Hypothesis

The research model for this study is the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), plus an extension derived from Kelman's processes of social influence. This extension is called psychological attachment, containing the influence of social influence processes on user's behavioral intentions and attitudes toward using the technology. These social influence processes affect the individual resulting in his or her internalization, identification and compliance with the induced behavior.

Perceived Ease of Use

Perceived ease of use is the “degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free of effort.” Other constructs that capture the notion of perceived ease of use, are complexity and effort expectancy. Perceived ease of use may contribute towards performance, and therefore, near-term perceived usefulness and the lack of it can cause frustration, and therefore, impair adoption of innovations. The impact of perceived ease of use on a user’s intention to adopt an innovation either directly or indirectly through perceived usefulness has been documented well in the literature. However, its role in the Technology Acceptance Model remains controversial. Fang et al. found that the nature of an innovation or a task or service related to it may influence its perceived ease of use. For example, perceived ease of use affects the intended use of an innovation only when it provides intrinsic motivation but not when it provides extrinsic rewards to its users.
H1 : Ease of Use of the app has a positive impact on behavioral intention to use the app.

Perceived Usefulness

Perceived usefulness is “the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance.” That is, potential adopters assess the consequences of their adoption behavior based the ongoing desirability of usefulness derived from the innovation. In fact, information system adoption research suggests that “a system that does not help people perform their jobs is not likely to be received favourably”. Perceived usefulness is also known as performance expectancy which is based on the expectancy theory that models the roles of beliefs in decision making. That is, an innovation is believed to be of high usefulness when a potential adopter believes that there is a direct relationship between use, on the one hand, and productivity, performance, effectiveness or satisfaction, on the other. Usefulness recognition is important because it has been found to have a strong direct effect on the intention of adopters to use the innovation.
H2 : Perceived Usefulness of the app has a positive impact on behavioral intention to use it.

Credibility

Perceived credibility consists of two important elements namely privacy and security. Further, security refers to the protection of information or systems from unsanctioned intrusions or outflows. Fear of the lack of security is one of the factors that have been identified in most studies as affecting the growth and development of technology.
H3 : Credibility (Security and Privacy) of the app has a positive impact on behavioral intention to use the app.

Social Influence

Social factors profoundly impact user behavior. Several theories suggest that social influence is crucial in shaping user behavior. For example, in TRA, a person’s behavioral intentions are influenced by subjective norms as well as attitude. Innovation diffusion research also suggests that user adoption decisions are influenced by a social system beyond an individual’s decision style and the characteristics of the Information System. Social norms consist of two distinct influences: informational influence, which occurs when a user accepts information obtained from other users as evidence about reality, and normative influence, which occurs when a person conforms to the expectations of others to obtain a reward or avoid a punishment.
H4 : Social Influence has a positive impact on behavioral intention to use the app.

Flow

Csikszentmihalyi introduced the original concept of flow. He defined it as “the holistic experience that people feel when they act with total involvement.” This definition suggests that flow consists of four components—control, attention, curiosity, and intrinsic interest. When in the flow state, people become absorbed in their activity: their awareness is narrowed to the activity itself; they lose self-consciousness, and they feel in control of their environment. Such a concept has been extensively applied in studies of a broad range of contexts, such as sports, shopping, rock climbing, dancing, gaming and others. Recently, flow has also been studied in the context of information technologies and has been recommended as useful in understanding consumer behavior. Here, flow is defined as an extremely enjoyable experience, where an individual engages in an on-line game activity with total involvement, enjoyment, control, concentration and intrinsic interest.
H5 : Flow (Perceived degree of Fun and Enjoyment) has a positive impact on behavioral intention to use the app.

Behavioral Intention to Use

Behavioral intention refers to the user’s intended behavior for accepting and using the technology. Through this study, we aim to establish the constructs that have an effect on behavioral intention to use Smartphone applications.