การยอมรับโปรแกรมบนมือถือของผู้ค้าปลีกขนาดเล็ก: การวิจัยเชิงปฏิบัติการแบบมีส่วนร่วม

Abstract

We have proposed a mobile application called Racadi, which aims to provide a tool in sales management for small retailers. It would support adaptability and customer engagement, and create a competitive advantage. Because small retailers are experiencing a decrease in sales volume and the number of customers in high business competition, and consumer behavior has changed, plenty of developers are on the market. However, developers are experiencing problems making users adopt the mobile application. This project aims (1) to explore the form and function of mobile applications that small retailers need, (2) to learn the process to make small retailers accept the mobile application, and (3) to examine the impact when small retailers use a mobile application that we have created to increase the adoption rate. We employed participatory action research focused on three cycles. We used data collected by in-depth interviews with non-participant observation from 40 small retailers. We found that the variables that affect the mobile application adoption of small retailers include 13 factors. The consistent with studies in the past are 11 factors: (1) External Variable, (2) Perceived Usefulness, (3) Social Influence, (4) Perceived Ease of Use, (5) Compatibility, (6) Facilitating Conditions, (7) Valuable for Money, (8) Trialability, (9) Observability, (10) Habit, and (11) Attitude. Also, new findings from this study are (12) Perceived Risk and (13) Entrepreneurial Spirit. The present study contributes theoretically in discovering new variables, which are the extent of existing knowledge. It also fills the research gap because there has never been a study of accepting mobile applications using participatory action research. Moreover, it is useful for implementation to be a guideline for mobile application developers, and marketers can increase user adoption.