Arabic Language Support

There is no doubt that language is one of the basic means of communication, delivering information, thoughts and ideas and, more specifically, doing business. Language can be presented in several different ways such as text, picture or audio. In relation to internet technology, these can be combined together to create a new format which is ‘multimedia’. The language used to present and display the

content of a website can have a significant impact on its audience, especially when their first language is not the one on that website.

Interviewee 94 commented: “It goes without saying that the websites in Saudi or those who are targeting Saudi customers should fully support the Arabic language because it is the dominant language. For me, to completely understand the website’s content and to interact correctly with all its functions and respond to its requirements I need to fully understand its language, which in my case should be Arabic”. Interviewee 112 further commented that “a professional commercial website should support at least two languages: English and, if applicable, the local language. The problem is that there are some websites that tend to just translate the English version into, for example, an Arabic version, which may lead to errors in translation. Sometimes I find the English version of a website to be much better and more understandable than the Arabic version, even though Arabic is my native language. This is considered to be a shortcoming of that website and may lead to serious consequences. Fully supporting the Arabic language is important so that all levels of Saudi society can benefit from that website”.

5.6 Discussion and Recommendation

The aim of this study was to identify the factors that encourage customers to adopt m-transactions in Saudi Arabia, this information being useful for policy makers, government, industry, and end-users.

The main strengths of this study are the derivation of its factors, which have gained the attention of different conceptual and empirical research projects in different countries. The measures applied in this study were developed through an extensive study of literature reviews and grounded theory methodology. The importance of the factors in the success of m-transactions, according to users’

feedback, is shown in Figure 5.3. The findings of this study showed that there are 25 issues that are influential in the success of m-transactions from users’ point of view. However, in the discussion above the researcher highlighted only the factors that are ranked by more than 10 people as being important factors to them. Other factors such as warranty, reputation, internet abuse, it support, after-sales services, trialability/experiences, and resistance to change were discarded as they have low concerns by respondents.

Figure 5.3: The Most Influential Factors in the Success of M-Transactions from Users’ Point of View.

49.2 44.3%

36.9% 36.1%

33.6% 32.8%

30.3%

20.5% 18.9%

14.8%

9.0% 9.0% 9.0%

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0

% of Interviewees (n=122)

Based on the literature and the collected consumers’ feedback, the researcher has divided the different items (factors) into four main categories that play a significant role in the acceptance or using of m-transaction,: (1) ‘Design and language support’, which includes 2 factors: ‘usability (ease of use, navigational structure and availability)’ and ‘Arabic language support’, all of which need to be encouraged, improved and widely applied using the best and most advanced technologies. What is required here is that the mobile websites should be very user-friendly when navigating them, and that there are reliable internet and wireless connections and a very wide coverage for the reception of new mobile technologies (e.g. 3G and 4G); websites should be fully supported by a reasonable range of different mobile devices; and they should fully support the Arabic language, especially for conducting financial transactions. (2) “User-related Factors”, which encompasses two factors: ‘trust’

and ‘awareness’. Trust needs to be fostered and the signs used that can encourage more trust (e.g.

trusted third party sign); and comprehensive awareness and training programmes to increase the level of awareness amongst Saudi people. (3) “Organizational-related Factors” which include six factors:

‘telecommunication infrastructure’, ‘postal services’, government e-readiness, cyber-law, cost and payment gateways, which requires a sophisticated and reliable wireless telecommunication infrastructure, the understanding and implementation of cyber-law; efficient transportation for the delivery of products and e-readiness and support from government, introducing competitive and affordable charges, and providing a variety of different payment methods. (4) “System-related Factors”, which contains ‘security, hacking and fraud’, ‘usefulness’ and ‘privacy’. This category requires the installation of high quality, trustworthy security systems that use strong encryption algorithms to prevent hacking and fraud and, therefore, increase privacy.

After analyzing the collected data, the researcher was able to construct a classification of categories of the intention to use of m-transaction from a user perspective (see Figure 5.4).

Figure 5.4: Categorization of Factors That Influence the Users’ Intention to Use M-Transaction.

5.7 Summary

With reference to the results of the interviews, and under the guidance of several well-known theories (i.e. TAM and DOI) and several previous studies, this study was able to generate a classification and a categorization of the factors of the intention to use m-transaction in Saudi Arabia, which summarizes the factors that should have a significant impact in the adoption and use of m-transaction from a consumer’s perspective. Countries need to pay real attention to the m-transaction categorized factors shown in Figure 5.4. Failure to do so could convert these factors into disablers. The results of this study could be further validated using other instruments (e.g. focus group) and also might be applied to a larger number of Saudi users or to different locations of the kingdom to confirm the current results.

This research sheds some light on mobile devices with respect to m-transaction in Saudi Arabia. The outcomes of this study contribute to the market stakeholders’ understanding of their potential customers’ needs and concerns. Exploring the market, especially at this time while m-transaction is still in its infancy in most countries around the globe, is critical for industry stakeholders so as to ensure the success of this emerging market. Therefore, this research highlights the most important factors that need to be considered in order to support the proliferation and advancement of m-transaction in developing countries, and especially in Saudi Arabia.

At this point the researcher was able to gain more in depth understanding of the topic and a draft version of the conceptual framework was built, which contains all the results from this study and the previous study. However, in order to gain a greater appreciation of the underlying topic, it was decided to carry out another study to discuss the results (this study and the study before) to identify the most important factors to affect The Saudi user’s intention to use m-transaction. This study will be explained in the next chapter.

Chapter 6 Exploratory Study in Mobile Transaction – Focus Group

6.1 Introduction

The previous two exploratory studies (in the previous two chapters) and their findings helped the researcher to gain information and understanding of the underlying phenomenon (i.e. m-transaction).

They, furthermore, helped to generate an initial version of the conceptual framework, which mainly contains the findings from each study. However, a further exploratory study was needed to discuss the previous findings, to confirm the most important factors of them and possibly add any further important dimensions to the research is conceptual framework. This chapter answers this need and details the third study of the exploratory phase.

6.2 The Study Overview

By analysing and discussing the researcher’s prior findings, this study aims to understand and specify the most important factors that are expected to influence the intention and acceptance of mobile transaction (m-transaction), and to build a refined and robust conceptual framework of the intention to use m-transaction in Saudi Arabia. It also summarizes the factors that are expected to have a significant impact on the intention to use and the use of m-transaction from a consumer’s perspective.

The results show that there are 11 factors that have the most significant influence on the intention to use m-transaction in Saudi Arabia, including ease of use, navigational structure, visual appeal, usefulness, telecommunication infrastructure, security, trust, culture, cost, government E-readiness, and social influence.

6.3 The Study Problem and Motivation

The recent literature highlights the fact that m-transaction is one of the most critical incentives for successful m-commerce (Yang et al., 2012; Bamasak, 2011; Kim et al., 2010). Moreover, the success of m-transaction systems in Saudi Arabia requires strong acceptance by consumers and relevant stakeholders, including private and public organizations (Bamasak, 2011). However, the penetration and adoption in Saudi Arabia of electronic purchasing and payment is still a significantly smaller market compared to other regional markets (Orloff, 2012; AlGhamdi et al., 2011; Aleid et al., 2009) and this study aims to investigate this gap. Developing countries encounter cultural and social obstacles when transferring technology into practice (Hill et al., 1998). This research considers the influence of culture when assessing the acceptance and usage of m-transaction in Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, the literature review has revealed that there is a notable shortage of research exploring and investigating the factors influencing the intention/use of m-transaction in general (Wei et al., 2011; Schierz et al., 2010), and especially in Saudi Arabia (Bamasak, 2011; Alqahtani et al., 2014a).

This study therefore aims to contribute to closing this gap.

Furthermore, transaction is an important emerging application of commerce which facilitates m-commerce transactions by providing the mobile customer with a convenient means to pay (Yang et al., 2012; Petrova and Mehra, 2010a). Mobile payments are a relatively new field for research (Mallat, 2007; Wei et al., 2011). A qualitative approach using focus group interviews was chosen to discuss and explore the critical factors affecting the use of m-transaction in Saudi Arabia from a user’s perspective. This study aims to discuss the results of the researcher’s prior studies (Chapters 4 and 5) and to confirm the proposed conceptual framework.

6.4 The Study Protocol

All the results from the previous studies by the researcher (i.e. Chapter 4 and 5) were examined in this study. In order to guarantee the best outcome in this study, a number of procedures were adopted:

to ensure anonymity in the reporting and to meet Ethics Committee requirements, the participants were named F1, F2 … F8; the way the focus group was designed and conducted was based on Krueger (Krueger and Casey, 2002; Krueger and Casey, 2009) guidance which includes building the questions (Appendix D), choosing the moderator, running the focus group and analysing the results;

and to ensure clarity and ease of understanding, the interview questions were piloted with three Saudi users and three experts in conducting exploratory studies and interviewing. Simple modifications were highlighted and the focus group documents where updated accordingly. The focus group lasted for about 1 hour and 15 minutes; refreshments were offered to the participants as a mark of appreciation. The Table 6.1 summarizes the participants’ characteristics.

Table 6.1: Summary of Respondents’ Demographic Data.

Characteristics Freq. Percent. Characteristics Freq. Percent.

Education Level Experience of M-Transaction

Masters 8 100 Yes 6 75

Years of Online Purchasing Use No 2 25

4-6 5 62.5 Years of M-Transaction Use

10+ 3 37.5 None 2 25

Years of Mobile Use 1-3 4 50

1-3 2 25 4-6 2 25

7-9 1 12.5 Total 8 100

10+ 5 62.5

6.5 Data Analysis and Findings

By analysing the focus group’s discussion the researcher was able to identify the important factors that can be considered for the revised research conceptual framework. For example, if the participants in the focus group discussion agreed to the importance of a factor, then this factor considered as an important factors. Most of the times the participants unanimously agreed to the important of the factors. In other cases, if one or two participants disagreed and the rest agreed of its important, the moderator let them further discuss and finally those who disagreed were convinced and retreated from their decision. At the end of each discussion, there were no partial disagreement between participants and they all always agree or disagree about the importance of a factor. The results that emerged from the discussion in this group are organised into 11 key factors which are: ease of use, visual appeal, navigational structure, telecommunication infrastructure, usefulness, cost, government E-readiness, social influence, security, trust, and culture. Other aspects were mentioned in the discussion, such as: awareness, payment gateway, m-commerce diffusion, etc., but these concepts were considered as insignificant or irrelevant by the participants during the discussion. The Table 6.2 shows the findings from the three studies of the exploratory phase.

Table 6.2: Summary of Research's Findings and Developing The Conceptual Framework.

(Study 1) E-commerce (Interview)

(Study 2) M-transaction (Interview)

(Study 3)

M-transaction (Focus Group)

“Conceptual Framework”

Trust Trust Trust Study 1, 2 and 3

Cost Cost Cost Study 1, 2 and 3

Security, fraud and hacking Security, hacking and fraud Security Study 1, 2 and 3 Government E-readiness Government E-readiness Government E-readiness Study 1, 2 and 3 Telecommunication Infrastructure Telecommunication Infrastructure Telecommunication Infrastructure Study 1, 2 and 3 Awareness and Perceived

Usefulness Usefulness Usefulness Study 1, 2 and 3

Warranty Ease of Use Ease of Use Study 2 and 3

Trial and Experience Navigational Structure Navigational Structure Study 2 and 3

Cyber-Law Cyber-Law Social Influence Study 3

Postal services Postal services Culture Study 3

E-commerce Presence Payment gateway Visual Appeal Study 3

Resistance to change Availability

Tangibility Arabic language support Privacy

Awareness

6.6 Considered Factors

Based on the focus group’s discussion, follows is a brief description of the 11 factors that the participants in the focus group believed to be important and could significantly influence the decision to use m-transaction in a country such as Saudi Arabia.

6.6.1 Ease of Use

In their discussions for this study, the participants emphasized the significance of ease of use for any transaction being conducted via a mobile device, highlighting this as an important incentive to using m-transaction. In contrast, any difficulty or complexity may lead users to avoid using m-transaction.

Some of the participants’ statements supporting the above summary are: “People nowadays have access to mobile devices more than PCs and the ease of use is important to use mobile transaction, whether a mobile website or a mobile application, this will play as a real incentive.” [F1]. [F5]

commented that “Making m-transactions easy to use is a bit challenging as the mobile’s screen is usually small and companies need to pay careful attention in developing user friendly interfaces that suits the users”. This is in line with the research findings (Venkatesh and Bala, 2008; Vance et al., 2008).

6.6.2 Visual Appeal

Aspects like the visual appeal of the medium, such as the look, attractiveness and the graphics and even the layout of the mobile website or application plays a significant role in the decision of using m-transaction, the participants believed. A summary of the comments: “There are companies that have problems in their website while using a transaction, it doesn’t look right in their website via a mobile device as it always meant for the normal PC’s screens” [F3]. “in mobile devices you usually find the design or the layout is not well designed and unattractive and even the graphics you find them bigger than the screen itself.” [F4]. “designing a professional-look for a mobile website/application is not an easy task, and most of them look basic and not that attractive. I believe having a well-designed interface is important for the decision of using it” [F3].

6.6.3 Navigational Structure

The navigational structure and whether the information presentation is logical are also important for conducting an m-transaction. Another issue, for example, is filling the forms that originally designed for a normal screen and not for the limited screen space such as the ones in smart phones. As per the participants’ arguments it was clear that, the way the information is arranged on a mobile website/application, can significantly affect the decision to use m-transaction by the Saudi users.

This has been shown in the comment, “One of the common problem you find when surfing a mobile, is the difficulty while navigating, sometimes you can’t find what you looking for because the layout is not well-designed” [F7]. Another comment was, “There are problems in browsing websites that were developed for normal PC screens, these websites are hard to deal with and to interact with, you can see the layout is not logical and navigation is very confusing” [F6]. This complies with Vance et al. (2008) and Venkatesh et al. (2003b).

6.6.4 Telecommunication infrastructure

The participants were concerned about the quality of the telecommunication infrastructure and its ability to keep pace with the revolution in handheld device technology. They criticized the absence of the network reception/coverage in some places (e.g. small towns and villages). Some of the participants expressed their view that poor infrastructure can easily prevent the use of m-transactions in Saudi Arabia. Others showed that telecommunication infrastructure is considered to be a crucial element in the success of electronic transactions. Some of the participants’ statements supporting the summary above are: “Regrettably, there is poor infrastructure for mobile technology in Saudi Arabia.

In some places there is completely no reception/coverage and even other places don’t have a landline service” [F5]. “In our city “Bisha” there is no 3G coverage.” [F4]. “We do have a good coverage in our city, I think in the main cities there is no real problem with networks, however, other cities and villages may have a serious problem with network infrastructure.” [F6]. This is in line with the research outcomes in the context of developing countries, where several studies have highlighted the major influence of the quality of the infrastructure as a determinant of electronic transactions adoption (Molla and Licker, 2005a; Aleid et al., 2009; Al-Somali et al., 2009).

6.6.5 Usefulness

Participants recognised that the added value of using m-transaction is important and noteworthy. The distinctive characteristics and capabilities of handheld devices give them some unique advantages compared to a normal PC. Mobile devices have qualities such as ubiquity, convenient access and round-the-clock availability. Participants also highlighted that the usefulness of using m-transaction is especially clear in a country such as Saudi Arabia, for example, because of its wide geographic area. From the analysis of this focus group, there is evidence to illustrate that usefulness can affect users’ intention to use m-transaction. Some of the participants’ statements support the above summary: “In a country like Saudi Arabia, the value and the advantage of using M-transaction have greater importance. It costs you a whole day just to visit a shop and purchase something you need.

I’m willing to pay a slightly higher price in order to avoid traveling such a distance.” [F2]. “With regards to Saudi Arabia, using M-transaction has great benefits, for example avoiding the crowded traffic from the first place.” [F4]. “Using M-transaction will save me money, instead of going to the physical shops, I just purchase online and it comes to my door the next day, also I’ll have more choice online.” [F7]. This factor complies with the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (i.e. perceived usefulness) (Venkatesh et al., 2003a) and Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) (i.e. relative advantage) (Rogers, 2003).

6.6.6 Cost

The participants agreed that cost plays a significant role in determining the use of m-transaction. To encourage the use of m-transaction, the Saudi telecom and internet service providers should offer

their services at reasonable prices in order to tempt the customers. The cost of the service to users can play an important role in their decision as to whether or not to use/subscribe to the service.

Statements from the participating individuals: “certainly it’s not cheap, because you need first to subscribe to service provider to get the internet whether at home or via the mobile devices, usually the internet services are expensive and I assume it will be more expensive via mobile devices, so I rather avoid it.” [F1]. “I’m thinking about relatives and my family, I remember one of my close relatives who bought dresses online, there are differences in price between Saudi and overseas, the clothes with global brand are more expensive in Saudi” [F5]. “From my experience, the price level

Statements from the participating individuals: “certainly it’s not cheap, because you need first to subscribe to service provider to get the internet whether at home or via the mobile devices, usually the internet services are expensive and I assume it will be more expensive via mobile devices, so I rather avoid it.” [F1]. “I’m thinking about relatives and my family, I remember one of my close relatives who bought dresses online, there are differences in price between Saudi and overseas, the clothes with global brand are more expensive in Saudi” [F5]. “From my experience, the price level