Abstract: Background and Objective: Consumer mobile phone adoption is exponentially on the rise especially to youths and offers marketers with many new opportunities to reach and serve customers. However, the literature concerning acceptance of mobile marketing in developing countries is currently under represented. This study was designed to assess some factors influencing consumers’ willingness to participate in mobile marketing among university students in South Africa. Materials and Methods: The quantitative research technique was applied with data being collected from respondents by a self-administered questionnaire targeted at youthful students from selected South African universities. This study was guided by the positivist which paradigm ensured that there was a gap between the researcher’s subjective bias and the objective reality being studied. Results: Findings from this study revealed some negative consumers’ perception towards mobile marketing acceptance by the South African university students. Trust and privacy concerns were established to be the most influencing factors affecting consumers’ willingness to participate in mobile marketing. Results from the study can be used to monitor decision making towards mobile advertisements and marketing planning. Conclusion: Despite the negative students’ perception, mobile marketing continues to experience a surge and marketers as well as mobile service providers need to come up with mechanisms aimed at stimulating consumer mobile marketing acceptance. Some of the key recommendations from this study include: proper market segmentation, fostering socialisation and communication, creation of captivating messages and promoting permission-based advertisements.
INTRODUCTION
Mobile marketing has now been adopted into practice in South Africa1. The South African mobile phone market has witnessed a rapid uptake from the time competition started existing within the sector in the 1990s. According to Shezi2 out of the estimated population size of 49.99 million people in South Africa, there were about 85.53 million mobile connections, which means there are quite a number of people with more than one connected SIM card linked to them. The prevalence of this technology as well as the capability to target marketing on an individual base has directed marketers to consider the adoption of mobile marketing strategy. Based on the shared features of mobile media, mobile marketing in this study is defined as, any marketing activity steered through a recognised network to which consumers are frequently connected via a personal mobile device3.
As consumers are increasingly exposed to mobile marketing, their acceptance is also increasingly regarded as a critical success factor4. Although academic research on mobile commerce and consumer acceptance of mobile marketing is still in its early stages, a number of studies have been conducted in this field. Relating to factors that influence consumer acceptance of mobile marketing, prior research has focused on themes such as entertainment value and information value5, the role of permission6, uses and gratification factors7, cultural influences8, utility, control, sacrifice and trust9, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use10, perceived value11.
This study contributes to literature by testing the multi-dimensional framework comprising of six influencing factors, namely, trust, risk, relevance, privacy, shopping style and location-based marketing on a sample of consumers from a developing country, South Africa. Most mobile marketing research has been directed on developed countries, but empirical evidence suggests that there are considerable differences between developed and developing countries. These differences render efforts to generalize research findings from developed countries to developing countries’ contexts problematic12. Thus, this study made a unique contribution to the literature on the mobile marketing technology acceptance domain from the perspective of consumers in a developing African country.
Importance of the consumer in mobile marketing: Irrespective of the developments in technology, brand new content or some changes in marketer attitudes, the crucial success of mobile marketing depends on the consumer13. Consumers are the powerful force of any industry, in their absence businesses are unable to yield some profits or function. The consumer can influence the success of a new product or method, such as mobile phone marketing, which is why attaining consumer acceptance is of great importance. According to Totka14, if a marketing campaign is to make use of content, it needs to provide the consumers with a sense of value. This incentive-driven marketing strategy allows marketers to target consumers, without a negative feedback. In addition Deloitte15, also points out that consumer acceptance of mobile marketing still largely relies upon the issues of trust as well as privacy concerns.
Consumer’s intention to accept mobile marketing: Many marketers and retailers consider mobile marketing as a boosting branch because of mobile devices having high penetration rates with multimedia capabilities as well as interactivity16. On the other hand, there are also some stern challenges in mobile marketing area, such as spam, restricted user interface, concerns for privacy, service delivery channels and the expense of mobile data communication17. The accomplishment of mobile services as well as marketing depends essentially on consumer acceptance. Shankar and Malthouse18, defined mobile marketing acceptance as respondents’ receptiveness as well as some intentions to take on activities such as reception of products or information linked to marketing as well as promotional offers on their mobile phone devices.
Potential consumers in some cases do not have the chance to voice their attitudes concerning marketing activities through mobile services. This can put marketers at a high risk19 as they are not sure whether their marketing activities have some positive or negative influences on customers. If marketers want to utilise the mobile media communication channels in a more efficient way, they need to understand the consumers’ perceptions, valuing and evaluating mobile services as a source of marketing19. There is a need for extensive research to assess some factors influencing consumer usage and adoption of mobile services as effective channels to deliver mobile marketing and more importantly factors influencing mobile marketing itself.
Use of mobile phones by university students: Mobile phones are known to be very popular among university students, increasing their social inclusion and connectedness as well as providing a sense of security as they can contact others in times of distress or emergency20. Many studies have looked at mobile phone use amongst university students in Europe and Asia and a few in African countries including South Africa20,21. Within South Africa, research done by the World Wide Worx22 showed that South Africa’s university students are addicted to their mobile phone devices, but are almost unanimous that mobile phones enhance their academic and social lives. According to Brand South Africa23, university students are a relevant population because they are presumed to be frequent users of the Internet and supposedly the population most proficient in using new technology. In South Africa, providers of mobile services are strongly cognisant of the potential in this youthful market and they enthusiastically attempt to provide education to students on campuses across the country24. However, no definitive literature on how South African University students use and perceive mobile phones as an effective marketing medium has been found.
It is interesting to note that from the literature pertaining to the pattern of mobile usage among South African university students, most students did not indicate anything in relation to mobile marketing although being aware of its existence. The most common reasons for university students using mobile phones are social networking, impulse internet browsing and learning among others23. North et al.25, further stated that the three main reasons university students’ need to communicate is for inclusion (the need to belong), control (the need to give instructions to others or be given instructions) and affection (the need to love or be loved). It was therefore substantial for this study to focus on the factors affecting mobile marketing acceptance among South African university students to address this literature gap on the perception of South African students towards mobile marketing.
Problem statement: Roach26 indicated that, the fast pace of development within the mobile commerce industry has brought about a new field of academic research, in which studies have examined the variety of factors influencing the acceptance of mobile phone marketing from both consumer and organization perspectives. However, the current literature remains largely inconsistent and fragmented. Previous studies have provided a rather limited understanding of drivers of mobile marketing acceptance among consumers particularly, in developing countries such as South Africa. Thus, it is still not clear to what degree South African consumers are willing to adopt and have their involvement in mobile marketing efforts27. Moreover, there is dearth of literature on consumers’ acceptance of mobile marketing particularly amongst university students in South Africa, although South African consumers are more active on the mobile platform than most African countries28. Research into such drivers could possibly offer crucial managerial insights into how mobile marketing could be effectively promoted and thus lead to its augmented acceptance by the consumers.
Aim and research questions: Given the tremendous practical relevance and the scarcity of empirical studies within the African context, this study aimed at developing and testing a multi-dimensional framework of factors underlying mobile marketing acceptance intention by consumers in South Africa. This aim was fulfilled with the aid of following research questions targeted at the South African university student market:
| • | How does risk influence consumer acceptance of mobile marketing? |
| • | What is the influence of Trust on the acceptance of mobile marketing? |
| • | Do privacy concerns determine mobile marking acceptance? |
| • | How does marketing using consumers’ location profiles influence the acceptance of mobile marketing? |
| • | What is the influence of relevance of the marketing messages on the acceptance of mobile marketing? |
| • | How does consumers’ shopping style influence their participation in mobile marketing? |
Research framework and hypotheses: Rather than adopting a specific framework, the researcher adapted the method that was used by Baumgartner and Steenkamp29. In order to successfully implement this approach, the researcher established a list of the crucial variables emanating from the literature and through personal consultations with other researchers in the field of marketing. The researcher obtained their view as to which variables they felt were most significant in consumer acceptance of mobile marketing. Based on the feedback received, the researcher adapted the following variables, location based, relevance, trust, shopping style, privacy and risk. The research framework is shown in Fig. 1 and the research variables as well as the hypotheses are explained next.
Trust: Trust narrates to respondents' receptiveness as well as some intentions to take on activities such as reception of products or information linked to marketing as well as promotional offers on their mobile phone devices. In the mobile marketing context, consumers who become suspicious of or uncertain about the motivations of marketers for appealing them may try to circumvent their offers, while those who have much trust are more likely to accept their offers30. Thus, we propose the following hypothesis:
| H1: | There is a positive relationship between the degree of trust and mobile marketing acceptance |
| Fig. 1: | Proposed Research framework |
Risk: Empirical studies reveal that risk reduces the enthusiasm of consumers to participate in mobile marketing. Risk results in consumers worrying about buying goods and services from unknown retailers31. This hence reduces the willingness of consumers giving out private as well as financial information on the mobile platform and buying products they cannot inspect physically before a purchase. Thus, the following hypothesis is advanced:
| H2: | Degree of risk has an impact on mobile marketing acceptance |
Relevance: Relevance is key to consumer adoption of mobile marketing not only because consumers expect mobile advertisements to be personally relevant but also because there is the potential for negative consumer reactions towards marketing that is not relevant32. An empirical study of consumer acceptance of mobile marketing found that acceptance was high when marketing messages were relevant, highly targeted, personalised and of value-added content33. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed:
| H3: | There is a positive relationship between the degree of relevance and mobile marketing acceptance |
Privacy: Privacy refers to the extent to which personal information is not known to others34. From the consumer’s perspective, privacy invasion and general concerns for security relating to the mobile marketing medium have been recognized as some of the main barriers affecting consumer acceptance of mobile marketing28. Thus, we propose the following hypothesis:
| H4: | There is a positive relationship between the degree of privacy and mobile marketing acceptance |
Shopping style: Consumers might seek online for brand information as well as evaluations, or by visiting a shop physically to inspect the product. In the end, consumers can make a purchase of the product at either the physical store or even the online store, whichever presents with better significance regarding cost and convenience. Once mobile marketing happens to be more common in availability and the advantages become more notable, additional consumers are most likely to adopt it35. Thus, the following hypothesis is advanced:
| H5: | Consumers whose shopping styles are adapted to mobile marketing are more likely to participate in mobile marketing |
Location based: Location-based marketing (LBM) according to Hopkins and Tuner36, is a direct marketing approach that make use of a mobile device's location to notify the owner about an offering from a nearby business. The objective of Location based marketing, as with any mobile marketing initiative, is to attract the end user's attention and as a result turning him into a customer. Thus, we propose the following hypothesis:
| H60: | Location based marketing has a positive effect on consumers’ acceptance of mobile marketing |
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study used the descriptive single cross-sectional design in order to achieve its objective. In addition, the study was guided by a positivist paradigm that ensures that there is a gap between the researcher’s subjective bias and the objective reality being studied. The quantitative research method was used in the study, which is a technique that makes use of mathematical representation, theories and hypotheses37. The researcher mainly decided to use the quantitative technique because this study covered a broad range of statistical techniques in analyzing the data which cannot be interpreted with the qualitative approach.
Data was collected from respondents by a self-administered questionnaire targeted at selected South African university students. A total of 250 students participated in the study and data was collected from the respondents for four months from February, 2016 to May, 2016. The questionnaires were randomly distributed to respondents at strategic locations including student residents, libraries, cafeterias and lecturer halls where students frequent.
Last, data analysis process for this study mainly included descriptive statistics and Pearson's Chi-square test for association, but the data had to be edited and coded first before final analysis took place. For the inferential analyses the researcher used the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 23.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
This section represents the results of the findings based on the analysis of data collected from the respondents.
Response rate: Of the 250 well contacted students, a total of 232 valid research questionnaires were given back, resulting in a total response rate of 92.8%. The response rate was deemed acceptable due to its higher percentage.
Demographic profiles of respondents: In establishing the demographic profiles of the respondents, the questionnaire probed for demographic information in terms of gender, age, the respondents’ institution and level of study (Table 1).
Table 1 described the findings of the study in respect of the demographic characteristics of the respondents. In terms of gender, the males dominated the gender profile of respondents constituting 60% of the participants while female respondents constituted 40% of participants from the total sample. On the age distribution, the majority, 48.7% of the respondents were between the 24-29 age group. The least proportion was between 30-35 age group which had only 9.9% of the respondents.
From the distribution of respondents as shown in Fig. 2, there were no significant differences in the number of students in relation to their institution.
| Fig. 2: | Name of institution |
| Table 1: | Demographic characteristics of the respondents |
The researcher used a proportion of 1:1:1 in distributing the questionnaires however due to non-responses the actual percentage of responses across the three institutions ended up varying.
University of Venda had the highest number of respondents (35%), followed by University of Johannesburg (34%) and lastly 31% of the responses came from the University of Fort Hare.
Last, in terms of the variation of participants’ responses in terms of their level of study. The results in Table 1 showed that most of the respondents (54.3%) were doing their undergraduate studies and followed by 23.7% of the respondents who were doing Masters level of study. For Honours level, the respondents constituted 16.4% of all participants, while only 5.6% were doing doctorate and constituted the least group of respondents.
Mobile marketing experience: The questions in this section established the respondents’ experience with mobile marketing. The questions sought to contribute a broader understanding of the behaviour of students when they receive mobile marketing messages on their mobile devices.
History of receiving marketing messages: To determine whether the respondents were receiving mobile marketing messages on their mobile phones, the respondents were asked to indicate whether they had received any mobile marketing messages. The results (Table 2) revealed that an overwhelming 99% of respondents confirmed receiving marketing messages on their mobile phones, whilst only 1% revealed not receiving any mobile marketing messages. This provides strong evidence that businesses in South Africa were utilizing mobile marketing to reach out to their consumers.
Response after receiving a mobile marketing notification: The question established the variation in the reaction of respondents after receiving a marketing message on their mobile phones. The outcome from the responses after receiving a mobile marketing notification is shown in Table 3.
Results shown in Table 3 revealed that most respondents (53.4%) only read the messages occasionally, whilst the second highest proportion of respondents (22.4%) read the messages right away. The results showed that about one sixth (15.5%) of the respondents elect to read the messages when they get the time while 1% only read the messages after accumulating too many. Some respondents (7.7%) ignored the marketing messages completely. The results imply that South African university students did not appear to put a great deal of effort into reading and evaluating the various mobile marketing messages.
Factors influencing mobile marketing acceptance: In this section, the researcher made an analysis of the research variables which formed part of the research main objective. The six significant factors include trust, privacy, risk, location based, shopping style and relevance. The questions that were used to determine the extent of these factors were Likert scale that asked respondents to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with a series of statements on a scale of 1-5. To make an evaluation of these factors, Table 4 presented the output from the analysis of descriptive statistics for all the variables deemed to influence the mobile marketing experience.
The mean was used to rank the variables in order of their importance as perceived by the respondents. The "max" indicated the highest scale and "min" represented the lowest scale selected regarding that particular variable. Table 4 highlighted the findings with respect to relative importance of trust, relevance, risk, shopping style, location based and privacy in influencing mobile marketing acceptance amongst university students in South Africa. The results indicated that trust had the greatest effect in influencing mobile marketing acceptance with a mean of 3.74, this was followed by privacy (3.62). Risk was on the third position (3.57) in influencing mobile marketing acceptance whilst ranked fourth (3.38) was location-based marketing. On the least of the factors was shopping style and relevance that had mean values of 3.33 and 3.30, respectively.
These results implied that South African university students considered trust, privacy and risk as the main factors influencing their behaviour in adopting mobile marketing. On the other hand, the students regard location based marketing, shopping style and relevance as less likely to influence them when compared to the first three factors. However, all mean scores were above average (2.5) meaning that all the factors need to be considered by mobile marketing players.
Hypotheses testing: The study employed the Pearson's chi-square test for association, to determine if there was a relationship between two categorical variables and subsequently test the hypotheses through cross tabulation. The cross tabulation included the following variables from the research hypotheses: Trust, privacy, risk, relevance, shopping style and location-based marketing.
| Table 2: | History of receiving mobile marketing messages |
| Table 3: | Response after receiving a mobile marketing notification |
| Table 4: | Factors influencing mobile marketing acceptance |
| Table 5: | Results summary of hypotheses |
The p-value was used to decide whether to reject the null hypothesis. If the p-value is less than "alpha" which is typically set at 0.05, then the alternative hypothesis is accepted37. Table 5 showed the summary of the overall results, as well as the outcome of the research hypotheses. According to the results of the test of hypotheses, there was statistically significant association between all the research variables (trust, risk, relevance, privacy, shopping style and location-based marketing) and mobile marketing acceptance. Pearson chi-square for all the hypotheses is significant at (p<0.05). This means that all the research variables played an important role in influencing consumer mobile marketing acceptance.
RESEARCH FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
Findings: From the findings of the research study, it had been seen that all the research constructs (privacy, risk, trust, relevance, shopping style and location based) have a significant influence on mobile marketing acceptance. Another key finding from the research which indeed calls for future in-depth study is that the South African youth market have a negative perception towards the receipt of marketing related messages on their mobile phones. In spite of this, interestingly in South Africa mobile commerce has reached greater heights as almost all the respondents indicated that they had received a mobile marketing message. Nevertheless, consumers prefer to ignore the mobile ads displayed mainly due to risk, privacy and trust fears. Lastly, the study established that trust is the most significant factor affecting consumer acceptance of mobile marketing. This finding is in sharp contrast to a study by Merisavo et al.38 which concluded that, despite the concerns about privacy, trust was not that important to consumers in mobile marketing.
Recommendations: Based on the research main findings, the importance of consumer positive attitudes towards mobile marketing is evident. However, marketers need to realise that despite the many benefits associated with mobile marketing in reaching the youth, mobile marketing may not be as effective due to the current negative attitudes that exist in the South African youth market. Therefore, mobile marketers should consider implementing the following recommendations.
Permission based campaigns: In permission-based marketing campaigns39, consumers need to be able to remain in full control of their private information as well as easily changing permission and the information which they share.
Push strategy: Awareness of mobile marketing services is very important in the early adoption stages. As mobile marketing is still evolving in South Africa, effective presentations utilising all forms of media marketing such as brochures, leaflets and websites will be useful in introducing the services to a wider audience as well as educating likely customers about the advantages of mobile marketing. This also has the advantage of inducing trust from the consumers as trust has been seen in this study to be the major factor affecting consumer acceptance of mobile marketing.
Invest in innovative technologies: Following the growing penetration of mobile marketing in South Africa, changes in consumer use of digital media and technology is core to understanding trends in the digital marketing. Marketers need to invest in innovative technologies to gain a competitive advantage in the mobile marketing industry, this as well promote relevance of the marketing campaign.
Prioritise protection of consumers’ information: Businesses should be private with using consumer’s personal information hence gaining more control to the consumers. Marketers should consider the exchange of personal information with consumers as a social contract between consumers and the business. The usage, accessibility as well as distribution of consumers’ information need to be protected and respected to prevent violating this implicit social contract.
Create captivating messages: According to the study findings, most respondents were reluctant in reading marketing messages. Consumers can be captivated to respond to marketing messages instantly when messages are creative and entertaining as well. This can be achieved using graphical content, humour, sound as well as video clips. The content need also to be varied to keep the consumers interested and avoid large defection rates of consumers opting-out of the marketing campaign.
Foster socialisation and communication: Marketers need to foster socialisation and communication with consumers through interaction with brands. Marketers need to unwittingly invite consumers to connect with them, this can be achieved by carefully tracking the youth on media such as Facebook and twitter, collecting data to develop and record personalised behavioural profiles and more.
Proper segmentation: Proper market segmentation and targeting need to be undertaken in order to guide mobile marketing strategies as well as ensuring effective use of marketing resources. For a mobile marketing campaign to be successful, segmentation built on some deeper understanding of the consumer is critical28.
Incorporate educational related ads: If businesses manage to conduct proper segmentation, for their marketing campaign to be successful amongst students, there is need to incorporate educational related ads. Educational ads help students to unleash their creative thinking and engage in hands-on learning activities.
Increase government regulation: The South African government needs to tighten its laws aimed at protecting consumer rights in relation to mobile marketing. Violating of these regulations should lead to stiff financial penalties that far exceed any actual monetary damages that consumers may suffer. The government need to craft its laws with the goal of preventing businesses from using misleading marketing campaigns to drive sales numbers.
Limitations and areas of further research: Even though this study has reported remarkable results and contributes to our understanding of the influencing factors affecting consumer acceptance of mobile marketing, some caution need to be implemented because the sample size was relatively small. Repeating the study in other settings could certify the findings reported in this study. Furthermore, a study on the success of marketing strategies and campaigns used by marketing players to engage consumers into purchase and loyalty could divulge greatly about how customers are willing to be involved in mobile marketing. Lastly, more research is also required on the idea of permission marketing as it seems to be a major requirement for mobile marketing. Research in this perspective should disclose how consumers prefer to offer permission and profile information.
CONCLUSION
This study determined the factors influencing consumer acceptance of mobile marketing amongst South African university students. The objectives of the study were met and it concluded that trust, privacy, risk, relevance, shopping style and location based play a significant role in influencing consumer acceptance of mobile marketing. In addition, given the additional importance of trust on acceptance, it seems that it is much easier for consumers to accept mobile marketing with a well-known and established brand than with an unknown one. Thus, marketers should strive to strengthen their brand among consumers in order to develop trust. By doing so, the addition of new marketing channels, such as mobile devices into the promotion mix becomes easier so is the acceptance by consumers. Final, the recommendations to marketers as well as policy makers on how to achieve an effective mobile marketing platform has been highlighted plus the limitations of the study including areas for further future research.
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT
This study aimed at highlighting the factors that influence consumers’ acceptance of mobile marketing amongst university students in South Africa. Mobile marketing is important in that it contributes significantly to the South African economic growth through its capabilities of reaching out to consumers anywhere at any time. Mobile marketing stimulates demand to consumers who previously had been unreachable such as the rural population which is mostly disadvantaged in terms of media coverage. This leads in additional procurements of goods and services which result in economic growth. From a marketer’s perspective, the study results provide an understanding of the distinctive characteristics of the mobile phone medium. More precisely, this study made contribution towards understanding perceptions of consumers toward mobile marketing and the factors contributing to successful mobile marketing. The subject of mobile marketing is also very significant to both managers as well as marketing researchers.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We thank the Business Management Department of University of Venda, for allowing us to carry-out this Research. Many thanks are due to the Government of Zimbabwe for affording me a chance to start studying this degree in South Africa.