Determinants of Involvement in Mobile Commerce : The Moderating Role of Gender

Mobile phones are one of the latest marketing tools that consumers are using to make their purchases, a fact that entails a evolution in the way firms are relating to their clients. It therefore becomes essential to understand the driving forces behind consumer involvement in this purchase channel; an aspect that has not been previously studied in the context of mobile commerce. In this pioneering work, we analyze the role that is played by perceived risk in mobile purchasing, permission marketing and consumer propensity towards new technologies as antecedents of consumer involvement. Based on the information gathered from a sample of 674 mobile users, our work highlights the importance of these variables as facilitators of involvement, as well as the need for firms to consider gender differences in the development of their strategies