A Strategy-Technology-Regulation-User-Context Model for Mobile Location-Based Services Market Activation Analysis

Technology diffusion theory is mainly focused on technology adoption, while prerequisites to such adoption are largely disregarded or taken for granted. The study argues that the in-depth analysis of what comes prior to adoption and use of technology – what we define “technology activation” – is equally important, so as to spot industry-specific characteristics that enable or hinder a value proposition based on the new technology, thus judging the “market activation” status. To fill the existing gap and extend technology diffusion theory upstream, we review the limitations of traditional Technology Acceptance Models and Technology-Organization-Environment model, and propose an original framework to address five dimensions affecting market activation: Strategy, Technology, Regulation, User, Context. The STRUC framework is then applied to the Italian Mobile Location-Based Services market, so to test its validity and get a valuable insight on an under-investigated market developed around an innovative bundle of technologies.