Consumer adoption of short messaging system

Wireless devices are the most powerful communication devices with respect to immediacy, interactivity and mobility, and the forefront of this wireless revolution is the mobile phone. The introduction of short messaging system (SMS), popularly known as text messages, has shaped the way Filipinos communicate with one another and has become one of the important driving forces in the telecom industry. The study is to determine what underlying factors strongly influence Filipinos consumer\u27s acceptance of SMS. Underlying the factors that strongly influence the use for SMS can lead to insights into how consumers will accept other mobile data services. The study utilized the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as the main framework of determining the adoption of consumers to SMS. TAM is one of the most influencial research models in the studies of the determinants of information technology (IS/IT) acceptance (Chau 1996). The TAM model theorized that a person will use a particular product or service if he or she has a possitive attitude towards it. The model adapts the belief-attitude-intention-behavior relationship to user\u27s to information technology (IT) acceptance. The key constructs by Davis et al (1989) are: perceived usefulness, perceived ease, and attitude. In a qualitative study, external factors that affect people\u27s use of communication tools have been identified and tested. The results show that out of all the external variables, the driving forces behind the TAM constructs are: system quality, immediacy of communication, ease of use, and mobility were the strongest among all other variables in influencing SMS use. Subjective norm and gender showed no significant relationship on SMS use. This study makes a unique contribution to the telecommunications industry by providing evidence of user attitude of SMS use in the Philippines. In addition, most of the findings similar to the previous studies, we find, that SMS is widely used over voice communications and SMS is not a suitable medium for mobile marketing related activities unless it is permission based, The result from this study gives new insights toward mobile communications and aids to inform the design of future communication technologies and research