The Role of Consumer Innovativeness and Trust for Adopting Internet Phone Services

The Internet phone, which was recently introduced to the communication market, is characterized by its lower cost and increased compatibility. However, its popularity and diffusion is relatively low in the North American market compared with Asian or European markets. This study examines the adoption of Internet phone service in Korea to develop a better understanding of consumers’ acceptance of the Internet phone service application. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT) is used as theoretical background with two additional constructs (consumer innovativeness and perceived trust) in the proposed model. Using a mail survey with 437 responses collected in Korea, the results indicate that consumers’ trust is the major factor affecting adoption of new phone service. The results also indicate that consumers’ innovativeness would influence the effects of trust and facilitating conditions toward intention to use. The performance expectancy shows a dominant effect on trust toward phone services. Although effort expectancy and social influence also significantly contribute to consumers’ trust, the effects are relatively minor. The effect of performance expectancy would be stronger on consumers with lower income.