The facilitating role of smartphones in increasing use of value-added mobile services

Value-added mobile service use

Current research has explored the drivers of users’ intentions to use value-added mobile services mainly through the utilization of either the original or extended version of the Theory of Acceptance Model (e.g. Ha et al., 2007; Kleine and Baker, 2004; Leong et al., 2013; Sun et al., 2013; Zarmpou et al., 2012) and Diffusion of Innovation Theory (e.g. Chen et al., 2002; Lee, 2013; López-Nicolás et al., 2008; Wu and Wang, 2005). Perceived usefulness, interactivity, ease of use and enjoyment, ubiquity, social and media influences, and trust, are considered the most common driving factors (Coursaris and Sung, 2012; Kleine and Baker, 2004; Lee, 2013; López-Nicolás et al., 2008; Lu et al., 2008; Mallat et al., 2009; Nysveen et al., 2005; Okazaki and Mendez, 2013; Vlachos et al., 2006; Wei et al., 2014), while perceived risks such as monetary considerations and security, as well as technology barriers, appear to hinder the use of such services (Bouwman et al., 2007; Lim et al., 2006; Schierz et al., 2010; Wu and Wang, 2005). These past studies have very much focused on the adoption of value-added mobile services; however, given that such services have been widely available in the marketplace for a long time now, it is logical to assume that most users are now past the adoption stage. Consequently, merely examining the initial adoption of value-added mobile services cannot reveal the richness of its post-adoption activities (Fichman and Kemerer, 1997). Furthermore, we need to view the diffusion of new technology such as value-added mobile services as a multistage process that starts with adoption and extends to usage and value creation (DeLone and McLean, 1992). This study thus aims to extend the current approach of technology adoption research through a more detailed investigation of individual-level usage of a particular technology which is still lacking in our field.

Theoretical perspectives

As indicated earlier, our conceptual framework is underpinned by two fundamental theories pertinent to understanding the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs)—mainly the smartphones—which are domestication theory and Apparatgeist theory. The integration of these theories into our proposed framework is discussed in the next section, where we formulate our hypotheses.

Research based on the concept of domestication explores what ICTs mean to people, how people experience ICTs, and the roles that ICTs play in people’s lives, particularly within the domestic sphere (Silverstone and Haddon, 1996). This theory posits that people evaluate the functional and symbolic values of ICTs before making a purchase, so that after the purchase, the ICTs will deliver the expected values. The current focus of this theory is not only on how ICTs fit into the home and into individuals’ daily routines, but also on how people demonstrate and experience ICTs consumption within social networks that could notably enhance the expressiveness of their identity.

In contrast, Apparatgeist theory (Katz and Aakhus, 2002) applies to the ways that people use, modify, and relate to personal communication technologies (PCTs), in particular, mobile devices. The neologism of Apparatgeist itself refers to “the spirit of the machine that influences both the designs of the technology as well as the initial and subsequent significance accorded them by users, non-users, and anti-users” (Katz and Aakhus, 2002: 305). This theory is grounded in perpetual contact—a sociologic of communication technology (Goodwin and Wenzel, 1979) which assumes that people use PCTs to communicate and interact socially, resulting in a mutual relationship among the PCTs, users, and society. These continuous interactions drive users to constantly reinvent their use of PCTs to maximize the fulfillment of their needs and more fully express their personality. Reinvention carries social consequences, both favorable and unfavorable, which must be managed over time. This theory clearly places greater weight on the social uses of PCTs after they have been fully integrated into users’ daily routines.

Investigations based on the domestication and Apparatgeist theories focus on how users interact with communication technologies, and examine the utilitarian and symbolic meanings of such technologies (Katz and Aakhus, 2002). While domestication research emphasizes the process of technology adoption in everyday life, Apparatgeist theory relates to the meanings people construct for using technologies, and their social consequences (Katz and Aakhus, 2002). In other words, domestication research includes the adoption of ICTs until they have become regular consumption technologies, whereas Apparatgeist studies look beyond this boundary to examine the social and psychological aspects of continued technology use. These two theories complement one another and thus can be used together to examine the use of portable communication technologies.

To recap, we draw on these two theories to explore the role of smartphones in daily life so as to better understand the use of value-added mobile services, in particular, satisfaction with such services as well as their actual usage. Our goal is to apply these two theories, which have been employed predominantly in qualitative research (Haddon, 2006; Katz and Aakhus, 2002), by synthesizing them to become the principal foundation of our conceptual framework for empirical evaluation. Since users use smartphones as tools for using value-added mobile services, we examine both technologies: the mobile device itself and the mobile services offered by mobile telecommunication providers.

Domestication research on mobile telephony reveals that smartphones have been highly domesticated (Ling and Yttri, 2002). In fact, people today are so familiar with these devices that their use relates less to functionality and more to symbolic values. Their portability allows users to carry them anywhere and to engage in private activities in the public domain. Users are able to call others, send SMSs, and access the Internet to conduct transactions, chat, play games, and much more, resulting in a blurring of the boundaries between private and public space (Bouwman and Van Der Duin, 2007). As a result, smartphone use is entrenched in people’s daily routines and people develop a strong attachment to these mobile devices in general (Jin and Park, 2012).

Extending the domestication theory, Apparatgeist theory holds that people attempt to reinvent their use of smartphones to maximize the benefits offered by such devices. One way to achieve this goal is to embrace extra features offered by these devices, including value-added mobile services. Our study focuses on two benefits of using value-added mobile services: experiential value and value-expressiveness. Experiential value is an overall perceived benefit of value-added mobile services experienced by users after weighing both intrinsic and extrinsic benefits of using such services and evaluating their experience of such service consumption (Kleijnen et al., 2007). On the other hand, value-expressiveness is related to how value-added mobile services allow users to express or relate their self-concepts which in turn enhance their images in the eyes of others (Katz, 1960). We thus propose that the symbolic use of smartphones results in increased attachment to smartphones that subsequently leads to obtaining the experiential value on the one hand and in value-expressiveness derived from value-added mobile services use on the other hand; together, these influence user satisfaction, which then leads to an increased use of such services. The following section presents the proposed relationships among these variables of interest.

The effect of the user–device relationship on value-added mobile services use

Smartphones are different from traditional mobile phones in that they offer a somewhat ‘personal computer-like experience’ for the users such as email capabilities, Internet browsing, personal organizers, ability to read popular document formats, and superior contact management. They come in different brands and styles with higher price tags than those of traditional mobile phones. Hence, it is not surprising that they are commonly sought after by users who purchase mobile phones as a status symbol (Wilska, 2003), as a fashion statement (Katz and Sugiyama, 2006), or even as a tool for projecting an innovative and modern image (Dedeoglu, 2004). Here, smartphone use carries great symbolism for users (Chun et al., 2012; Haddon, 2003; Katz and Aakhus, 2002). This view is aligned with domestication research within the mobile phone use context that postulates that people in general are so familiar with mobile phones that the symbolic values of such device consumption overpower its functional values (Lu et al., 2008).

On another note, users nowadays use smartphones not only to make/receive calls or to send/receive SMSs, but also to plan their daily schedule, search for information while on the move, conduct financial transactions, locate entertainment places, watch online news, read books, and much more. Clearly, smartphones have become well integrated into users’ daily routines and are used as both a communication tool and a source of assistance and advice. Furthermore, as already indicated, smartphone users also highly regard the symbolic values obtained from using this device. Hence, it is not surprising to see that they have a high dependency on their smartphones which may lead to their feeling lost or insecure when they do not have these devices at hand (Katz and Aakhus, 2002; Wilska, 2003). Such high dependency allows them to develop a deep personal relationship with their smartphones (Jarvenpaa and Lang, 2005; Prasopoulou et al., 2006), theoretically known as material possession attachment (Kleine and Baker, 2004). In support of this, one of our focus group respondents candidly stated:

I bought the latest smartphone mainly to show off. I want people to see me as modern and innovative. I feel good using my smartphone this way and that’s why I always bring it with me. There was one time I left it at home just for a few hours, I felt totally lost. I don’t want that to happen again.

This excerpt demonstrates that the initial intention behind the purchase was to acquire a certain status and image, but gradually this translated into a high level of attachment to the smartphone. In this study, we argue that the symbolic use of smartphones captures users’ aspirations to maintain or enhance their self-esteem and project their self-identity in addition to deriving utilitarian benefits. In the pursuit of these goals and activities, users subsequently increase their attachment to their smartphones. Therefore, we propose that:

The Apparatgeist theory postulates that as technology becomes fully integrated into people’s lives, people start to explore new needs and interests to maximize their technology use (Katz and Aakhus, 2002). In the case of smartphone use, users can achieve this goal by using value-added mobile services that are responsive to the needs of users who depend heavily on mobile devices in their everyday lives. Many of such services are still regarded as exclusive in that they are accessible to those who possess smartphones and subscribe to particular telecommunication networks and mobile plan offers. A selected number of these services are included in users’ mobile plan offers, but some applications are still offered for purchase. This so-called ‘restricted access’ may convey the uniqueness of the users and differentiate them from non-users (Nysveen et al., 2005) and therefore signal the exclusivity of such services. In other words, such services offer a value-expressiveness function that allows users to express or relate their self-concepts, which in turn enhances their image in the eyes of others (Katz, 1960). This value-expressiveness construct is aligned with the concept of image and perceived status benefit integrated in the extended Technology Acceptance Model developed by Venkatesh and Davis (2000) and López-Nicolás et al. (2008) respectively. However, since our framework focuses on how such exclusivity allows users to express themselves to a wider community, which later inherently gratifies them with a sense of self-esteem, we consider that measuring value-expressiveness is more appropriate in our context.

Domestication research further suggests that value-expressiveness results from individuals engaging in activities that require them to reveal characteristics of their personality (Haddon, 2003). Translating this synthesis to the smartphone context, users who actively engage in symbolic use of their smartphones are likely to reveal their personality or project their image to a wider community (Pedersen et al., 2003). Consequently, value-expressiveness obtained from their use of value-added mobile services would be better revealed if they have initially utilized the symbolic benefits of using their smartphones. Therefore, we argue that the symbolic use of smartphones will enhance the value-expressiveness benefit obtained from using value-added mobile services. An example from the focus groups that supports this reasoning is as follows:

Among my friends, I am the one who owns this latest smartphone. They now see me as an innovator. I like it. And I think, knowing that my friends perceive me as an innovator makes me more willing to use advanced services accessible from my smartphone. And I do enjoy using these extra features. It makes me feel good … somehow… I feel that it is good for my image.

Therefore, we hypothesize that:

As previously described, to a certain degree, the extensive advanced features offered by smartphones increase users’ dependency on such devices. The higher their dependency, the stronger the relationship that users form with their smartphones. Thus, to maintain or even strengthen such relationship, users have to constantly familiarize themselves with various functions and services accessible from their smartphones, including value-added mobile services. When using these services, users evaluate both the intrinsic and extrinsic benefits offered by such services. In the proposed framework, we introduce a concept commonly used in the marketing literature to capture overall benefit assessment of service use, that is, experiential value. Experiential value is defined as users’ perceived relativistic preference for an interactive experience for the purpose of using particular services (Andrews et al., 2007). During interaction, users serve as the co-creators of the service value, weighing both intrinsic and extrinsic benefits of using such services, and their experience of such service consumption is crucial to their perception of experiential value (Kleijnen et al., 2007).

To conclude, users’ attachment to smartphones contributes a great deal to shaping the experiential value derived from using value-added mobile services. An example from the focus groups that supports this viewpoint is as follows:

I have such a close relationship with my smartphone. I can’t leave without it… not even for a few hours. I enjoy using all things it can perform and there is no doubt I obtain great values when using them.

Specifically, we hypothesize that:

User satisfaction with value-added mobile services use

Given that there are many kinds of value-added mobile services, users in general perceive them as heterogeneous and evaluate them in terms of the intrinsic and extrinsic benefits that such services can offer (Bruner and Kumar, 2005). Further, the co-existence of these benefits is becoming more apparent, since users usually use more than one service application, one of which could be for a utilitarian purpose (e.g. requesting information) with the other serving a hedonic purpose (e.g. music download). Consequently, as previously stated, this study focuses on value-expressiveness and experiential value.

On another note, user satisfaction is another concept that has been widely acknowledged as a surrogate measure of system success in the field of Information Systems (IS) and as a predictor of customer loyalty and retention in the Marketing disciplines (Lu et al., 2009; Wu and Wang, 2006). We define user satisfaction as users’ overall evaluation of service experiences after the actual use of the service over time (Garbarino and Johnson, 1999). It is a crucial variable to be investigated when aiming to predict post-adoption behavioral variables, particularly because it can be measured only after an actual experience of technology or service use (Rogers, 2010). Furthermore, previous studies have confirmed the positive relationship between user satisfaction and actual use (Lu et al., 2009); therefore, we include user satisfaction in our conceptual framework.

Value-expressiveness is a crucial component of the process of adoption and intention to use mobile services, as these kinds of services are important vehicles of expressiveness for the display of individuals’ identity, status, or image (Thorbjørnsen et al., 2007). We suggest that the more value-added mobile services allow for self-expression, the more positively users evaluate the overall service use experience. More specifically, with the expansion of users’ opportunities for expressing themselves in society comes an increase in their level of satisfaction. This reasoning concurs with the following comment from a focus group participant:

I am satisfied with the value-added mobile services because using such services helps me to express my personality and personal values to my friends.

Consequently, we hypothesize that:

Previous research notes that experiential value gained from particular consumption influences user satisfaction (Collier and Sherrell, 2010). Furthermore, perceived value is a key determinant of user satisfaction (Kim et al., 2013). In line with this, we propose that the experiential value that users derive from using value-added mobile services will influence their satisfaction. This view is also supported by the following comment from a focus group member:

I use value-added mobile services because they are not only good for entertaining purposes such as reading online books while on the train but also for practical purposes, for example, searching for direction to a particular place. They fulfill my needs so I am quite satisfied with the services.

Therefore, we hypothesize that:

User satisfaction with value-added mobile services consumption and their actual use

Evidence of the positive effect of user satisfaction and actual behavior is well established (Oliver, 1980). More specifically, previous research into technology use has found that user satisfaction influences actual technology use in that the more satisfied users are with a particular technology, the more likely that they will increase such technology consumption (Wu and Wang, 2006). This study aims to support this contention, which is also confirmed by this focus group example:

I use different kinds of value-added mobile services. The ones that fulfill my needs really please me. So, I use them more often than the other ones.

Therefore, we hypothesize that:

Figure 1 depicts the conceptual framework with derived hypotheses.

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Figure 1.

Conceptual framework.

Participants and procedure

The data for this study came from an online panel of Australian consumers. The online research panel company sent an email invitation to members in their mailing list. Only those who have used smartphones for at least 1 year and use any type of value-added mobile services five times or more on an average month were eligible to complete the questionnaire. One year of smartphone use along with their experience in using variety of value-added mobile services seems sufficient to familiarize themselves with mobile service usage and consequently to actualize their use motivations. Anyone eligible in participating in our research could then complete the survey within the given time frame. Within 1 week, we had successfully collected 500 responses. We later removed approximately 15% of these responses as they failed several stages of eligibility checks implemented in the questionnaires; for example, they still had traditional mobile phones that did not actually have capabilities to access any value-added mobile services, or they answered ‘never’ when asked how much time they spend on consuming value-added mobile services on average weekdays and weekends. In total, 414 usable responses were obtained and then used for further analysis. Table 1 presents the demographic characteristics of the sample.

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Table 1.

Sample demographics.

	Percentage (%)
Gender
Male	52.9%
Female	47.1%
Age
18–24 years	23.4%
25–34 years	22.7%
35–44 years	23.9%
45–54 years	21.5%
55 years and above	8.5%
Education background
Secondary school	6.8%
High school	30.7%
Diploma	25.8%
Bachelor’s degree	25.1%
Master’s degree or higher	11.6%
Annual personal income
< $30,000	26.6%
$30,001–$60,000	36.8%
$60,001–$ 80,000	17.7%
$80,001–$100,000	9.7%
> $100,000	9.2%
Level of occupation
Professional	67.1%
Self-employed	11.4%
Student	9.4%
Housewives/house-husbands	8.9%
Unemployed/retired	3.2%

A high proportion of our sample (81%) had used smartphones for over 5 years, and over half (72%) were on contract with their mobile service provider. Respondents indicated that communication was the main purpose of their using value-added mobile services (27.3%), followed by information search (25.4%), transactions (24.4%), and entertainment (22.9%).

More than half of the respondents (58%) used mobile Internet, followed by weather alert (50%), mobile email (46%), mobile games (46%), ringtone download (43%), news alert (43%), map/street directory (40%), music/video clip download (31%), mobile banking (30%), sports alert (29%), screensaver download (24%), mobile TV (20%), mobile chat messenger (19%), public transport timetable alert (17%), horoscope alert (17%), stocks alert (12%), and traffic alert (11%). Mobile blogging and mobile ticketing appeared to be the least popular services, with less than 10% of the respondents having used such services.

Measures

We measured attachment to smartphones using seven items adapted from Ball and Tasaki (1992) and the symbolic use of smartphones with eight items adapted from Dedeoglu (2004). Value-expressiveness was measured using five items developed by Thorbjørnsen et al. (2007), experiential value with nine items adapted from Voss et al. (2003), and user satisfaction with four items adopted from Bhattacherjee (2001). All items were measured using a 7-point Likert-type scale that ranged from1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree, with the exception of experiential value, which was measured by a 7-point ratings semantic differential scale. To measure actual use, we asked respondents to indicate their frequency of use on average working days and weekend days as suggested by Bhattacherjee (2001).

To test our hypotheses, we utilized AMOS 20.0. Our sample size was considered adequate, following the parameter estimate ratio of five as suggested by Bentler (1995).We first developed a measurement model of the respective constructs and performed confirmatory factor analysis to assess the psychometric properties of the measures. Each scale item was modeled as a reflective indicator of its hypothesized latent construct. We allowed all constructs to covary in the measurement model and chose the maximum likelihood approach as the model estimation method. After running the model, we excluded from further analysis four items with a low loading on their respective factors. All fit indices were within the recommended values: χ²/df = 1.71, GFI = .90; CFI =.96; TLI =.96 and RMSEA =.04 (Hu and Bentler, 1995).

We evaluated reliability by means of composite reliability and average variance extracted (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). As Table 2 shows, the construct reliabilities ranged between .77 and .96, and AVE ranged from .52 to .75. Hence, we concluded that all measures were reliable. We evaluated convergent validity through the assessment of item loading (Kline, 2011) and found all standardized loadings of the measures on their respective constructs to be greater than .50 and significant at p < .001.Discriminant validity was tested as recommended by Fornell and Larcker (1981)—that is, the square root AVE for each construct should exceed the factor correlation between that and any other constructs. The factor correlation matrix, depicted in Table 3, indicated that the largest correlation between any pair of constructs was .59 (value-expressiveness and user satisfaction) while the smallest square root AVE was .72. Hence, the discriminant validity was also met.

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Table 2.

Descriptive statistics and measurement model.

Construct (s) Item(s)	SL*	Mean	SD*	α*	AVE*	CR*
Attachment [3]		3.56	1.25	.84	.52	.90
My smartphone reminds me of who I am	.82
If I were describing myself, my smartphone would likely be something I would mention	.75
If someone praised my smartphone, I would feel somewhat praised myself	.67
Probably, people who know me might sometimes think of my smartphone when they think of me	.72
If I didn’t have my smartphone, I would feel a little bit less like myself	.60
If someone ridiculed my smartphone, I would feel irritated**
If I lost my smartphone, I would feel like I had lost a little bit of myself**
Symbolic use [15]		4.32	1.18	.92	.58	.95
A smartphone provides a popular image to its user	.87
A smartphone provides an ‘ever-needed person’ image to its user	.72
A smartphone provides a trendy image to its user	.85
A smartphone provides a stylish image to its user	.82
A smartphone is used to attract others’ attention	.74
People use smartphones as a way of expressing their personality	.74
Having smartphones nowadays is treated as a fashion statement	.71
People use smartphones to impress others**
Value-expressiveness [73]		3.03	1.36	.91	.71	.91
I use advanced mobile services to show others which group I belong to in the society	.85
I use advanced mobile services to express my personality	.85
I use advanced mobile services to express my personal values	.88
I use advanced mobile services to make me stand out in the crowd	.79
I am proud of being able to use advanced mobile services**
Experiential value [40]		5.34	.84	.92	.56	.96
Please rate the value of using value-added mobile services on the following scale:
Ineffective–Effective	.76
Not functional–Functional	.76
Impractical–Practical	.76
Useless–Useful	.73
Not sensible–Sensible	.70
Inefficient–Efficient	.71
Unproductive–Productive	.76
Boring–Entertaining	.73
Bad–Good	.77
Overall user satisfaction [5]		4.00	1.21	.92	.75	.92
Using advanced mobile services makes me feel very satisfied	.87
Using advanced mobile services makes me feel very pleased	.85
Using advanced mobile services makes me feel very contented	.86
Using advanced mobile services makes me feel very delighted	.88
Actual use [5]		2.69	.93	.76	.63	.77
Time spent using services on average working day	.77
Time spent using services on average weekend day	.82

*

SL: standardized item loading; SD: standard deviation; α: Cronbach’salpha; CR: composite reliability; AVE: average variance extracted; **Items deleted due to low loadings.

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Table 3.

Correlation analysis.

	Attachment	Symbolic use	Value-expressiveness	Experiential value	User satisfaction	Actual use
Attachment	.72
Symbolic use	.40 **	.76
Value-expressiveness	.53 **	.44 **	.84
Experiential value	.23 **	.32 **	.13 *	.75
User satisfaction	.54 **	.46 **	.59 **	.47 **	.87
Actual use	.30 **	,.16 **	.24 **	.17 **	.33 **	.80

Note: The square root of AVE is on the diagonal; ^* p < .05; ^** p < .01.

Assessment of common method variance

As our independent and dependent variables were collected from the same respondents using self-report measures, there existed the potential for the occurrence of common method variance (CMV) (Podsakoff et al., 2003). In anticipation of CMV threat, we programmed the survey software to counterbalance the order of questionnaire items between dependent and independent variables. Then, we undertook the marker-variable method proposed by Malhotra et al. (2006). In this approach, we use the lowest correlation as the potential marker variables. All t-values for CMV—adjusted correlation between variables—ranged between 2.35 and 12.63, with two exceptions where t-values were below 1, thereby further confirming that CMVwas not a threat to subsequent hypotheses testing.

Theoretical and managerial contributions

This study is one of the first to use the principles of both domestication and Apparatgeist theories to empirically test a service use framework in the context of a technology-mediated environment.

Empirical validation of our proposed framework confirms domestication research by examining the integration of technology into daily life through measurement of device attachment. In addition, by showing that continuous interaction with smartphones could influence the value obtained from value-added mobile services, this clearly demonstrates the basic principle of Apparatgeist theory. More importantly, we provide evidence that satisfaction with digital media services not only depends on the value offered by such services, but also results from the extent to which users rely on the tools for consuming such services.

Moreover, this study reveals the importance of exploring the functional and symbolic values of smartphone users’ relationships with their device to better predict actual service use. This study enriches the concept of material possession attachment. We specifically demonstrate how attachment to artifacts such as the smartphone promotes the use of value-added mobile services, which in turn could lead to greater satisfaction with such services.

Our findings provide considerable insight into business practices in general. First, to ensure business continuity, mobile application developers should work closely with both smartphone manufacturers and mobile telecommunication service providers. Smartphone manufacturers should continue improving their products, keeping in mind that users place emphasis on the symbolic use of smartphones. At the same time, application developers should focus on the significant experiential values these value-added mobile services could offer to their potential users. They also need to demonstrate to users how using mobile service applications could assist in projecting their individual personality and values in the wider community. More specifically, application developers should be focusing their attention on highlighting the innovative, modern, and technology-savvy image that users wish to project when consuming such advanced mobile services. This is crucial to regulate, direct, and improve the user consumption experience. Finally, to encourage continued use of such services, smartphone manufacturers, mobile application developers, and mobile telecommunication service providers should recognize that users form strong relationships with their mobile devices, and that this attachment could lead to the use of supplementary services beyond simple phone calls or SMSs.

Limitations and future research

Our study is limited in that sample respondents were selected on a convenience basis, which may limit the generalizability of our findings. However, respondents were deemed appropriate for the purpose of this study given that over 80% had used mobile phones for more than 5 years and over 60% had been regular users of value-added mobile services for more than a year. Furthermore, as this study does not differentiate among various types of value-added mobile services, we include only two constructs—experiential value and value-expressiveness—as representative variables to measure the benefits of value-added mobile services. Future research may re-validate our framework for specific value-added mobile services of interest and incorporate additional constructs pertinent to the respective services. Past research has found that culture has strong influence on mobile phone use (e.g. Baron and Af Segerstad, 2010; Westlund, 2010), and future studies could also explore cultural differences in the use of both technologies given that some countries are more advanced than others in their mobile technology industry and its rate of penetration. In addition, in this study we assess overall user attachment to mobile devices without considering factors such as brands. Future studies could include brand attachment as one of the key variables in the framework.