Web vs. Mobile

Abstract

Typically, Information Systems (IS) are used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of processes. On the one hand, mobile IS, with their ubiquitous character, have the potential to extend the application range of traditional IS. On the other hand it is also known that mobile IS have drawbacks, like a small screen size and limited processing power. The question arises if mobile IS changes decision behavior and more importantly decision performance. This paper contains a field experiment in a play money prediction market with over 2,000 participants in which users use a web frontend as well as a mobile application. Its market setting is well suited to study both decision behavior and decision performance on a user-by-user basis. It is found that participants' trading behavior using a mobile device does differ from using a stationary device. Moreover, looking at decision performance, this paper finds significantly lower trading profits when using mobile devices.