Dependency on smartphone and the impact on purchase behaviour

Purpose – This study aims to investigate the effect of convenience, social needs and social influences on university students' dependency towards smartphones and the impact on future purchase behaviour in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – Hypotheses were tested with a random and judgemental sampling (students who use smartphones only) of 358 university students using a face‐to‐face survey method. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses. Findings – The results indicated that university students' dependency on smartphones is influenced by convenience, social needs and social influences and dependency is positively related with future purchase behaviour. Research limitations/implications – Results of this study are limited by the absence of equal distribution across different races and culture of university students. Originality/value – The domain of research, smartphones, is a new technology that is largely adopted and deserves investigation for future mobile market strategies. Although this research of smartphone dependency is limited to universities, this study contributes to the field by adding new investigation in this new target segment of smartphone users.