An analysis of the barriers to the proliferation of M-commerce in Qatar. A relationship modeling approach
| Pages | 54-81 |
| Date | 09 March 2015 |
| Published date | 09 March 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JSIT-12-2014-0073 |
| Author | Habibullah Khan,Faisal Talib,Mohd. Nishat Faisal |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems |
An analysis of the barriers to the
proliferation of M-commerce
in Qatar
A relationship modeling approach
Habibullah Khan
Department of Accounting & Information Systems, Qatar University,
Doha, Qatar
Faisal Talib
Mechanical Engineering Section, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh,
India, and
Mohd. Nishat Faisal
Department of Management and Marketing, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and develop a hierarchical model for the barriers
affecting the growth of mobile commerce (M-commerce). Based on the model developed, the authors’
objective is to identify those variables that are of strategic nature and are the root cause of the issue.
Design/methodology/approach – Variables considered as barriers are identied, and utilizing the
interpretive structural model approach, a relationship model is developed. Further, the impact matrix
cross-reference multiplication applied to a classication approach is used to analyze the effect and dependence
among these factors.
Findings – The research in the area of M-commerce in the Arab world and related to the strategic aspect is
limited in the extant literature. The present study tries to ll this gap by investigating the variables that inhibit the
growth of M-commerce in Qatar. The research shows that there exists a group of barriers having a high driving
power and low dependence requiring maximum attention and of strategic importance, while another group
consists of those variables that have high dependence and are the resultant actions.
Practical implications – There is a growing concern that although the numbers of mobile
subscribers are increasing at a very fast pace in Qatar, actual M-commerce activities in the country
remain low. The ndings of this study can be used to understand the differences between the
independent and dependent variables and their mutual relationships. The study would also help the
policy makers to develop suitable strategies to facilitate growth of M-commerce in the country.
Originality/value – This research was the rst attempt to investigate the relationships among the
variables inhibiting the growth of M-commerce in a fast-growing economy in a Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) region. Given that there is limited research on M-commerce in the GCC context, the study
can be viewed as an investigation that provides a good understanding of the variables and their
interrelationships affecting M-commerce proliferation.
Keywords Qatar, M-commerce, Interpretive structural model
Paper type Research paper
The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude toward the anonymous reviewer(s) and
the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Craig Standing, for their insightful comments which have enhanced the
quality of the nal paper.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1328-7265.htm
JSIT
17,1
54
Received 1 December 2014
Revised 5 January 2015
Accepted 9 January 2015
Journalof Systems and
InformationTechnology
Vol.17 No. 1, 2015
pp.54-81
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1328-7265
DOI 10.1108/JSIT-12-2014-0073
1. Introduction
The fast proliferation of mobile devices coupled with continually enhanced capabilities
has facilitated the growth of mobile commerce (henceforth M-commerce). Today
M-commerce technology is recognized as the one that is changing the way business is
conducted (Faqih and Jaradat, 2015). Viewed as an extension of e-commerce by some
researchers (Ngai and Gunasekaran, 2007 and Wei et al., 2009), M-commerce can be
understood as the group of Web-based applications and services that help the public to
carry transactions using the mobile phones/devices (Sadeh, 2002). But researchers like
Feng et al. (2006) and Chong (2013) consider M-commerce as a phenomenon which has
its own business models not available in the e-commerce platform. Thus M-commerce
can be dened as:
[…] any transaction involving the transfer of ownership or rights to use goods and services,
which is initiated and/or completed by using mobile access to computer-mediated networks
with the help of an electronic device (Tiwari and Buse, 2007).
M-commerce can also be understood as a gateway for companies, customers, suppliers,
partners and other market players to perform their day-to-day business in a convenient
and customized way using the mobile phone technology (Keen and Macintosh, 2001). It
can be perceived as a common platform for all the participants to perform the
transactions in a exible way or as a concept that allows the set of tasks like transfer of
funds, payments, trading, exchanging, etc. using apps like mobile banking, which in
turn facilitates time minimization and remote access (Liu et al., 2009). M-commerce
offers myriads of opportunities in a developing economy like Qatar. The number of
mobile subscribers in Qatar breached the 3 million mark in 2013, with the country
counting a total population of 1.9 million people. The two mobile operators in Qatar,
Ooredoo and Vodafone, have experienced a double-digit growth. Regarding the sales of
smartphones in Qatar, the country is considered among the leading Mideast countries
with the highest per cent of smartphones users. Around 75 per cent of mobile phone
users own smartphones, and most of them between the ages of 18 and 35. The sales of
smartphones have increased in the past six months, and Qatar recorded the largest
year-on-year handset shipments growth, by 32 per cent.
Researchers have utilized technology acceptance model (TAM) or a modied TAM to
understand M-commerce in various settings (Chong, 2013). But a stream of researchers
like Venkatesh et al. (2012) and Barki (2007) contend that TAM has its limitations in
explaining many issues related to M-commerce. According to Liu et al. (2009), TAM has
an inability to describe the behavioral aspect of a customer in various situations.
Similarly, Straub et al. (1997) reveal that application of TAM does not reap much in the
study conducted in Japan.
Ho et al. (2008) observed that though M-commerce looks like electronic commerce on
the Internet platform and possesses many similarities, M-commerce did not gain the
same prominence on par with e-commerce over the years. Because of the dearth of
information required to process the tasks successfully, many people still stick to
computer-based apps than mobile-based apps (Sarker and Wells, 2003).
Research on M-commerce suggests that the adoption of M-commerce in developing
countries is dependent on a different set of variables as compared to the developed nations
(Crabbe et al., 2009;Yaseen and Zayed, 2010). Majority of the existing research has mainly
focused on the technological aspects of M-commerce (Ahluwalia and Varshney, 2007), and
55
M-commerce
in Qatar
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