Consumer Habits and Adoption of Multiple-Functions of Mobile Phones

Mobile phone applications are rapidly becoming an important channel of interaction between brands and consumers. Recent findings, however, suggest that only few brands succeed in attracting consumers to their mobile applications. Based on findings in the literature, we suggest that consumers with high use-variety, i.e., those who use their mobile phones for multiple functions, are likely to be more interested in mobile applications than others. There are, however, few insights regarding high use-variety consumers. This is the issue that we address in this research by developing and testing a theory, based on habits, that heavy users of the core functions of calling and texting will exhibit high use-variety. We empirically test the theory on two nationally representative samples of mobile phone users. Our results on both samples support the theory. We also discuss the managerial and future research implications of our findings.