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Authors: Nayeema Ahmed, Mamtaj Akter
Keywords: on-demand local service marketplace, mobile apps, behavioral intention, UTAUT2, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Abstract: The recent advent of the internet has amplified significantly on the urban lifestyle and brought convenience at the doorstep. City people desire to get things with just a single tap and without any hassle. A new pathway has emerged through the mobile app-based on-demand services in the city. As this is a very new conception in Bangladesh, studies relating to customers’ behavioral intention on this particular issue are rarely available. Hence the purpose of this empirical study is to investigate and explain the enabling factors that influence the behavioral intention toward on-demand local services of the citizen’s of Dhaka, Bangladesh. This paper takes a both exploratory and descriptive view and describes a hypothetical framework based on the state of the art Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT 2) model of Venkatesh & et al. (2012). Seven independent constructs of the model have been applied to explain the behavioral intention of the on-demand service users, namely, Performance Expectancy (PE), Effort Expectancy (EE), Social Influence (SI), Facilitating Conditions (FC), Hedonic Motivation (HM), Price Value (PV) and Habit (HT). All of these seven constructs along with one outcome (dependent) construct, that is, citizen’s Behavioral Intention (BI) toward on-demand service, have been measured with multiple-item scales. Items selected are adapted from prior studies in order to ensure content validity. Theoretical relationships are then transformed into hypotheses to test empirically. To make a quantitative measurement, a structured research questionnaire has been developed for target customers and primary data has been collected through personal interviews as well as an online Google survey. The survey has been conducted on a nonprobabilistic convenience sample of 187 Bangladeshi male and female respondents who use app-based services e.g., Sheba.xyz, Drooto, Handy Mama, Skillod, etc. to get services relating to beauty and wellness, healthcare, food delivery, home services, laundry, courier services and so on. Respondents have been asked to rate various items relative to the on demand service on a 7-point Likert scale. Several multivariate statistical techniques, including Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) are utilized with the collected data to analyze and validate the developed research model and to answer the research questions. Each of the proposed individual factors of UTAUT2 model has been individually tested by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and the Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) and the final model result has been evidenced by goodness of fit of the model to confirm its validity and reliability. The results revealed that the model significantly explained citizens’ behavioral intention towards on-demand services. As this marketplace is relatively new in Bangladesh, understanding the customers’ behavioral intention would provide an insight into the potentials of this industry. This study dealt with the gap in the current literature on consumer behavior of on-demand services of Dhaka and makes a contribution to the literature by using UTAUT2 model on this topic. The outcome of this study will help marketers to recognize significant aspects while designing their strategies to attract more customers.