Journal of Computer Information Systems

ISSN: 0887-4417 (Print) 2380-2057 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ucis20

Facilitating Conditions, Wireless Trust and

Adoption Intention

June Lu, Chun-Sheng Yu & Chang Liu

To cite this article: June Lu, Chun-Sheng Yu & Chang Liu (2005) Facilitating Conditions, Wireless
Trust and Adoption Intention, Journal of Computer Information Systems, 46:1, 17-24, DOI:
10.1080/08874417.2005.11645865

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/08874417.2005.11645865

Published online: 05 Jan 2016.

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 FACILITATING CONDITIONS, WIRELESS. TRUST
AND ADOPTION INTENTION
JUNELU CHUN-SHENG YU
University of Houston-Victoria University of Houston-Victoria
Sugar Land, Texas 77479 Sugar Land, Texas 77479
ABSTRACT
For wireless Internet services via mobile technology
(WIMT), are there any unique determinants for user acceptance
of this technology innovation? Based on literature review, this
paper proposes a model of three latent constructs: Facilitating
Conditions, Wireless Trust, and intention to adopt WIMT, where
Facilitating Conditions influences perceived trust in the wireless
mobile environment which, in turn, influences user intention to
adopt wireless mobile technology. A sample of 357 MBA
students from a regional university was used for model testing.
Structural equation modeling procedures were employed for
data analysis. The hypothesized model revealed an acceptable
fit. Path analysis of the postulated relationships demonstrated a
large direct causal effect from Facilitating Conditions to
Wireless Trust and a medium direct effect from Wireless Trust
to Intention to Adopt WIMT. Some findings for the first time
provided empirical support to the literature and important
implications for further research and large-scope implementation
of wireless mobile technology.
Keywords: Wireless Trust, facilitating conditions, intention
to adopt, wireless Internet services via mobile technology, data
security, privacy protection, system reliability, TAM.
INTRODUCTION
Along with the increasing popularity of mobile devices and
wireless data services in this country, people are getting used to
using mobile devices like web phones, Palm Pilots and personal
digital assistants (PDAs) in their personal and professional lives
for easier accessibility and efficiency. More and more business
firms now rely on the mobile forces equipped with laptops and
PDAs to conduct transactions. However, user adoption of
mobile data services and commerce is still restricted to simple
data transmission with a low-level of importance and
confidentiality. Many organizations still hesitate to use Internet
services via wireless networks and mobile devices. Why? An
important impacting factor, based on the literature, is the user
trust level for the wireless mobile environment and for m-
commerce (3, 12, 21, 36, 46, 49). Wireless mobile Internet
services need to win trust in terms of data transmission security,
privacy protection, and system reliability. A wireless mobile
environment is meaningless unless it is reliable, secure and
privacy protected (32, 34).
The literature reveals that naive deployment of off-the-shelf
products like PDAs and mobile phones has been recognized as
the fastest-growing threat in some organizations and can only be
managed by user-friendly security tools and user training
initiated by security and privacy services (10). Trust, for
wireless Internet services via mobile technology (WIMT), is the
combined effect of a number of technical and non-technical
Fall 2005 Journal of Computer Information Systems
CHANGLIU
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, Illinois 60115-2897
features. Training, support and maintenance services in terms of
security and privacy protection may be critical for developing
and sustaining trust toward wireless mobile channels for serious
data services. On the other hand, encouraging a humanitarian
environment seems also critical. Effectively implementing the
Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) telecommunications technology in the
U.S. means meeting the legal and regulatory challenges to
ensure the expected benefits (28). Wi-Fi is the commercially
certified name for 802.11 b. Wi-Fi products are tested and
certified by the Wireless Ethernet Capability Alliance (WECA),
which has done an important work of certifying interoperable
wireless standards. As the framework for mobile commercial
transactions is getting increasingly complex, more attention has
been devoted to the development of applicable laws, rules and
regulations to ensure safe and secure commercial activities (43).
To sum up, the availability of technical training and support as
well as a protective legal and regulatory environment helps
enhance trust perception toward wireless mobile technology and
services.
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been the
foundation for many ITIIS acceptance studies since it was first
introduced (32). Based on this model, the perceptions of ease of
use and usefulness are the important indicators for consumers'
behavioral intention to adopt a new technology. However,
customers must evaluate the ease of use and usefulness of a new
technology by making a 'leap of faith' to commit to a new
technology. This 'leap of faith' is trust (4). Ease of use and
usefulness are necessary for adoption of the WIMT, but trust in
WIMT and its provider are the impetus for the adoption
decision.
It is proposed that the trust issue can impact user intention
to adopt wireless mobile technology for important data services
and commercial activities (35, 34). A theoretical construct of
Wireless Trust was developed by Lu and her colleagues (35) and
validated for empirical testing (34). As a continuing effort, this
paper is mainly purported empirically to test the possible
relationship between Wireless Trust perceptions and intention to
adopt WIMT. As a secondary objective, this paper will examine
the impact of Facilitating Conditions as the leverage manipulator
of perceptual beliefs such as Wireless Trust toward the wireless
mobile environment.
For explicit communication of the research findings, this
paper will first present a review of the current literature
concerning the concepts of Wireless Trust and Facilitating
Conditions, followed by a description of the theoretical
framework for the study. This paper then describes the methods
used for carrying out the study and the data analysis results. It
then concludes with a discussion of the findings, conclusions,
and recommendations for implementation practices and further
research.
17
 LITERATURE REVIEW
Mobile communications and mobile commerce continue to
receive rapidly increasing attention from business practitioners
and scholars alike. While information and communication
technology (lCT) can enable people to transcend distance and
time barriers through the use of Wi-Fi, the Internet and mobile
handhelds, it cannot motivate people to seriously communicate
and conduct business. The biggest obstacle is not implementing
a cutting-edge ICT solution, but getting people to use it actively
and effectively (34). Hence we must realize that unless members
of the society are motivated to go wireless and mobile, no ICT
solution can deliver desired benefits. Research findings and
implementation practices indicate that trustworthiness of the
wireless mobile networks and devices could be the single
greatest challenge confronting adoption of mobile data and
commercial services.
Wireless Trust
The first contributing factor to the level of trust is data
security. Due to the open nature of wireless networks, scanning
and intercepting data transmitted in the open air is made much
easier, which opens a window for malicious eavesdropping.
Further, security is more difficult to implement for the resource
limitation of mobile handheld devices in computing power. The
encryption on most wireless devices is comparatively weak. The
SIM key on a GSM phone carrying the user's account
information and the secret key for billing purposes can be easily
removed from one phone and placed in another, which makes
cloning much easier. On the transport layer of digital data
transmission, the identified security hole in wireless application
protocol (WAP), the protocol widely accepted for mobile
commerce by mobile service providers (MSP) and producers of
mobile phones and network equipment, fails to provide end-to-
end security between the customer and the merchant. The
decrypted data at a WAP gateway may be compromised by
anyone with privileged access. Data transmission using COMA
is commonly recognized as harder to detect or jam; however, a
technically sophisticated criminal can still do it. Decoder
software is available allover the Internet and often for free, not
to mention that those wireless Internet service providers (lSPs)
chosen to use unlicensed spectrum for their service offerings are
out of reach offederal regulation (3, 13, 27).
Recently, more efforts have been made in designing a
security infrastructure for mobile commerce systems including
new security standards and software upgrades to meet security
needs in the face of resource constraints (e.g., (23, 30, & 4 I ».
Many proposed mechanisms are proving to be practical in real
deployment environment. On the other hand, much improved
location-awareness or context-awareness in wireless mobile
devices will be able to provide better wireless security either this
year or next year (19, 21, 27). Knowledge of the end user's
location can be used to deliver relevant, timely, and high-quality
service and information. For mobile network operators, location-
based services represent an additional stream of revenue (42).
Technically speaking, mobile commerce is ready to take a
qualitative leap.
However, the ramifications could be that a number of
stakeholders have ready access to communications data on the
wireless Internet and to a map of the consumer's or the user's
daily movements. Therefore, in addition to the identified
vulnerabilities in terms of wireless data transmission security,
concerns about privacy might also lead to increased suspicion
for trustworthiness and possible rejection of this innovation for
any serious commercial use.
Fall 2005 Journal of Computer Information Systems
Privacy, the ability to determine the circumstances and
extent that information about an individual is exposed to others,
is recognized as being at risk, especially in a wireless mobile
environment (37). More than 90 percent of 436 wireless and
wireless Internet users surveyed by the National Emergency
Number Association last year on location-based services wanted
the ability to tum the location-tracking capability of a wireless
phone on or off at will. Additionally, most respondents noted
that it was extremely important to have the ability to be able to
control how their location information was used by their service
providers and others (18). Wireless mobile Internet creates at
least the possibility of privacy intrusion everywhere. Research
also suggests that consumer privacy concerns associated with
the mobile Internet and mobile commerce are different from
those in traditional and online contexts. Privacy risks in the
mobile context include unwanted phone calls and contextual
offers pushed to mobile consumers, unsolicited information
capture and transfer, disclosure oftheir precise purchase context
and physical locations because of location-based services,
inadequate privacy protection at the WAP gateway and the
origin server's, failure to communicate the level of protection
offered, and trans-border data flow involving countries with no
adequate personal data protection (11, 12, 36). However,
consumers are weighing the benefits of the mobile world against
the potential for privacy violations. An increasing number of
mobile users is utilizing the wireless Internet for less sensitive
data services. Using personal information to provide timely
offers and valued services in the mobile channel would benefit
both firms and customers. Firms seeking a foothold in the
mobile world must realize the importance of finding a good
balance point.
Meanwhile we have to admit that for all the security and
privacy concerns, the reliability of a wireless mobile system is
most fundamental for establishing user trust. Reliability here
refers to the probability that the system remain successful in
achieving its intended objectives within a given period of time
and under a given set of conditions (61). Wireless data
transmissions are sensitive to weather conditions and geographic
environment. The existence of a number of standards and
proprietary networks also hinders connectivity and accessibility.
Concerns are emerging about the reliability of information,
data transmission, and transactions via wireless mobile services:
The problem of intermittent communication links and resource
constraints on wireless devices as well as limited bandwidth
(53); the need for protocol and middleware support to overcome
differences in bit rates, channel quality, resources, location
management, reliability, and security (12); the convergence of
the Internet, traditional telephony networks, and consumer
electronics and the infrastructure for organizing and accessing
m-services in broadcast environments (60); the expectation for
wireless Internet to achieve its full potential on mobile
computing devices to support a broad range of 2.5 generation
and third-generation mobile devices and networks at a
reasonable price (6). The results of a report by U.s. Congress's
General Accounting Office on cellular telephone system
reliability indicate cell phone users experience a higher
unreliability rate than the industry strives for (5).
As Lu, et al. (34) pointed out, users must be confident that
the network and the software applications it depends on for data
transmission and services are available and reliable 24 hours a
day and 7 days a week and that all the data transferred on the
system is correct, properly protected, and continuously
available. Without such confidence in the system and the
services provided, it will be highly doubtful whether mobile data
services and commerce will be perceived as useful to trigger
adoption intention. Hence, we propose the following hypothesis:
18
Hypothesis I: Trustworthiness of the wireless mobile
environment will have a significant effect on
intention to adopt WIMT.
Facilitating Conditions
With the rapid technological advancements in data
transmission capacity, network reliability, and security, some
major soft factors such as immediacy, personalization,
membership, and localization offer much incentive for using
wireless communication devices for shopping activities (1).
Research confirmed that shopping motivating factors and
lifestyle indicators had significant effect on consumers'
willingness to purchase online using wireless communication
devices (25). Therefore, it is necessary to examine certain
facilitating conditions for using wireless communication
devices.
Facilitating conditions, according to Triandis's (52) notion,
include the extent and type of support provided to individuals
that influence their use of the technology. In the context of
workplace technology use, facilitating conditions are believed to
include the availability of training and provision of support. This
variable was tested in a number of technology acceptance
studies, and empirical supports were found on the proposed
effect on perceived usefulness or perceived ease of use (24, 50,
51,55). Recently, facilitating conditions have been identified as
having an effect on infusion or adoption of a number of new
information system innovations (9, 26). A study on the adoption
of WAP services in Taiwan as an important content of mobile
commerce also revealed facilitating conditions as one critical
factor influencing WAP services adoption behavior (22).
In addition to a supportive technical environment, specially
designed training programs and control procedures to ensure
data transmission security and protection over sensitive and
confidential information should receive primary attention. For
this purpose, policies, regulations, and legal environments are
most critical to technology acceptance. Further, when mobile
users travel abroad, their usage patterns are dependent on
international regulations and standardization of the physical and
data-link layers of telecommunication in another country. We
thus postulated in the Wireless Internet via Mobile Technology
Acceptance Model (WIMTAM) that facilitating conditions
should also include non-technical external controls in terms of
favorable legal and regulatory protection, guidance and control
(35).
In the United States, people are still gaining experience in
managing wireless mobile technology. However, more people
are beginning to recognize the role of corporate policies in
protecting wireless networks and the importance of cooperation
between government and businesses. Recently, more joint
efforts by the government, companies, security experts and trade
groups are being made to disconnect some critical computer
systems from the Internet and run them on private networks to
prevent attacks (38, 48). States like California and New York
have taken an aggressive stance in regulating wireless networks
and services for internal security control, consumer rights
protection, and service quality (44, 45). At the corporate level,
"chief privacy officer" as a new job title indicates the increasing
attention to establishing policies and regulations regarding
privacy protection at the business level (31, 57, 58). Some
companies are planning to develop a wireless security policy to
define what is and what is not allowed with wireless technology
(47). Various security procedures and practices are being
specified in more corporate policies, including controlled use of
unprotected wireless client devices (58). More organized
training sessions are being provided to employees on the
Fall 2005 Journal of Computer Information Systems
importance of security, using passwords, and constant auditing
of wireless security system. An analysis of scenarios regarding
wireless mobile Internet services indicates .that intellectual
property rights, privacy, and contracts are the legal areas most
likely to affect user trust of the mobile Internet and hence
influence their adoption of this ICT innovation (20, 40). Trust
reflects the feelings of security of one party because of the
presence of guarantees/trainings or other structures acting as
safety net (59).
To sum up, certain facilitating conditions are needed on a
regular basis to maintain a Wireless Trust environment. Hence,
we propose our second hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2: Facilitating conditions in terms of technical
assistance and legal and regulatory frameworks
will have a significant effect on user-perceived
Wireless Trust ofWIMT.
Intention to Use WIMT
In this study, user acceptance is examined by intention to
use due to the fact that WIMT is still at an early stage,
characterized by early adoption and limited use. This construct
comes from the TAM model. We believe that investigation of
intention to use would enhance the predicting power of the
research model at this stage. Since the intention construct and its
relationship to actual adoption has been well discussed in the
TAM model and other related studies (2,8, 14), our proposition
of the research model will concentrate on the theoretical
rationale for the other two constructs and their causal
relationships to intention, the primary dependent variable. Study
of these external variables has important pragmatic value for
leading to the emergence of appropriate managerial
interventions.
Research Model
Based on a relevant literature review, this paper proposes a
model of three latent constructs (Figure 1): Facilitating
Conditions, Wireless Trust, and Intention to Use WIMT, where
Facilitating Conditions is hypothesized to influence Wireless
Trust which, in turn, will impact Intention to Use WIMT. The
emphasis of this model is on explaining the antecedent beliefs of
the intention.
The proposed model is built to explore non-work related
individual WIMT adoption in particular, with a strong focus on
probable impacts of Wireless Trust and Facilitating Conditions.
This model includes Facilitating Conditions as an important
latent construct and hypothesizes a theoretical relationship
between Facilitating Conditions and Wireless Trust that is not
contained in the WIMTAM (35) or any other TAM related
models. Therefore, the proposed model has a unique value to fill
in the gap in the ISIIT literature. The tests of the hypothesized
relationships are described next.
METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS
To empirically test this model, 357 MBA students from a
regional university in Texas were surveyed in the academic year
of 2003. Conducting a survey regarding users' perceptions and
intentions is appropriate since it is the most direct way to get the
desired data. Data collected each semester were compared and
no statistically significant differences were identified. Survey
items on Intention to Use were derived from Davis' TAM model
(14, 15). Items on Wireless Trust were adapted from those from
19
Lu and her colleagues' study (34). Facilitating Conditions items items on legal and regulatory protection as suggested by Lu, et
were adapted from those in Jiang, Hsu, Klein and Lin's study on al. (35). Relevant survey items are listed in Appendix I.
e-commerce user behavior model (24), with the addition of

FIGURE 1
The Research Model

Facilitating Wireless Intention to

Conditions Trust UseWIMT

Descriptive Data Analysis
Of the participants, 49 percent were males, 51 percent,
females. With an average age of 3 I, the age range extends from
20 to 59. Eighty-four percent of the respondents hold full-time
or part- time jobs. Over seventy-seven percent (277) of the
respondents had no experience accessing wireless Internet
services via mobile handhelds such as PDAs and Web phones.
Of those who had some experience, only one third had six
as an indicator of the internal consistency of scale items for each
of the three constructs. The alpha value for each of the three
constructs was above 0.80, a level generally deemed highly
satisfactory for multi-item scales (39). Based on the 7-point
scale used in the study, the mean values on both items of the
intention construct surpass the cutoff value for fair agreement
(Mean >= 5.5). The general mean levels of the items on
Wireless Trust are a bit lower -varying between fairly disagree
and neutral. The means on three items "I am sure that I will be
>

months' or longer experience with WIMT. The participants in
this study represent a sample of potential and early adopters.
Given the current status of WIMT use in the U. S., the reported
demographics of the respondents indicate a representative
sample.
Table I lists the basic descriptive statistics on the
theoretical constructs under study. Cronbach's alpha is provided
notified if personal information is collected (M=3.01)," "I will
be allowed to access the data collected from me (M=3.37),"
"certain managerial and technical procedures exist to protect my
personal information (M=2.83)" - seem to reflect obvious
skepticism in those aspects. In comparison, Facilitating
Conditions tend to have a higher average level but reveals
obvious uncertainty.

TABLE 1
Scale Statistics and Pearson Correlations of the Constructs

Constructs Items Mean SD Cronbach Alnha Factor Loadine

Intention to Adopt 0.81
WIMT
Intentl 5.55 1.60 0.82
Intent2 5.68 1.41 0.93
Wireless Mobile Trust 0.84
Trustl 3.01 1.79 0.79
Trust2 3.37 1.73 0.79
Trust3 3.75 1.84 0.73
Trust4 4.13 1.71 0.72
Trust5 2.83 1.62 0.47
Trust6 3.94 1.56 0.51
Facilitating Conditions 0.86
Technical Aspect 0.86
Regulatory Aspect 0.75
Facilitating 1 3.69 1.60 0.69
Facilitating2 3.81 1.60 0.69
Facilitating3 4.03 2.02 0.62
Facilitating4 3.97 1.84 0.82
Facilitating5 3.87 1.87 0.84
Facilitating6 3.48 1.88 0.75
Facilitating7 4.15 1.76 0.79

Structural Equation Modeling followed to test the proposed model. Amos version 4 was used
as the model-fitting program. SEM is commonly regarded as a
Structural equation modeling (SEM) procedures were then comprehensive method for testing theoretical constructs and

Fall 2005 Journal of Computer Information Systems 20

models. With SEM, we can specify and test any hypothesized
conceptual construct comprising a set of variables, while
controlling for errors of measurement and other irrelevant
sources of variance (7). According to this approach, a
measurement model was first built for Facilitating Conditions
and Wireless Trust one by one. All the factor loading values are
listed in Table I as a common indicator of construct validity.
Six indicators were used to specify a measurement model
for Wireless Trust. Measures used to assess goodness of fit
included Chi-square (14.624), degree of freedom (8), the X2/df
ratio (1.828), Goodness-of-Fit (GFI=0.986), Adjusted
Goodness-of-Fit Index (AGFI=0.963), Normed Fit Index
(NFI=O.981), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI=O.984), Comparative
Fit Index (CFI=O.99I), and Standardized Root Mean Squared
Residual (RMSR=O.024). All the selected index values indicated
a very strong model fit, meeting the recommended criterion of
0.90 or above (e.g., (7, 29)).
Seven items were used to build a second-order
Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) model for Facilitating
Conditions: five on technical measures, two on regulatory
measures. The same measures were used to estimate the model
fit. All the selected indexes revealed another highly satisfactory
fit (X2=31.390; DF=13; X2/dt=2.415; GFI=0.976; AGFI=0.948;
NFI=O.971; TLI=0.972; CFI=O.983; SRMR=0.026).
Intention to Use WIMT construct only has two items.
According to the assumption of the AMOS program, the model
FIGURE 2
The Structural Path Analysis
0.77- Wireless
Facilitating
Conditions ~
~
Trust
Note: ·**indicates p<O.ool.
As an additional interest to test the magnitude of influence
from either the regulatory or the technical support sector of
Facilitating Conditions, this construct was then split and
remodeled to see how each impacts Wireless Trust. The SEM
procedures yield the same model fit indexes. The coefficient
value on the path from technical support sector is not small
(0.17, p=O.055). The positive relationship between the
regulatory sector and Wireless Trust, however, is significantly
strong (0.61, p<O.OOO). Obviously the 60% variance on Wireless
Trust is mostly accounted for by the regulatory sector.
DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
The descriptive statistics indicate that most respondents of
the survey study intend to use WIMT when the services are
available, since the mean values on intention construct are above
the cutoff point for fair agreement. However, the mean levels on
Wireless Trust were lower - the mean values varied between the
scale units for fairly disagree and neutral. This may reflect the
respondents' uncertainties or suspicions about the
trustworthiness of the current WIMT in terms of data
transmission security, privacy protection and system reliability,
and such perceived distrust mostly comes from the low level of
perceived regulation from a policy and legal framework. In fact,
the empirical data in this study supported the concerns for
inadequate security, privacy protection and system reliability as
Fall 2005 Journal of Computer Information Systems
fit can only be tested when it is embedded in a multi-factor CFA
model (26). Therefore, the hypothesized multi-factor CFA
model was set up first. Factor loading values of the intention
construct are listed in Table I.
The multi-factor CFA model was found to present an
acceptable goodness of fit (X2/dt=2.364; GFI=O.93I;
AGFI=O.902; NFI=0.918; TLI=0.938; CFI=0.95I;
SRMR=0.062). The correlation coefficient values among the
latent variables are 0.77 between Wireless Trust and Facilitating
Conditions, 0.21 between Wireless Trust and Intention to Use
WIMT, and 0.39 between Facilitating Conditions and Intention
to Use WIMT. Since none of the values is above 0.85 or below
0.10, the limits for acceptable discriminant validity (29), this
model is regarded valid for further structural path analysis.
The hypothesized structural model also revealed an
acceptable fit (X2/dt=2.370; GFI=O.929; AGFI=O.899;
NFI=O.918; TLI=O.938; CFI=O.950; SRMR=O.065). Path
analysis of the postulated relationships demonstrated a large
direct positive effect from Facilitating Conditions to Wireless
Trust (0.77) and a medium direct effect from Wireless Trust to
Intention to Use WIMT (0.25), both were significant at 0.001
(Please see Figure 2). The hypothesized theoretical model and
the relationships are therefore supported by the empirical data.
Sixty percent of the variance of Wireless Trust was explained by
Facilitating Conditions. The variance explained by Wireless
Trust was only 6 percent.
0.25**· Intention to
UseWIMT
the number one blockage for WIMT adoption as expressed in a
number of wireless mobile literatures.
The findings specifically expose that the respondents
possess a lack of confidence whether they will be notified when
their personal information is collected, whether they will be
allowed to access the data collected from them, whether sound
managerial and technical procedures exist to protect data and
their personal information. Business vendors involved in
providing wireless data services need to put in more effort
providing/communicating such protection and to offer
awareness training to mobile users on how to use the privacy
protection techniques and the current data security techniques in
practice.
The study reveals that technical facilitation and regulatory
facilitation in the wireless mobile environment are still doubtful.
The finding on the strong causal relationship between Wireless
Trust and Facilitating Conditions supports the opinion in the
literature that Facilitating Conditions in terms of technical
training, online support as well as a protective legal and
regulatory framework directly influence the level of trust toward
WIMT. This finding for the first time provides empirical
evidence to the postulated relationship in literature, providing us
an important perspective in examining the formation of trust
perception toward WIMT. Further, the regulatory sector of
Facilitating Conditions appears much more important for
fostering trust, compared to technical support. This finding
21
points out the direction for businesses to actively move for
strengthening trust perceptions toward the wireless mobile
environment - developing targeting policies and regulations to
govern the wireless mobile part of the Internet and providing
active management and guidance to the mobile users.
The finding on the tie between Wireless Trust and Intention
to Use WIMT echoed similar findings in Liu, Marchewka, Lu
and Yu's study (33) of trust issues in e-commerce acceptance. It
seems that despite the djfference in context, trust becomes a
critical issue in any virtual environment when serious data
communications and commercial activities are involved. The
fact that the variance explained by Wireless Trust in this study is
limited seems to imply that for all the doubts about the
trustworthiness of the environment, potential and early users of
mobile Internet services still intend to use the WIMT services.
This phenomenon may be due to the existence of a number of
determinants for adoption of WIMT. According to Lu, Yao and
Yu's study (in press), social influences and personal
innovativeness also impact user intention to adopt WIMT.
Usefulness and ease of use perceptions have been recognized as
important determinants of intention in a number of studies (15,
16, 17, 54, 55 56). It will be very interesting to see how a
number of such factors impact adoption of WIMT. Another
explanation might be that data security is more of a concern to
the business and organization use of wireless mobile data
services than to individuals. For the individual users, trust will
only be a concern when more data services of commercial or
critical nature are popular in the wireless mobile environment.
Many mobile users only use their mobile devices for common
email communications and short message services and may not
regard trust as a major issue in this domain.
Based on the findings, we would like to make the following
conclusions: (1) Individual consumers have the intention to use
the wireless Internet services via mobile devices, such as PDAs
and web-based phones; (2) Potential users and early adopters of
WIMT have certain concerns for data transmission security,
privacy protection, and system reliability; (3) User trust
perception toward WIMT is related to their intention to adopt
this system for serious communications and commercial
activities; (4) User trust perception toward WIMT is related to a
great extent to the facilitating conditions and especially the legal
and regulatory environment.
To improve WIMT implementation practices, great efforts
must be made to build relevant policies, regulations and legal
frameworks, and to provide active management and support.
Meanwhile, business practitioners ought to make greater effort
to improve their services in data transmission security, privacy
protection and system reliability. They should examine on a
regular basis whether sound managerial and technical
procedures exist to protect their critical data and personal
information. Meanwhile, special training to enhance user
awareness and certain technical support is also needed among
the potential and early mobile data services users.
To confirm the study findings and further the research
effort in the area of wireless trust and WIMT adoption, we make
the following recommendations.
First, this study needs to be replicated to confirm the
research findings. This study used an MBA student sample. For
the purpose of investigating the individual perceptions toward
WIMT, this sample is more or less representative of the
population. The most obvious neglect is the teenage group.
Teenagers are often reported as the most ardent user group of
mobile data services. Further research is recommended to get
beyond the limit of the student sample and use non-users and
users based on random sampling procedures. This may help to
generate higher credibility and stronger persuasive power, and at
Fall 2005 Journal of Computer Information Systems
the same time, identify if personal experience in using WIMT
makes any difference.
Second, further research effort is needed in organizational
use of WIMT. Organizations and businesses are the most
important users of WIMT. If the research findings can be
compared with those obtained from the general individual users,
it may be valuable for generating pertinent strategies for WIMT
implementation in both. If WIMT can promote effectiveness and
productivity in organizations, it will be a significant contribution
to society.
Third, further research effort can be conducted to
investigate a specific WIMT service and its adoption. More
specific and useful information can be gathered for providing
more useful implications to the academy as well as to business
practitioners.
Finally, Wireless Trust and its influencing factor
Facilitating Conditions need to be examined together with other
identified or possible determinants of WIMT adoption. Further
study in this direction will unquestionably deepen our
understanding of the real influences of Wireless Trust and
Facilitating Conditions and the complexity of the determinants
of intention to adopt WIMT.
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APPENDIX 1
Survey Items

Intention to Adopt
Assuming I have access to WIMD, I intend to use it (Intendl).
Given that I have access to WIMD, I predict that I would use it (Intend2).

Wireless Trust
When using WIMD, I am sure that I will be notified if personal information is collected (Trustl).
When using WIMD, I am sure that I will be allowed to access the data collected from me (Trust2).
When using WIMD, I am sure that I have a choice to opt-in and/or opt-out to share my personal information with third parties (Trust3).
When using WIMD, I am sure that certain managerial and technical procedures exist to secure all the data being transmitted on this system
(Trust4).
When using WIMD, I am sure that certain managerial and technical procedures exist to protect my personal information (TrustS).
Mobile telecommunication is reliable all the time (Trust6).

Facilitating Conditions
Government/Corporate policies encourage use of wireless Internet via mobile devices (Facilitating\).
Legal protections are available for using wireless Internet via mobile devices (Facilitating2).
Help is available for assistance with WIMD (Facilitating3).
Specialized instruction is available to me concerning WIMD (Facilitating4).
Training for WIMD is available to me (Facilitating5).
Overall, the use of WIMD is very supportive (Facilitating6).

Fall 2005 Journal of Computer Information Systems 24