Should Mobile Internet Services be an Extension of the Fixed Internet? Context-of-Use, Fixed-Mobile Reinforcement and Personal Innovativeness

Consumers can increasingly use mobile phones to carry out similar tasks as they do on the fixed Internet. Literature on reinforcement and displacement states that the use of new media depends on whether users are inclined to replace or reinforce their existing media use on a new device. This paper analyzes whether the importance that users attribute to using similar services on their mobile phone as on the fixed Internet can explain the intention to adopt mobile services. Specifically, we investigate if such fixed-mobile reinforcement attitude could mediate the impact of personal innovativeness and context-of-use on intention to adopt mobile services. We compare basic Internet services, entertainment services and transaction services. We find that especially the intention to adopt basic Internet services largely depends on the importance of using similar services in the mobile domain as on the fixed Internet. Several context-of-use predictors are partially or even fully mediated by our novel construct. The results convey a positive message to operators that are betting on converged multimedia services that can be accessed from any device and from any fixed or mobile network.