1. Introduction

The term M-Commerce is a shortened appellation for ‘Mobile

Commerce’. Shih and Shim (2002) defines m-commerce as the ability

to conduct wireless commerce transactions using mobile devices.

Mobile devices may include a mobile phone, a PDA, a smartphone,

or other emerging mobile equipment such as dashtop mobile

devices. Considering the multitude of mobile devices and myriad

of commercial activities possible in the world today, m-commerce

applications may range from address book synchronization to

credit card transactions (Shih & Shim, 2002). There are

anticipations of it growing to a considerable extent and the

growth and penetration of mobile devices are cited in research

studies (Barnes and Scornavacca, 2004; Dholakiaet al., 2004;

Massoud and Gupta, 2003). The virtual ubiquity of mobile devices

and the ancillary digital infrastructure that has been set

provide a good adaptability opportunity for m-commerce

(Balasubramanian, Peterson &Jarvpenaa, 2002).In today`s world,

the usage of M-Commerce is growing fast in almost every corner of

earth. But most of the people in this part of the world thinks,

M-Commerce is only limited to the idea of using “Value added

services” in their mobile devices. They do not understand or know

that-So much of monetary transactions can be done via their

everyday mobile devices considering the multitude of mobile

devices and myriad of commercial activities possible in the world

today, m-commerce applications may range from address book

synchronization to credit card transactions. According to new

industry research, mobile commerce is growing faster than most

people may have realized.

The mobile usage among consumers in Bangladesh is an interesting

phenomenon. Three-quarters of the Bangladeshi population live in

rural areas (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2009) and

estimations suggest that about 78% of the country’s 15-60 age

group lives on less than US$2 a day (Zainudeen,

Samarajiva&Sivapragasam, 2011). In spite of the poor indications

economic performance the telecom industry of Bangladesh has

flourished impressively in recent times (Zainudeen,

Samarajiva&Sivapragasam, 2011). Intense competition among the

players in the telecom industry has been responsible for the

growth of the industry since 2004 (Khaled, 2008). There has been

emergence of m-commerce to some extent in Bangladesh, for example

CellBazaar.com, Bikroy.com and in recent times Bkash. The

adaptability of m-commerce among consumers in Bangladesh is an

issue that is as interesting as the growth of the telecom

industry of the country. However, there is not much to offer to

the different segments of the market, which could attract the

mass market towards the m-commerce, rather they are providing a

standardized solution to all of their clients regardless of their

need and segments, which eventually led to the fact that m-

commerce is not much effective particularly in the perspective of

consumers from high power distance culture (in this case

Bangladesh) exhibits negative intention to use m-commerce.

This paper investigates the adoption of m-commerce among

Bangladeshi consumers using three of the dimensions of Hofstede’s

5-D model (i.e. power distance, individualism and uncertainty

avoidance). These factors are very much relevant in determining

consumer behavior and preference as have been explained in the

latter parts of this report. This research work will attempt to

probe into factors that that are relevant in adopting m-commerce

in Bangladesh rather than just a generic and standardized

solution for everyone in general.

Power Distance

Power distance index, which is one of the major dimensions of

Hofstede’s 5-D model developed by Geert Hofstede, measures the

distribution of power and wealth between people in a nation,

business or culture (Investopedia, n.d.). This index demonstrates

the extent to which subordinates or ordinary citizens are

obedient and submissive to the authority. Here both the high

level people and root level people have failed to show any

interest to use m-commerce. Only in the middle level people in

the power distance segment, will use the m-commerce.

Individualism

This dimension refers to the degree of interdependence that

maintains among its members (Hofstede, n.d.). According to Lu et

al. (2003) the influence is equivalent to subjective norm and is

defined as an individual’s belief about whether significant

others think that one should engage in this activity. The two

bipolar extremes of this dimension’s paradigm are individualism

and collectivism. An individualist is much more dependent on

their own judgments, beliefs, understanding and comprehension.

Thus they are broad minded for new experience and m-commerce is a

perfect opportunity for them. On the other hand a collectivist

person will collect information from their peers and friends to

make decisions regarding consumption and others which is a

lengthy process. Bangladesh has a score of 20 in this index and

is thus a collectivist society.

Uncertainty avoidance

The dimension Uncertainty Avoidance has to do with the way that

deals with the fact that the future can never be known: should we

try to control the future or just let it happen? This ambiguity

brings with it anxiety and people react with this anxiety in

negative ways.  The extents to which people distrust the

ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and

institutions that try to avoid these are reflected in the UAI

score (Hofstede, n.d.).Thus people try to avoid uncertainty.

2. Significance and Objective

of the Paper

In today`s world, the usage of M-Commerce is growing fast in

almost every corner of earth. (Weippl, 2001).According to new

industry research, mobile commerce is growing faster than most

people may have realized. The latest research results from

eDigital Research and Portal tech Reply shows that 64% of

smartphone owners are now using their mobile devices to shop

online, a number that has quadrupled since June 2010 which counts

up to 5.25 million according to the source of the telecomist.com.

Additionally, the latest research indicates that 84% of

smartphone owners have used their devices to browse websites,

with one third doing so on a daily basis.

All told, the growth of mobile shopping shows no signs of slowing

down. Almost half (44%) of the smartphone owners surveyed said

that they would use their devices to browse more in the coming

months, with one third (31%) claiming that they would then go on

to make a purchase.

But the acceptance for M-Commerce is not similar in all parts of

the world. In the developed parts of the world, people are

heavily depended on using their mobile devices for doing

transaction. (Harris &Rettie, 2005) But people in our country do

not trust any form of transaction which does not involve some

form of interpersonal communication or any involvement from the

financial institutions. Due to the cultural gap that we face in

our region, it`s much more difficult for us to accept the

widespread of M-Commerce in our everyday life (Kao, 2009) The

cross cultural studies of m-commerce provide cultural insights to

the adoption of m-commerce. (Yeh& Li, 2009)Thus, this paper takes

the dimensions of Hofstede’s model of cultural analysis to

understand m-commerce culturally and the academic findings are

put under the lens of this model. The theoretical framework of

business has also been understood from such dimensions

Having pointed out the significance of this paper, the objective

of this paper is to evaluate and study the effect of general

consumer’s attitudes towards the current m-commerce system.

Additionally this paper will also try to become the objective to

serve as future references for the study of M-commerce in the

Bangladeshi context. The justifications and the objectives of the

paper will try to provide enough incentive for our examination of

the factors adopting M-Commerce according to the market

segmentation when it comes down to Bangladeshi people who has not

lived outside Bangladesh for more than one year.

3. Literature Review &

Hypothesis Building

This part of the paper aims to review the critical points of

current knowledge including substantive findings as well as

theoretical and methodological contributions to some particular

topics discussed here in literature review and hypothesis

building. Literature reviews are secondary sources which are used

in order to write this paper. It is important for the readers to

go through this section to understand the literatures went

through and referred to in order to write this paper. Also, a

literature review can be interpreted as a review of an abstract

accomplishment.The readers can refer to the complete list of

references in order to have a better picture and understanding

have been provided in the paper for convenience.

As mentioned earlier that previous works have shown significant

relationship between the usage of m-commerce and the cultural

background of those who are using electronic products like

Mobile, credit cards etc. M-Commerce is something which provides

any transaction conducted through a mobile network that involves

money (Hassaneien, 2002). An understanding of the cultural

dimensions of a market can aid marketers immensely in developing

appropriate m-commerce services for those customers who are using

mobile network, marketing these appropriately and in setting

realistic adoption targets (Harris et al. 2005). It is quite

clear that the cultural and the market segment differences affect

the usage of technologies. Most of the books and journals agreed

on that fact that the cultural dimension can change the consumer

behavior (Harris et al. 2005, Kao 2009 etc.). While uncertainty

avoidance moderates the impacts of business trust and security on

consumers’ intentions of m-commerce adoption, both

individualism/collectivism and long-term/short-term orientation

moderate the relationship between security, trust and consumers’

intentions of m-commerce adoption (Kao 2009).

A term ‘power distance’ have been used frequently in this paper

which refers to the extent to which the members of a society

accept that power in different institutions and organizations is

distributed unequally (Hofstede, 2001). More precisely, it is a

measure to determine the “interpersonal power” or influence

between a boss and a subordinate in a hierarchy, as perceived by

the subordinate (Hofstede, 2001). Individualism/collectivism was

another frequently used term. The fundamental issue addressed by

this dimension is the degree of interdependence a society

maintains among its members. It has to do with whether people´s

self-image is defined in terms of “I” or “We” (Hofstede, 2001).

In Individualist societies what people do they are supposed to

look after themselves and their direct family only because they

are individualist.. In collectivist societies, people are

different from Individualist because belong to ‘groups’ that take

care of them in exchange for loyalty and belongingness.

Uncertainty avoidance also got highlighted which refers to the

extent that members of that culture feel comfortable with unknown

situations (Hofstede, 2001). It explicitly states the degree to

which individuals deal with the uncertainty and ambiguity in

life. This one demonstrates "the degree to which members of a

society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity,

leading them to support beliefs promising certainty" (Hofstede,

2001).Hofstede suggests that societies that exhibit high

uncertainty avoidance prefer to have many rules and procedures

emphasizing on behavior, formalization of organizational

structure, and standardization of procedures.

Trust and perceived usefulness are two other terms which appeared

repeatedly in this research. Perceived usefulness (PU) is “the

degree to which a person believes that using a particular system

would enhance his or her job performance” (Davis, 1989).

Perceived ease of use (PEU) is “the degree to which a person

believes that using a particular system would be free of effort”

(Davis, 1989). Trust is a complex phenomenon (Butler, 1991;

Barber, 1983) and is an element affecting consumer behavior and

it determines the success of technologies adoption such as m-

commerce.

Throughout the study, internet has been very useful in searching

these journal articles. In fact a major portion of referential

literature of this paper consists of journal articles. Since,

cultural dimensions and behavior is totally interpersonal thing,

a lot of help has been taken directly from internet journals

(i.e. Journal of Cultural dimensions, Journal of consumer

behavior, Journals of m-commerce).

Exploratory Research

First we have conducted an exploratory research in order gain

understanding and insights of our research topic. Since m-

commerce is relatively a known concept in Bangladesh, it was

necessary to have a thorough understanding of this latest

technology before proceeding further with the research. This

exploratory research has been conducted through secondary

analysis where we have studied many journal articles of scholarly

authors. The insights gained from this have helped us to locate

the key variables for further regression analysis, formulate the

suitable hypothesis. It also provided us with a proper direction

in carrying out the rest of the research project.

Descriptive Research

Next, a descriptive research has been conducted to quantify our

insights gained from the exploratory research and generalize our

findings. The main objective of this research is to measure

specifically the intention and perception of accepting m-commerce

in the eyes Bangladeshi people. This research is based on single

cross sectional design through an effective survey of a sample

consisting reliable respondents. The information required to test

the pre specified hypothesis was also collected through this

research design.

4. SOURCES DATA COLLECTION

Sources of Secondary Data:

For the purpose of exploratory research, secondary data was

collected from the following sources:

Journal Articles of scholarly authors collected from our

respectable faculty member and some were downloaded from

credible websites such as Journal of Marketing, Jstor and…..

From our text book

Through Google searches of some specific topics related to m

commerce.

Sources of Primary Data:

Primary data is collected from a sample of respondents through

conducting a survey. For this purpose a questionnaire has been

constructed that effectively collected all information necessary

for our research project.

5. SAMPLING DESIGN PROCESS

Target Population:

The target population for our project “factors adopting m-

commerce” has been defined as follows:

Element:Individuals of different age and groups to signify

their perceptions and preferences

Extent: Urban cities of Bangladesh

Sampling Technique:

Non Probability Judgmental Sampling

The technique that has been used to select our sample is

Judgmental Sampling. Based on our judgment, the respondents have

been chosen whom we consider to be a true representative of the

population and also a credible source of information required to

carry out the research project.

However, the technique being low cost and quick is not without

flaws. Its value depends on our judgment and expertise which may

not always be accurate.

Fieldwork:

A relatively small sample size has enabled the researchers of

“Marketing Wizards” to conduct the survey by themselves. This has

kept the quality of each questionnaire filled high as we have

made sure that no question remains unanswered by the respondents.

No external field force has been outsourced to survey the

respondents, thereby there is absolutely no chance of

misrepresentation or unethical practices in the collection of

done.

In order to maintain the accuracy and quality of information, the

survey took opinions of former NSU students currently working at

various offices e.g. GrameenPhone, Brac Bank, and United

Commercial Bank and……….where information was obtained from the

officials who met the criteria of our target population. In

addition to the corporate offices, a few respondents were also

surveyed from our very own campus.

6. MEASUREMENTS AND SCALING

TECHNIQUES

Both Comparative and Non comparative scaling techniques were used

for scaling purposes. We have used constant sum technique from

the non-comparative scaling.

Most of the questions are constructed based on the non-

comparative scaling techniques. Techniques like likert scale,

semantic differential and staple have been used in order to

assess the perception and intention of Bangladeshi people.

A number of questions in the questionnaire were based on the

likert scale to measure the overall attitude of people toward m-

commerce. A total of 6 likert scales have been used for this

purpose where we have used both positive and negative related

statements to control the respondents’ tendency to mark either

side without reading properly. Other types of question included

multiple choice and dichotomous questions.

Overall, our attempt to incorporate some degree of variation in

the scaling of the questions has made the questionnaire

interesting and vibrant.

7. MEASUREMENTS AND SCALING

TECHNIQUES

Hypothesis 1:

H0: Consumers from root level and higher class (Bangladesh)

exhibit negative intention to use m-commerce

H1: Consumers from root level and higher class (Bangladesh) does

not exhibit negative intention to use m-commerce

Statistical Data

Case Processing Summary

Cases

Valid Missing TotalN Percent N Percent N Percent

M_Com_score

*

PDI_category

98 98.0% 2 2.0% 100 100.0%

M_Com_score * PDI_categoryCrosstabulation

Count

PDI_category Total

Low power

distance

High power

distance

Low power

distance

M_Com_score Least

preferred35 24 59

Preferred 10 16 26Highly

preferred2 11 13

Total 47 51 98

Test:

Chi-Square Tests

Value df

Asymp.

Sig. (2-

sided)

Pearson Chi-

Square9.519(a) 2 .009

Likelihood Ratio 10.156 2 .006Linear-by-Linear

Association9.414 1 .002

N of Valid Cases 98

a 0 cells (0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 6.23.

Here, Pearson Chi-square significance is 0.009 which is less than

0.05

So, null hypothesis (Ho) is rejected and thus consumers from root

level and higher class do not exhibit negative intention to use

m-commerce.

Group Statistics

PDI_category N Mean

Std.

Deviation

Std.

Error

Mean

M_Com_score Low power

distance47 1.2979 .54831 .07998

High power

distance51 1.7451 .79607 .11147

Here, degree of freedom, F= 13.924 with a significance 0.000

So, the null hypothesis (Ho) is rejected.

Thus consumers from root level and higher class do not exhibit

negative intention to use m-commerce.

Hypothesis 2:

Ho: Market segment does not moderate consumers’ intention to

adopt a standardized m-commerce service.

H2: Market segment does moderate consumers’ intention to adopt a

standardized m-commerce service.

Statistical Data:

Case Processing Summary

Cases

Valid Missing Total

N Percent N Percent N Percent

M_Com_score

*

security_cat

98 98.0% 2 2.0% 100 100.0%

M_Com_score * security_catCrosstabulation

Count

security_cat Total

Low

security

score

High

security

score

Low

security

score

M_Com_score Least

preferred37 22 59

Preferred 16 10 26Highly

preferred6 7 13

Total 59 39 98

Test:

Group Statistics

security_cat N Mean

Std.

Deviation

Std.

Error

Mean

M_Com_score Low security

score59 1.4746 .67864 .08835

High security

score39 1.6154 .78188 .12520

Here, degree of freedom, F= 2.150 with a significance 0.145

So, null hypothesis (Ho) is not rejected

Thus Market segment does not moderate consumers’ intention to

adopt a standardized m-commerce service.

6. Conclusions and Implications

Through statistical analysis of the data collected, various

inferences regarding the perception of the people of Bangladesh

as well as the likelihood of their adoption of m-commerce can be

made. Among the hypotheses made, one have been rejected which has

been inferred through analysing the Pearson Chi-Square test as

well as Independent Sample T-Test. Hence, the first alternative

hypothesis which depicts that consumers from from root level and

higher class do not exhibit negative intention to use m-commerce.

And the second hypothesis which depicts that Thus Market segment

does not moderate consumer’s intention to adopt a standardized m-

commerce service. From these information, it can be concluded

that usage of M-Commerce is growing fast in almost every corner

of earth. In the developed parts of the world, people are heavily

depended on using their mobile devices for doing transaction. But

people in our country do not trust any form of transaction which

does not involve some form of interpersonal communication or any

involvement from the financial institutions. Major part of the

working population in the aging category reflects the resistance

to move to innovative technology. Most of population of our

country are illiterate and they are not concious about

technology. So, they don’t know how to use of it and they are not

concern about the advantages of M-Commarce. Lack of knowledge and

education they can’t take the advantages of M-Commarce. So, we

can say that, due to the cultural gap that we face in our region,

it`s much more difficult for us to accept the widespread of M-

Commerce in our everyday life.