Expanding the UTAUT2 framework to determine the drivers of mobile shopping behaviour among older adults

Abstract

In the current severe aging of the population, the problem of "digital divide" of the elderly has become increasingly prominent, and the elderly market represents a vast demographic that is increasingly becoming an important customer segment for mobile shopping in the future. However, there is currently insufficient attention given to the research on mobile shopping behavior among older adults. This study tries to answer what are the driving factors of mobile phone shopping behavior among the elderly? The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors that drive the elderly’s mobile phone shopping behavior, and to establish a mobile phone shopping acceptance model for the elderly to predict the factors of the elderly’s behavioral intention of using smart phones. Based on the second edition of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology theory (UTAUT 2), this study proposed a mobile phone shopping acceptance model for the elderly. The study collected valid data from 389 Chinese elderly people through questionnaires and analyzed them using structural equation models. The results showed that utilitarian, anxiety, trust, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions and habit directly impact the older adults’ intention to engage in mobile shopping. Additionally, facilitating conditions, habit and the older adults’ intention to engage in mobile shopping act as driving factors for actual use behavior. This study further expands the UTAUT theoretical model, provides a theoretical basis for the research of mobile shopping behavior of the elderly, and enricues the application groups and fields of the UTAUT theoretical model. The results of this study provide inspiration for the development, design and marketing of age-appropriate mobile shopping products, and contribute to the realization and further adoption of age-appropriate mobile shopping, and also contribute to promoting the active aging of the elderly.