Empirical Research on User Acceptance of Mobile Searches

The mobile search, a combination of a web search engine and a mobile communication system, is viewed as the most influential application in the 3G era. Therefore, mobile search service providers are eager to know which factors most influence user acceptance of mobile searches. Based on the characteristics of mobile searches and a review of previous information technology acceptance research, this study integrates the task technology fit model and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model to develop a mobile search acceptance model and empirically tests this model. This study finds that, for mobile searches, the performance expectancy, social influence, and perceived cost all significantly influence use intention and the performance expectancy increases with the increasing user’s experience and higher task-technology fit degree. The effort expectancy is found to not affect the use intention of mobile searches and the users’ gender does not have a significant moderating effect on the use intention. The results are then used to develop suggestions for mobile search providers to promote their application and development.