The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/1065-0741.htm

CWIS
30,4

236

Students demand for

smartphones
Structural relationships of product features,
brand name, product price and social influence
Norazah Mohd Suki
Labuan School of International Business & Finance and Universiti Malaysia
Sabah, Labuan International Campus, Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose The study aims to examine structural relationships of product features, brand name,
product price and social influence with demand for Smartphones among Malaysian students.
Design/methodology/approach Data collected from 320 valid pre-screened university students
studying at the pubic higher learning institution in Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia who have
experience in using and owning Smartphones, using a structured questionnaire, with closed-ended
questions, employing a convenient sampling technique, were tested against the research model using
the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach via AMOS 20.0 computer program.
Findings Empirical results via SEM divulged that brand name and social influence have an effect
on the increasing demand for Smartphones among Malaysian students. The first is confirmed as the
most influential factor, followed by the latter. This is according to standardised path coefficients and
their statistical signicance.
Research limitations/implications This study contributes significantly to a more thorough
understanding of the determinants of demand for Smartphones among Malaysian students by
emphasizing the dimensions of product features, brand name, product price and social influence.
Students demand for Smartphones is highly influenced by aspects of the brand name of the
Smartphone itself and social influence from friends and family members.
Practical Implications Smartphone providers, manufacturers, application developers and
programmers should improve the current ability and performance of Smartphones by upgrading
hardware and software driven services for better user interaction and engagement in order to be
marketable and sustainable in meeting consumer unlimited needs and wants. They should also
emphasize their brand name in advertising to be well positioned in consumers minds when making
the decision to purchase and own a Smartphone. Positive viral marketing spread via social networking
sites could help Smartphone providers to strengthen the competitive advantage of their product
brands. The attractiveness of the message content of the advertisement on the social networking sites
could improve marketing strategies of the Smartphone brand.
Originality/value This study provides valuable insight into consumer behavior regarding
Smartphones demand by examining the factors that influence students demand for using and owning
Smartphones, which is not much covered in the literature in Malaysia context. The lessons can also be
replicated in other countries for marketing Smartphones.
Keywords Smartphones, Product features, Brand names, Product price, Social influence,
Structural equation modeling, Malaysia
Paper type Research paper

Campus-Wide Information Systems

Vol. 30 No. 4, 2013
pp. 236-248
r Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1065-0741
DOI 10.1108/CWIS-03-2013-0013

1. Introduction
Smartphones are a combination of personal device assistants and mobile phones that
use advanced operating systems and permit users to install new applications, be
constantly connected to the internet, and provide multifarious functionalities of both.
Smartphones are increasingly entwined in peoples everyday activities as it makes
their lives easier access the internet 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a

year anywhere. The top smartphones that consumers own include the iPhone 5, Galaxy
S III, and HTC One X, because they are able to transfer more mobile data than the iPad
or Galaxy Tab 2 10.1.
Mobile phones have become an inseparable part of everyday life and a majority of
people carry them all the time (Smura et al., 2009). Heavy mobile phone users possess a
higher level of knowledge, have more social participation, maintain extensive
interpersonal networks, and have contact with people not only within the social system
but also outside it (Suki and Suki, 2007). Consumers do not view smartphones just as
devices for calling and texting, instead as multi-use devices for gaming, socializing,
and downloading applications which results in a radical shift in behaviour patterns
(Shin, 2012), lifestyle and status.
Forest Interactive (2013) stated that IE Market Research reported Malaysia will
have 41.9 million mobile subscribers in 2013 with 17.3 million (41.4 per cent)
subscribing to Maxis, 13.8 million (33.0 per cent) to Celcom, and 10.7 million (25.6 per
cent) to DiGi. Malaysia is the third most mobile payment-ready nation in Southeast
Asia after Singapore and Philippines, as reported by Mastercard (2011). The increase
in use of smartphones among consumers including students has made it unlimited
consumer demands. Hence, this study aims to examine structural relationships of
product features, brand name, product price, and social influence with demand for
smartphones among Malaysian students.
The paper is organized as follows: the next section reviews prior studies on the
relationships between product features, brand name, product price, and social
influence with demand for smartphones among users. The next section, methodology,
describes the data, variables, and analysis approach. In the results section, model
results are presented. The last section recapitulates the key ndings and provides a
number of practical implications and future directions.
2. Literature review
Factors affecting users demand for smartphones are complex and cannot be
determined using a single factor or a simple reason (Chow et al., 2012) and it varies
among individuals. This section emphasizes product features, brand name, product
price, and social influences.
2.1 Product features
Product features are related to the attributes of a product that help to meet the
satisfaction level of consumers needs and wants through owning the product, use, and
utilization of the product (Kotler and Armstrong, 2007). smartphones like iPhone and
BlackBerry have larger and higher resolution screens and offer consumers a wide
array of features, including mobile web browsing, thousands of applications, e-mail,
instant messaging, picture messaging, video, and audio playback, global positioning
system (GPS), games, a video camera, picture, and video editing (Persaud and Azhar,
2012). The most popular operating systems for mobile phones are Symbian, RIM
Blackberry, Apple iPhone, Windows mobile, Google Android, and Linux. Googles
Android operating system has propelled Samsung to the top of global smartphone
sales in 2011 in Southeast Asia (GfK Retail and Technology, 2011). Users largely value
the smartphone features such as full-screen viewing for images and video and larger
text and buttons with stylish design according to their preferences. Design was found
to be the most important determinant of consumer response and new product sales
success (Bloch, 1995; Crilly et al., 2004; Mohd Azam et al., 2012). Usability is also

Demand for
smartphones

237

CWIS
30,4

affecting consumer choice of the mobile phone (Mack and Sharples, 2009). Hence, the
study proposed the following hypothesis:
H1. Product features significantly influence students demand for smartphones.

238

2.2 Brand name

Brand is an exclusive name which indicates product to the market. The legal term for
brand is trademark. More and more companies realize that one of their most priceless
assets is the brand name related to their products or services (Cornelis, 2010). Users
prefer a widely accepted brand of smartphone as it reflects a unique status symbol that
displays information quickly with minimal aggravation and clean graphical interface
for touch screen interactions. For instance, brand of smartphone available in the
market includes Samsung, BlackBerry, Apple, HTC, Nokia, and LG. Interestingly,
Apple, a brand of smartphone, has very high brand loyalty because it discriminates
different types of consumers by selling different versions with different amounts of
storage space, and different colours, at different price points (ChangeWave Research,
2010). Khasawneh and Hasouneh (2010) found that the products brand name
influenced consumers evaluation and subsequently affected their buying decision.
Thus, the following hypothesis is posited:
H2. Brand name significantly influences students demand for smartphones.
2.3 Product price
Product price is the amount of money expected, required, or given in payment for a
product (Swani and Yoo, 2010). There are two types of product price. High-priced
products are market brands where image is seen as the key factor. Low-priced brands
tend to be purchased for utilitarian value, with the consumer relying on the perceived
value for price. Consumers typically look for low prices of brands or substitutes to get
the best value (Swani and Yoo, 2010). Smartphone owners use channels such as mobile
coupons, apps, QR codes, text messages, links to information videos, and mobile
display ads to compare prices among retailers and research products on their
smartphones (Moosylvania, 2013). Furthermore, they are not afraid of spending large
sums on their devices. Product price influences consumers buying decisions and the
sales margin (Bloch, 1995; Crilly et al., 2004; Mohd Azam et al., 2012). Based on the
above, the following hypothesis is developed:
H3. Product price significantly influences students demand for smartphones.
2.4 Social influence
Social influence related to an individual may cause another person to change his or her
feelings, attitudes, and behaviour, intentionally or unintentionally (Rashotte, 2007).
Friends and family members are social influences that are. Consumers are dependent
on their smartphones when they have high continuous use and are reluctant to be apart
from them (Tian et al., 2009). Their expectations for future purchase behaviour will be
affected by their past experience as they are heavily dependent on smartphones
because of the underlying motives (Kuhlmeier and Knight, 2005). Users are concerned
whether their friends like the brand of smartphone they are currently using and would

buy a smartphone if it helped them to fit in with their social group. Therefore, the
following hypothesis is proposed:

Demand for
smartphones

H4. Social influence significantly affects students demand for smartphones.

Based on the above said reviews of literature, a theoretical framework is proposed (see
Figure 1).

239

3. Methodology
Data were collected from pre-screened university students studying at the pubic higher
learning institution in Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia who have experience in
using and owning smartphones via the self-administered questionnaire, a method of
quantitative research employing convenience sampling techniques, from 1 to 30
September 2012. Initially, 400 questionnaires were administered, however a total of
320 unique and usable responses were successfully collected for a response rate of
80 per cent. The structured close-ended questionnaire was designed in line with this
studys research objective of examining structural relationships of product features,
brand name, product price and social influence with demand for smartphones among
Malaysian students. The questionnaire comprised three sections. Section A consisted
of demographic profile of respondents, Section B requested the respondents to provide
responses on their personal experiences using smartphones and Section C examined
the factors affecting users demand for smartphones. In total, 17 items (described in
Appendix A), were used to measure the four independent variables: product features,
brand name, product price, and social influence, and five questions were used to
measure the dependent variable: demand for smartphones on a five-point Likert scale
ranging from 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree.
Survey instruments were adapted from the following sources: product features
(Market Analysis and Consumer Research Organization, 2004), brand name (Rio et al.,
2001), product price (Cheong and Park, 2005), social influences (Tian et al., 2009), and
demand for smartphones (Park and Chen, 2007; Venkatesh et al., 2003). Completed
questionnaires were keyed in the computer program Statistical Package for Social
Sciencesversion 20.0 to process and analyse the data in the form of descriptives such as
frequencies, mean, standard deviation, skew, and kurtosis. Next, a graphical model
development known as path diagram was drawn using the structural equation
modeling (SEM) technique via AMOS 20.0 computer program which has the ability to
ensure the consistency of the model with the data and to estimate effects among
constructs.
Product
Features

H1

Brand Name

H2
H3

Price

Demand for
Smartphones

H4
Social
Influence

Figure 1.
Theoretical framework

CWIS
30,4

4. Data analysis
Table I displays the demographic profile of the respondents. A total of 320 participants
were included in the final sample, out of which more than half of the respondents were
female (58.8 per cent), the remainder (41.2 per cent) were male. They were mostly 18-20
years old (90.3 per cent), and nearly half held STPM certification (49.7 per cent).

240

4.1 Experience using smartphones

The users experience using smartphones is presented in Table II which infers that the
preferred type of operating system currently used is Android (53.1per cent), followed
by iPhoneRIM (30.6 per cent). OS Windows is less used (2 per cent). More than threequarters can afford to buy smartphones for under RM2,000. However, about 5 per cent
of the users bought smartphones costing more than RM2,501. Almost half of the
respondents used smartphones for social network purposes (49.4 per cent), followed by
text messaging (SMS) (24.7 per cent). They also used smartphones to play games (15.3
per cent) and listen to music (5 per cent). The activity least often performed was
searching maps and using GPS (1 per cent). The most preferred news on smartphones
is from sources like Twitter and Facebook (52.2 per cent), followed by Google News,
Yahoo News (34.7 per cent). About one-quarter of the users spent less than two hours
on smartphone each day and 30 per cent have spent more than six hours.
4.2 SEM
A two-step SEM approach, measurement model and structural model, was employed to
confirm the reliability and validity of the measures before examining the structural
relationship between constructs. This study used maximum likelihood for the
estimation method as it provides a consistent approach to parameter estimation
problems that can be developed for a large variety of estimation situations.
4.3 Measurement model
The measurement model was assessed via the evaluations of the reliability, convergent
validity, and discriminant validity of the construct measures.
4.4 Reliability
The reading of Cronbachs a and composite reliability for all the variables, as
summarized in Table III, is 40.50, except for PR1: I am willing to buy a Smartphone

Table I.
Demographic profile
of respondents

Gender
Male
Female
Age (years old)
18-20
21-23
424
Education level
STPM
Matriculation
Diploma

Frequency

132
188

41.2
58.8

289
29
2

90.3
9.1
0.6

159
122
39

49.7
38.1
12.2

Preferred type of operating system currently using

iPhoneRIM
BlackBerry
Android
OS Window
Price of smartphone
oRM1,500
RM1,501-RM2,000
RM2,001-RM2,500
RM2,501-RM3,000
4RM3,001
Activities performed using smartphone
Social network
Text messaging (SMS)
Map, GPS
Playing games
Official and documentation
Listening to music
Preferred news views on a smartphone
Google news, Yahoo news
Twitter and Facebook
Receive news alert on Smartphone
Listen to audio news (podcast or streaming audio)
Watch news video
Time spent on smartphone within 24 hours
1-2
3-4
5-6
46

Frequency

98
45
170
7

30.6
14.1
53.1
2.2

197
82
26
8
7

61.6
25.6
8.1
2.5
2.2

158
79
4
49
14
16

49.4
24.7
1.3
15.3
4.4
4.9

111
167
20
12
10

34.7
52.2
6.3
3.8
3.0

75
93
57
95

23.4
29.1
17.8
29.7

even if the price is higher, on their expected factor, indicating a relatively high level of
construct reliability (Hair et al., 2010).
4.5 Convergent validity
The standardized loading items shown in Table III were considered significant as they
surpassed the cut-off value of 0.50 (Hair et al., 2010). The average variances extracted
(AVE) of latent constructs, range from 0.765 to 0.809, and exceed the recommended
threshold value of 0.50 (Hair et al., 2010), which meant that more than one-half of the
variances observed in the items were accounted for by their hypothesized constructs.
Hence, the current data have good convergent validity.
4.6 Discriminant validity
Discriminant validity was checked by comparing the shared variances between factors
with the square root of AVE for each construct. Table IV shows that all shared
variances of one construct with other constructs were lower than the square root of
AVE of the individual factors, confirming adequate discriminant validity. Hence, each
construct was statistically different from the others.
The results described in Table IV reveal that there is a signicant positive correlation
between all variables at the 0.01 level. Product features has the strongest correlation

Demand for
smartphones

241

Table II.
Experience using
smartphone

CWIS
30,4

Constructs

Items

Standardized
loadings

Cronbachs
a

Composite
reliability

Average variance
extracted

Product features

PF1
PF2
PF3
PF4
PF5
BD1
BD2
BD3
BD4
PR2
PR3
PR4
SI1
SI2
SI3
SI4
DD1
DD2
DD3
DD4
DD5

0.834
0.891
0.877
0.874
0.835
0.753
0.843
0.824
0.784
0.748
0.573
0.784
0.696
0.720
0.780
0.662
0.593
0.771
0.717
0.817
0.740

0.939

0.826

0. 821

0.891

0.834

0.747

0.748

0.853

0.810

0.783

0.874

0.807

0.855

0.847

0.811

242
Brand name

Product price
Social influence

Demand for
Smartphone
Table III.
Reliability and
validity analysis

with demand for smartphones (r 0.639, po0.01), followed by brand name (r 0.633,
po0.01). Hence, there is no multicolinearity problem in this research. All the item
ranges are negatively skewed from 0.094 to 0.590, however, still beneath 72.0.
The kurtosis values range from 0.583 to 0.202, well below the cut-off value of 710.
Both the skewness and kurtosis are less than the threshold value, thus ensuring
that the data used in the study is normally distributed. Means for all constructs
range from 3.235 to 3.459 on a scale of 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree.
These means demonstrated that most of the respondents had a positive demand
for smartphones.

Table IV.
Inter-construct
correlations

1 Product features
2 Brand name
3 Product price
4 Social influence
5 Demand for smartphone
Mean
Standard deviation
Skewness
Kurtosis

0.906
0.811**
0.639**
0.440**
0.639**
3.53
1.10
0.590
0.583

0.864
0.642**
0.395**
0.633**
3.30
1.02
0.466
0.458

0.900
0.351**
0.500**
3.29
0.848
0.323
0.202

0.898
0.542**
3.12
0.796
0.094
0.059

0.900
3.27
0.764
0.141
0.141

Notes: **Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed). Diagonal elements show the average
variance extracted; off-diagonal elements show the shared variance

4.7 Structural model

The structural model in the SEM was evaluated by examining fit indices and varianceexplained estimates. A variety of indices were used to assess the models overall t
(see Table V). The results indicated that the w2 of the model was 396.151 with
170 of freedom (w2/df 2.330) and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA)
of 0.065.
The indices value for comparative fit index (CFI), goodness of fit index (GFI), and
normed fit index (NFI) were above 0.90 and RMSEA below 0.08 (Bentler, 1990; Byrne,
2001), indicating a satisfactory fit. Therefore, the hypothesized model was a good fit
and acceptable. The results in Figure 2 exhibit that all independent variables
accounted for 65 per cent of the total variance in demand for smartphones (R2 0.65).
As a consequence, the results are a sign of adequate model fit between the proposed
research model and the empirical data.
Table VI and Figure 2 disclose the standardized path coefficients of the structural
model under investigation which indicate the strength of the direct relationship
between constructs. The strongest significant determinant of the demand for
smartphones among Malaysian users was brand name (b2 0.573, po0.05),
supporting H2. Next, social influence (b4 0.317, po0.05) as posited in H4 also
significantly influenced the demand for smartphones users. Unexpectedly, the demand
for smartphones among Malaysian users is not affected by two factors: product
features (b1 0.054, p40.05) and product price (b3 0.006, p40.05), thus H1 and H3
were not sustained.

Demand for
smartphones

243

5. Discussion
Empirical analysis across a sample of 320 respondents via SEM technique was
executed in examining structural relationships of product features, brand name,
product price and social influence with demand for smartphones among Malaysian
students. Results divulged that brand name and social influence affected the positive
demand for smartphones among Malaysian students, thus supporting H2 and H4.
The first is confirmed as the most influential factor, followed by the latter. This is
according to standardized path coefficients and their statistical signicance as shown in
Table VI and Figure 2.
As expected, brand name was found to have a significant effect on the demand for
smartphones among Malaysian students. This portends that users who are particular
about brand names are more likely to have positive demand towards buying and using
smartphones. The ndings are consistent with preceding discovery by Khasawneh and
Hasouneh (2010). Most of the users are likely to select smartphones that are
internationally recognized, branded, and trustworthy. Besides that, they will only buy
their favourite brands of smartphone. For example, Samsung and iPhone are the most
preferred brands of smartphones.
Further investigation of the study uncovered that the increasing demand for
smartphones among Malaysian students is also affected by social influence. This in

Recommended values
Model values

w2

df

w2/df

CFI

GFI

NFI

RMSEA

PNFI

PCFI

n/a
396.151

n/a
170

o3.0
2.330

40.9
0.950

40.9
0.901

40.9
0.916

o0.08
0.065

40.5
0.741

40.5
0.769

Table V.
Goodness-of-fit indices
for structural model

CWIS
30,4

1
e1
1
e2
1
e3
1
e4

244

1
e5

PF1
PF2

PF3

Product
Features

PF4
PF5
1=0.054

1
e6
1
e7
1
e8
1
e9

BD1
1

BD2
BD3

R 2=0.65

DD3
1

1
e11
1
e12
1
e13

3=0.006
PR2

PR4

1
e15

Figure 2.
The results of
structural model

1
e16
1
e17

1
e19
1
e20
1
e21
1
e22

Price

PR3

e14

DD4
DD5

e18

DD2

Demand of
Smartphone

BD4

DD1

z1

2=0.573

Brand
Name

4=0.317

SI1
1

SI2
SI3

Social
Influence

SI4

turn implies that students who have strong social influence from friends and family
members tend to have positive demand for smartphones, signifying their decision
making and use rates are mostly influenced by people around them. This is in
accordance with findings by Goldman (2010), Park and Chen (2007) and Rashotte
(2007). For example, when users want to purchase a smartphone, they will seek
recommendations from their friends and family members who have a lot of experience
using and owning smartphones in order to make a more informed choice of
smartphone and benefit from reduced perceived risk. They also execute viral

H1
H2
H3
H4

Path

Estimate

SE

CR

Product features-demand for Smartphone

Brand name-demand for Smartphone
Product price-demand for Smartphone
Social influence-demand for Smartphone

0.054
0.573*
0.006
0.317*

0.111
0.147
0.095
0.061

0.367
3.476
0.063
5.165

0.714
0.000
0.950
0.000

Table VI.
Relationship with demand
for smartphone
Note: *po0.05

marketing regarding smartphone latest product information, features, and promotions

and sharing it with friends by posting it to Facebook page. Smartphones enhance
social influences as they enable owners to view visual information, full-screen product
imagery, dynamic zoom, 360 spin, and enjoy product tours.
The design of smartphone which is slimmer and lighter offers users some
convenience in accessing applications such as FaceTime, Passbook, Quickoffice, Drop
Box, Instagram, and Maps without any fuss. Moreover, the FaceTime feature allows
users of smartphone to talk to each other with video. Though users worldwide choose
smartphones based on the attractive design and applications, better product quality,
speedier internet accessibility, and outstanding operating system (i.e. Apple iPhone,
RIM Blackberry, Google Android or others), the more advanced features of cutting
edge smartphones still had no impact on the current respondents in affecting their
demand for smartphones, thereby not supporting H1 and contrary to support by
foregoing studies (Bloch, 1995; Crilly et al., 2004; Mack and Sharples, 2009; Mohd Azam
et al., 2012).
Likewise, the effect of price on demand for smartphones did not appear, meaning
that H3 is not sustained. This is divergent with discoveries of prior research work
(Bloch, 1995; Crilly et al., 2004; Mohd Azam et al., 2012; Swani and Yoo, 2010).
Consumers will only buy smartphones during price reduction periods as they treat
buying smartphones like buying high-risk products. However, they are willing to buy
smartphones even though the price is higher as they think that owning and using a
smartphone could enhance their image.
6. Conclusion and recommendations
This study contributes to a more thorough understanding of the determinants of
demand for smartphones among Malaysian students by emphasizing the dimensions
of product features, brand name, product price, and social influence. Students demand
for smartphones is highly influenced by aspects of the brand name of the smartphone
itself and social influence from friends and family members. Smartphone providers,
manufacturers, application developers, and programmers should improve the current
ability and performance of smartphones by upgrading hardware and software driven
services for better user interaction and engagement in order to be marketable and
sustainable in meeting consumer unlimited needs and wants. They should also
emphasize their brand name in advertising to be well positioned in consumers minds
when making the decision to purchase and own a smartphone. Positive viral marketing
spread via social networking sites could help smartphone providers to strengthen the
competitive advantage of their product brands. The attractiveness of the message
content of the advertisement on the social networking sites could improve marketing
strategies of the smartphone brand.
There is opportunity for future research to expand the sample size and investigate
in different geographical areas in order to enhance the understanding of demand for
smartphones. The R2 for this study was 0.65, implying there are additional factors that
affect demand for smartphones to be explored further, other than product features,
brand name, product price, and social influence. Further research could enhance the
proposed model by inputting mediating variables, such as lifestyle, culture, as well as
demographics such as gender or age, etc. Furthermore, it would be relevant to
investigate differences in product demand among smartphone users and basic
mobile phone users. However, this study advanced understanding by the smartphone
providers, manufacturers, application developers, and programmers to obtain

Demand for
smartphones

245

CWIS
30,4

246

empirical and actionable insights about the determinants of demand for smartphones
and how to improve smartphone user experience and plan directions in the smartphone
market.
References
Bentler, P.M. (1990), Comparative fit indexes in structural models, Psychological Bulletin.,
Vol. 107 No. 2, pp. 238-246.
Bloch, P.H. (1995), Seeking the ideal form: product design and consumer response, Journal of
Marketing, Vol. 59 No. 3, pp. 16-29.
Byrne, B.M. (2001), Structural Equation Modeling with AMOS: Basic Concepts, Applications, and
Programming, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc, Mahwah, NJ.
ChangeWave Research (2010), Another major leap for Google android OS among consumers,
available at: http://investorplace.com/2010/09/another-major-leap-for-google-android-osamong-consumers/ (accessed 17 October 2012).
Cheong, J.H. and Park, M.C. (2005), Mobile Internet acceptance in Korea, Internet Research,
Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 125-140.
Chow, M.M., Chen, L.H., Yeow, J.A. and Wong, P.W. (2012), Conceptual paper: factor affecting the
demand of Smartphone among young adult, International Journal on Social Science
Economics and Art, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 44-49.
Cornelis, P.C.M. (2010), Effect of co-branding in the theme park industry: a preliminary study,
International Journal and Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 22 No. 6,
pp. 775-796.
Crilly, N., Moultrie, J. and Clarkson, P.J. (2004), Seeing things: consumer response to the visual
domain in product design, Design Studies, Vol. 25 No. 6, pp. 547-577.
Forest Interactive (2013), Malaysia statistics, available at: www.forest-interactive.com/
malaysia-2/ (accessed 19 November 2012).
GfK Retail and Technology (2011), Boom times continue as Southeast Asias smartphone market
value expands, available at: http://bit.ly/LQX14p) (accessed 21 November 2012).
Goldman, S.M. (2010), Transformers, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 27 No. 5, pp. 469-473.
Hair, J.F., Black, W.C., Babin, B.J., Anderson, R.E. and Tatham, R.L. (2010), Multivariate Data
Analysis, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Khasawneh, K. and Hasouneh, A.B.I. (2010), The effect of familiar brand names on consumer
behaviour: a Jordanian perspective, International Research Journal of Finance Economics,
Vol. 43 No. 1, pp. 34-57.
Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2007), Principle of Marketing, 12th ed., Pearson Education,
Boston, MA.
Kuhlmeier, D. and Knight, J. (2005), Antecedents to Internet based purchasing: a multinational
study, International Marketing Review, Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 460-473.
Mack, Z. and Sharples, S. (2009), The importance of usability in product choice: a mobile phone
case study, Ergonomics, Vol. 52 No. 12, pp. 1514-1528.
Market Analysis and Consumer Research Organization (2004), Study of mobile phone among
the teenagers and youth in Mumbai, available at: www.itu.int/osg/spu/ni/futuremobile/
socialaspects/IndiaMacro MobileYouthStudy04.pdf (accessed 25 October 2012).
Mastercard (2011), Mobile payments readiness index, available at: http://mobilereadiness.
mastercard.com/the-index (accessed 15 October 2012).
Mohd Azam, O., Abdullah Zawawi, T., Zainal Abidin, S., Tan, S.Y. and Abdullah Sani, A. (2012),
A study of the trend of smartphone and its usage behaviour in Malaysia, International
Journal on New Computer Architectures and their Applications, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 274-285.

Moosylvania (2013), The shopping experience in a smartphone world, available at:

www.internetretailer.com/2012/12/31/smartphone-owners-want-more-mobile-informationstores (accessed 23 November 2012).
Park, Y. and Chen, J.V. (2007), Acceptance and adoption of the innovative use of Smartphone,
Industrial Management and Data Systems, Vol. 107 No. 9, pp. 1349-1365.
Persaud, A. and Azhar, I. (2012), Innovative mobile marketing via Smartphones: are consumers
ready, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Vol. 30 No. 4, pp. 418-443.
Rashotte, L. (2007), Social influences, available at: www.blackwellpublishing.com443/sociologt/
docs/ (accessed 5 October 2012).
Rio, A.B., Vazquez, R. and Iglesias, V. (2001), The role of the brand name in obtaining differential
advantages, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol. 10 No. 7, pp. 452-465.
Shin, D.H. (2012), Cross analysis of usability and aesthetic in smart device: what influences
users preferences, Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, Vol. 19 No. 4,
pp. 563-587.
Smura, T., Kivi, A. and Toyli, J. (2009), A framework for analysing the usage of mobile services,
Journal of Policy, Regulation and Strategy for Telecommunications, Information and
Media, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 53-67.
Suki, N.M. and Suki, N.M. (2007), Mobile phone usage for m-learning: comparing heavy and
light mobile phone users, Campus Wide Information System, Vol. 24 No. 5, pp. 355-365.
Swani, K. and Yoo, B.H. (2010), Interactions between price and price deal, Journal of Product
and Brand Management, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 143-152.
Tian, L., Shi, J. and Yang, Z. (2009), Why does half the worlds population have a mobile phone?
An examination of consumers attitudes toward mobile phones, CyberPshychology and
Behaviour, Vol. 12 No. 5, pp. 513-516.
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M.G., Davis, G.B. and Davis, F.D. (2003), User acceptance of information
technology: toward a unified view, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 425-478.
Further reading
Auter, P.J. (2007), Portable social groups: willingness to communicate, interpersonal
communication gratifications and cell phone use among young adults, International
Journal of Mobile Communication, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 139-156.
Bouwman, H., Reuver, M.D. and Visser, A. (2010), Understanding trends in mobile service
bundles, available at: www.tbm.tudelft.nl/fileadmin/FaculteitTBM/Over_de_Faculteit/
Afdelingen/Afdeling_Infrastructure_Systems_and_Services/Sectie_Informatie_en_
Communicatie_Technologie/medewerkers/mark_de_reuver/Publications/doc/Bouwman_
et_al__Understanding_trends_in_mobile_service_bundles.pdf (accessed 17 October
2012).
( The Appendix follows overleaf. )

Demand for
smartphones

247

CWIS
30,4

Appendix

Product features
PF1 I like smartphones design
PF2 Smartphone has more applications than basic mobile phone
PF3 Smartphone provides high quality of games
248
PF4 Smartphones internet accessibility is speedier than basic mobile phone
PF5 I use smartphone due to its operation system (Apple iPhone, RIM Blackberry, Google Android
or others)
Brand name
BD1 I prefer to buy an internationally recognized smartphone
BD2 I prefer to buy a trustworthy brand of smartphone
BD3 I will only buy my favourite brand of smartphone
BD4 Brand name is a major factor that influences my decision towards buying a smartphone
Product price
PR1 I am willing to buy a smartphone even though the price is higher
PR2 I will only buy a smartphone during a price reduction period
PR3 I think that using smartphone is expensive overall
PR4 Price is my main consideration when deciding whether to buy a smartphone
Social influence
SI1
Almost all of my friends and family members use smartphones
SI2
My friends and family members think that we should all use smartphones
SI3
My friends and family members influenced me to buy smartphone
SI4
People around me have encouraged me to use smartphone
Demand for smartphone
DD1 I intend to continue using smartphone although there is new mobile phone in the market
DD2 I intend to increase my use of the smartphone in the future
DD3 I intend to use smartphone for e-commerce
DD4 I will find more details about smartphones
Table AI.
Measurement instruments DD5 I intend to recommend others to use smartphone

About the author

Norazah Mohd Suki is an Associate Professor at the Labuan School of International Business &
Finance, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Labuan International Campus. She has successfully
supervised several postgraduate students at MBA and PhD level. Her research interests include
Electronic Marketing, E-Commerce, M-Commerce, Consumer Behaviour, Mobile Learning and
areas related to Marketing. She actively publishes articles in international journals. She is the
Editor-in-Chief to Labuan e-Journal of Muamalat & Society, a member in advisory board for
several outstanding journals. She has sound experiences as a speaker to public and private
universities, government bodies on courses related to Structural Equation Modelling (SEM),
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Research Methodology. Norazah Mohd Suki can
be contacted at: azahsuki@yahoo.com

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com

Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints