An Empirical Investigation of Smartphone Adoption in Pakistan

Abstract

Smartphone use has proliferated globally. However, there is a lack of understanding regarding the fast adoption of the technology at individual level, specifically for personal use. Technology adoption varies across geographic regions, and smartphone adoption is no exception. This article investigates smartphone adoption in Pakistan, which is one of the fastest growing smartphone markets. With the help from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the authors build a research model by looking at the unique characteristics of the smartphone technology and Pakistan's market. The research model is empirically tested among 289 smartphone users. The results show perceived smartphone usefulness and the ease of use contributing significantly towards users' intention to adopt smartphone. Also, smartphone design, availability of smartphone applications, and social norms increases the smartphone use. However, technical difficulty in smartphone use negatively affects its adoption. The authors also discuss the implications and future research.