Torsten J. Gerpott

Determinants of customer acceptance of mobile payment systems

The introduction of Mobile Payment Systems (MPS) has gained increasing attention from telecommunications and financial service firms. However, to date, end customer use of MPS has not developed extensively. Thus, the present investigation aims to explore the drivers of MPS acceptance among mobile communications customers. Using survey data from 347 residential cell phone users in Germany and the Partial Least Squares (PLS) modelling approach, we find support for a set of hypotheses linking various MPS and consumer characteristics with a customers intention to use an MPS. In particular, the breadth of MPS use situations, MPS risk assessments and MPS evaluations by social reference groups were important (indirect) determinants of behavioural intentions concerning future MPS adoption.

Attribute perceptions as factors explaining Mobile Internet acceptance of cellular customers in Germany - An empirical study comparing actual and potential adopters with distinct categories of access appliances

Although demand for Internet access through cellular networks and portable appliances, i.e. Mobile Internet (MI), has recently soared in many countries, the majority of mobile network operator (MNO) customers has still never used MI. Therefore, it is important to gain a better understanding of (1) how MNO customers perceive attributes of MI offers, (2) how these perceptions are related to MI acceptance and (3) the extent to which these judgements and relationships differ as a function of an individuals adoption status (actual compared to potential MI user) and the appliance category employed to access MI (handset compared to laptop). This study analyses these issues by drawing on MI attributes deduced mainly from diffusion of innovation (DOI) and information economic (IE) literature and by using data collected from a survey of 525 effective and 540 potential MI users in Germany. The multivariate results show that the perceived relative functional advantage and communicability of MI offers were significantly positively and their trialability was significantly negatively correlated with MI acceptance in both customer groups. Overall, perceived DOI-based attributes explained MI acceptance better for actual than for potential users. The share of search qualities relative to that of credence qualities which respondents assigned to MI had a small, but significant positive effect on MI acceptance among potential users. The effectively used or preferred appliance category for MI access exerted strong influence on DOI-based MI attribute assessments, especially among actual adopters: MNO customers who (prefer to) use a laptop to obtain MI access perceived MI features more favorable than persons who (prefer to) use a handset as their primary MI access device. These findings provide insights for MNO and appliance vendors on measures which may effectively promote the acceptance of MI.

Management Support for Portfolio Companies of Venture Capital Firms: An Empirical Study of German Venture Capital Investments

Insights into strategic antecedents and consequences of management support activities that German venture capital firms (VCFs) provide for portfolio companies (PCs) they have invested in are presented. Such support activities, their primary determinants, and their impacts on the economic performance of PCs are examined. Data were acquiredfrom 103 PCs of 12 German VCFs. Indications are that VCFs can improve the performance of their PCs by providing consultative management support that includes active involvement in key functional PC decisions. It was found that VCF representatives serve their PC more frequently in the role of a board member rather than by providing more intense, continuous, and content-oriented consultative management support. Consultative management support was found more frequently at VCFs focusing on expansion financing rather than the start-up stages. Findings suggestthe recommendation that VCFs should instead focus on continuous, content, oriented consultative management support to their PCs. Quasi-equity financing—i.e., silent partnerships and convertible loans—is suitable to structure control rights in a manner that a continuing involvement of the VCF in key PC functional decisions and ultimately alsoconsultative management support can also be facilitated.(JSD)

Determinants of self-report and system-captured measures of mobile Internet use intensity

Most research on the first adoption and subsequent use (= acceptance) of Internet access through cellular networks and portable appliances (= mobile Internet) has followed a similar pattern. It has employed survey responses of mobile network operator [MNO] customers to explain consumers’ stated future use (continuance) intentions or claimed use intensities related to mobile Internet [MI] access by various beliefs about MI (e.g., perceived relative advantage, usefulness, ease of use). However, there is ample evidence suggesting that MI use intentions and self-reported use intensities are only weakly correlated with actual MI use. Therefore, the present paper develops hypotheses on how the ability of different types of variables to account for variance in MI use intensity may vary depending on whether subjectively estimated or objectively captured use serves as the criterion variable. The hypotheses are tested by analyzing actual MI use behaviors of 300 adopters in Germany, whose mobile IP traffic was extracted from an MNO’s billing engine. This “system-captured” criterion measure is integrated with MI adopter responses collected by means of a standardized telephone survey. Results show that the predictors are more strongly correlated with self-rated than with system-captured MI use intensity. Up to 38% of the variance explained in self-rated use may be attributed to artifactual covariance between variables caused by common measurement methods. Factual MI use case features (MI tariff type and appliance class, fixed Internet home access availability) are better able to account for variance in both self-rated and actual MI use intensity than MI related beliefs. The findings imply that variable relationships observed in earlier MI and information system (IS) acceptance studies are likely to have been inflated by common method biases and thus may have provided spurious support for the conceptual frameworks tested. Implications of the results for future MI and IS acceptance research and for MNO seeking to forecast and to influence the MI use intensity of their customers are discussed.

Communication behaviors and perceptions of mobile internet adopters

Purpose – This paper aims to empirically explore the extent to which actual use intensity of mobile internet (MI) access is influenced by factual use conditions and evaluative perceptions of MI adopters. Furthermore, it analyzes relationships between this usage behavior and mobile voice call as well as SMS activity quantities at the individual customer level.Design/methodology/approach – Indicators of actual MI, voice call and SMS use intensity were obtained for a sample of 443 MI customers of a mobile network operator (MNO) in Germany. The objective behavioral measures were integrated with adopter responses collected through a standardized telephone survey.Findings – Factual MI use conditions (MI tariff type and appliance class, fixed broadband internet home access) were significant predictors of MI use intensity, whereas MI‐related evaluative perceptions (e.g. MI value assessment) were not. Distributions of MI, voice telephony, and SMS use intensities were highly skewed. A small group of users dispropor...

Intracompany Job Transfers: An Exploratory Two-Sample Study of the Buffering Effects of Interpersonal Support

Abstract This study explored the interaction effects of stressful intraorganizational transfer and collaborative interpersonal support (CIS) on work-related outcomes in an R&D environment. Questionnaire data were gathered from 161 British/American and 266 West German scientific and engineering professionals employed in R&D units of large industrial companies. In the British/American sample, moderated regression analyses revealed significantly stronger effects of CIS on job involvement, intention to leave, and career satisfaction for transferees than for a comparison group. The buffering effects of CIS were stronger for lateral than for promoted transferees. Because similar results were not found in the West German sample, the results suggest that British/American R&D professionals benefit more from CIS in times of career stress. Findings are discussed in terms of future cross-cultural stress research needs and preventive interventions for engendering CIS among technical professionals.

Determinants of the Willingness to Use Mobile Location-Based Services

This article develops 11 hypotheses on impacts of six customer characteristics on an individual’s willingness to use mobile location based services (LBS). Hypotheses are tested in a sample of 217 mobile communications customers in Germany who participated in a standardized online-survey. PLS analysis suggests that reported frequency of “on the move” information needs, perceived assessment of LBS in a customer’s social environment and extent of past use of other mobile data services have statistically as well as practically significant effects on adoption intentions for pull LBS. Data privacy risks and cost/bill size concerns are only weakly or not related to such intentions.

Usage of established and novel mobile communication services: Substitutional, independent or complementary?

Past scholarly empirical work on consumption interrelationships between various categories of mobile network operator (MNO) services is mainly limited to established short message service (SMS) and voice calling. Research exploring the interplay between the consumption levels of these two MNO-provided services and the use intensity of the novel offering to access the Internet via cellular radio infrastructures (= mobile Internet [MI]) is scarce. This gap is addressed in the present article. Based on a review of theoretical perspectives on consumption relationships across mobile services a positive interdependence between the use intensities of the two traditional services and MI access is hypothesized. In addition, supplementary hypotheses and research questions on associations between personal background characteristics, device type and MI adoption time of cell customers on the one side and levels of SMS and voice service usage on the other are developed. “System-captured” measures on individual real service consumption behaviors and the remaining study variables are extracted from customer and billing data archives of the German subsidiary of a large international MNO. Regression analysis of data from 8,312 customers of this MNO indicates that MI use intensity (average monthly volume of mobile IP traffic generated by a subscriber in May and June 2011) is positively related to monthly number of SMS sent and outbound mobile voice minutes. The interrelationships are highly statistically significant but the absolute effect sizes are merely of “small” relevance. Age and male gender are strongly negatively related to SMS consumption. Subscription to an unmetered tariff scheme for SMS and voice has substantial influence both on SMS sent and outgoing voice minutes. SMS use intensity appears to be less price sensitive than outgoing voice minute quantities. The study variables explain only a negligibly small proportion of variance in incoming voice minutes. Practical implications for MNO and directions for future research are discussed.

Wettbewerbsstrategische Positionierung von Mobilfunknetzbetreibern im Mobile Business

Im Herbst 1989 wurden in Deutschland die ersten beiden Lizenzen fur die zweite, digitale Generation von offentlichen Mobilfunknetzen nach dem GSM-Standard (GSM = Global System for Mobile Communication) an die damalige Deutsche Bundespost Telekom und an ein von Mannesmann gefuhrtes Konsortium vergeben. Bis Mitte 2001, also fast 12 Jahre spater, hat sich der 1989 vorsichtig fur den Wettbewerb geoffnete GSM-Mobilfunkmarkt enorm weiter entwickelt. Auf der Anbieterseite wurden 1993 bzw. 1997 zwei weiteren Unternehmen (E-Plus und VIAG Interkom) jeweils eine Lizenz zum Betrieb eines GSM-Netzes in Deutschland erteilt. Auf der Nachfragerseite stieg die Zahl der in Deutschland abgesetzten Mobilfunkanschlusse bis Ende Mai 2001 auf 55,1 Millionen bzw. auf 67 Mobilfunkanschlusse pro 100 Einwohner. Allein im Jahr 2000 erhohte sich die Gesamtzahl der GSM-Anschlusse in Deutschland gegenuber dem Vorjahr um etwa 106 Prozent. Hingegen stieg der mit Mobilfunkdiensten in Deutschland realisierte Umsatz im Jahr 2000 im Vergleich zu 1999 „nur“ um knapp 50 Prozent auf 16,4 Milliarden EUR. Dementsprechend nahm der „Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)“ von 48 EUR pro Monat im Jahr 1999 auf monatliche 37 EUR im Jahr 2000 ab.

Strategisches Management in virtuellen Unternehmen

In der betriebswirtschaftlichen Literatur zu virtuellen Unternehmen wird gemeinhin implizit angenommen, das solche interorganisationalen Kooperationsnetzwerke nicht durch planerische Uberlegungen zur systematischen Identifikation und Erschliesung von Erfolgspotentialen i. S. der fur konventionelle Unternehmen entwickelten Idee eines strategischen Managements entstehen. Vielmehr wird unterstellt, das virtuelle Unternehmen uber dezentrale Selbstorganisationsmechanismen „erzeugt“ werden. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird gezeigt, das wichtige Voraussetzungen fur die Genese virtueller Unternehmen im Wege der Selbstorganisation (vollstandige Information, Kompatibilitat, Disponibilitat, Singularitat) nicht zutreffen. Folglich sind alternative Managementansatze zur Losung des Problems zu diskutieren, wie eine planerische Konfiguration von virtuellen Unternehmen unter Beachtung von temporaren Marktchancen und von Kernkompetenzen potentieller Netzwerkpartner initiiert und gegebenenfalls im Verlauf der Existenz eines solchen Unternehmens angepast werden kann. Eine derartige Moglichkeit zur Wahrnehmung strategischer Managementfunktionen fur virtuelle Unternehmen ist das Auftreten eines neuen Unternehmenstyps, der hier als „Integrator“ bezeichnet wird. Integratoren bringen als unterstutzende Wertaktivitat in virtuellen Unternehmen ihre Fahigkeit zur Bildung und Integration von dynamischen Unternehmensnetzwerken ein, wobei sich die Art ihrer Wertbeitrage in Abhangigkeit von der Lebenszyklusphase, in der sich ein virtuelles Unternehmen gerade befindet, verandert. Es lassen sich drei Typen von Integratoren in virtuellen Unternehmen unterscheiden, die wir als „Unternehmer“, „Geschaftsvermittler“ und „Opportunist“ etikettieren. Die Relevanz der Integrator-Typen fur einzelne Partner hangt von der Anwendungsbreite der Kernkompetenz des jeweiligen Partnerunternehmens sowie der Relevanz dieser Kompetenz fur den Wettbewerbserfolg virtueller Unternehmen ab.