This study reviewed the literature and constructed a three-layer hierarchical table of the factors that affect consumers' adoption of mobile services. A pair-wise questionnaire was then designed and distributed to managers who are familiar with the mobile services of Chunghwa Telecom, a leading telecommunication company. From the data collected, the weight of each factor was directly calculated, using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP). The paper analyzes the importance of factors and three implications are also discussed. Hopefully, this knowledge will enable firms to better utilize their limited resources, by devising management strategies based on the weights of these factors, and therefore, to meet consumer demand at lower cost and with greater efficiency. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.