The Effects of Gender On The Adoption of Smartphone: An Empirical Investigation

To the best of our knowledge to date, there are no published studies that have empirically investigated or compared the influence of gender on the continuance usage of smartphones relating to emotional trust in the technology, satisfaction of use, perceived usefulness, reliability, and the functionality of a smartphone. Motivated by the lack research, we conducted our study and make significant contributions to the literature by developing research models to gain a deeper understanding of and insight into how gender influences initial and continued use of smartphones. The diffusion of innovation and technology acceptance models serve as the theoretical background for our research model. The research methodology we use in our study investigating the impact of gender on smartphone continuance usage and acceptance is survey methodology. The dataset for our study was collected from students who are enrolled in a large public university in the United States of America. We collected datasets from 222 students (i.e. 111 from male students and 111 from female students). To enhance both external and internal validity in our study, we ensured the questionnaires and surveys were administered to students who use smartphones in their daily communication, to fellow classmates relating to class assignments, and to share videos, information, and files. The statistical techniques we use to analyze our datasets are confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The results of our data analysis show that females more strongly and significantly perceive smartphones to be useful and functional in general, while also exhibiting more emotional trust in their devices than men, who have a stronger sense of satisfaction and reliability when using smartphones. SEM analysis for females indicates that emotional trust in a smartphone explains 65 percent of smartphone continuous usage. Additionally, SEM analysis for females indicates that satisfaction with smartphone use, the perceived usefulness of smartphones, and the reliability and functionality of a smartphone account for 84 percent of the factors responsible for determining whether a female customer develops emotional trust in a smartphone. SEM analysis for males indicates that emotional trust in a smartphone constitutes 54 percent of a male customer’s motivation to continue smartphone usage. SEM analysis for males further indicates that satisfaction, perceived usefulness, reliability, and functionality of a smartphone account for 82 percent of a male customer’s development of emotional trust in a smartphone. Our study has a lot of research and managerial implications