The influencing factors of using a mobile phone in Cameroon

Abstract

Individual adoption of technology has been studied extensively in the workplace, but far less attention has been paid to adoption of technology in the household (Brown & Venkatesh, 2005). Obviously, the mobile phone is now integrated into our daily life. Indeed, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global mobile phone shipments grew about 1% annually to reach 362 million units in the second quarter of 2012 (Business Wire, 2012), that is, more than 1.5 billion units will be sold this year. In addition, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) inventoried 4.6 billion subscriptions in 2010, from which 57% come from the developing countries. The purpose of this study is to investigate the determining factors that make people around the world use the mobile phone. On the basis of the moderator-type research model developed by Brown and Venkatesh (2005) to verify the determining factors in intention to adopt a computer in the household by American people, this study examines the determining factors in the use of mobile phone in household by Cameroonian people. Data were randomly gathered from 505 Cameroonian people (from Yaounde and Douala; the two more important cities in Cameroon) who own a mobile phone. Data analysis was performed using the structural equation modeling software Partial Least Squares (PLS). The results revealed that half of the variables examined in the study were found to be determining factors in the use of mobile phone by Cameroonian people.