Factors Influencing Young Kenyan Consumers’ Use Of Smartphones

Project Report Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master of Business Administration (MBA)The purpose of this study was to investigate factors contributing to young Kenyan consumers (college student) preference for Smartphone for computing and communication. The study focused on three key research questions, namely; how does perceived ease of use affect Smartphone selection among young Kenyan consumers? How does perceived usefulness affect Smartphone selection among young Kenyan consumers? In what ways has behavioral intention (BI) influenced preference of Smartphone among young Kenyan consumers? The research design used in the study was a descriptive research design. The researcher assumed that this approach would be effective in describing and conceptualizing key issues influencing the acceptance and adoption of Smartphone among the young consumers in Kenya. The study was conducted among some 239 students at USIU. The sampling technique used was the simple random sampling, which was preferred as it accorded all the students an equal chance of participating in the study. A 35-item interview schedule was used to collect the data. A combination of descriptive and inferential statistics was used to present and analyze the data. The study found that perceived usefulness of Smartphone helps account for the acceptance of the technology by the young Kenyan consumers. The studyalso found that Smartphones are useful in several ways including, in accessing social media platforms; accessing the internet including emails, synchronizing personal data between and among several applications, facilitating research, work quality enhancement, studies and entertainment. The study further found that ease of use of the Smartphones has greatly determined its use by young Kenyans. The study found that the ease of use of Smartphone was indicated by fact that several respondents indicated that it was easy to learn how to use Smartphones. it found that it was enjoyable to use Smartphones, that the Smartphones demand less effort to use and were easily portable, had easy to understand applications. In addition, it found that Smartphones were relatively easier to use than a PC, were mostly user-friendly and less stressful to use. The study found that the majority of the research participants thought that Smartphones were generally easy to use. The study also found that behavioral intention was a critical factor determining Smartphone acceptance by young consumers in Kenya. The behavioral elements that thestudy found to drive Smartphone acceptance included the point that the majority of the participants indicated that they intended to use Smartphones until they graduate, that Smartphone depicted users’ personality. The study found that the majority also indicated that they intended to encourage others to use Smartphones. The study further found that several respondents stated that using Smartphone was as status symbol, the research participants stated that they intended to continue using Smartphones for social media connectivity. The study concludes by contending that perceived usefulness of Smartphones has facilitated the adoption of the devises by young consumers in Kenya. It contends that “ease of use” is an element of great importance in Smartphone acceptance and use among young consumers in Kenya.Therefore, it argues that the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) offers a very crucialmeans of conceptualizing the acceptance of Smartphones among the youth in Kenya. Three elements of the TAM including “perceived usefulness”, “ease of use” and “behavioral intention”helps conceptualize Smartphone acceptance and use among the Generation Y consumers in Kenya. The study recommends that generation Y particularly students in institutions of higher learning and tertiary colleges need to adopt Smartphones in their academic work. It recommends that Smartphone users should acknowledge that the value of a Smartphone is how easy it is to use and that Generation Y population in university and colleges should plan to use Smartphones in their studies. It further recommends that future research should also use other models such as the TPB, TRA and UTUAT such an undertaking would help confirm or disconfirm the applicability of these theories on Smartphone acceptance among Generation Y especially in Africa