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This study aims to empirically investigate ways to enhance customers’ continued mobile app use intention on the basis of information adoption model.

This study conducted an online, cross-sectional, self-administered survey, recruiting mobile app users in the USA.

Results identified both argument quality and source credibility positively influenced usefulness of branded apps and parasocial interactions. Results also confirmed a positive influence on usefulness of the branded app and parasocial interaction relating to continued branded app use intentions.

This study enriched the understanding of mobile app use behaviors, extending information adoption model in the service industry.

With the increasing mobile activity of the Generation Z market (born after 1994), marketers’ interest in this social group is rising. This research paper aims to uncover the relatively unknown attitudes and behaviour of the youth market in an emerging market, South Africa, towards branded mobile applications (apps). Previous studies on mobile marketing have focused on Generation X and Generation Y and generally with a quantitative focus.

This study is based on the theoretical framework of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model 2. The study used a qualitative framework with stratified focus groups, aged between 18 and 21 years old at a private tertiary institution in South Africa.

The findings indicate that these South African Gen Z participants mainly used WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Uber and Snapchat. The participants had more positive than negative attitudes towards mobile apps. The findings also showed that privacy was a major concern for the participant’s attitudes and behaviour towards mobile apps. The findings supported the UTAUT2 model, but also discovered new themes. As a recommendation, the issue of privacy and its effect on mobile app adoption is a factor to be researched in the future. The research also provides recommendations for marketers and app developers.

This study was of a qualitative nature, and thus, the sample size was smaller than that of a quantitative study. Future research could add to this study by increasing the sample size and adding a quantitative method such as surveys.

Marketers of mobile apps targeted towards the Gen Z market should aim to be convenient for their users, as well as be entertaining, functional, time-efficient while avoiding excessive in-app adverts, being honest upfront about their pricing strategy, incorporate an element of connectivity into the app and respect their privacy. This paper also provides practical recommendations for mobile app developers (targeted towards Gen Z users) including minimising notifications and updates within the app, developing a mobile app that requires less usage of data (due to the high expense of data in South Africa for the price-conscious Gen Z market) as well as less usage of memory space on the phone and incorporating universal symbols within the mobile app.

This study supported the UTAUT2 model effects of performance and effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, price value and habit on the behavioural intention of users towards a new technology, i.e. GenZ students’ attitudes and behaviour towards branded mobile apps in South Africa. However, an additional condition was discovered in this study, i.e. privacy and its impact on the attitudes and behaviour of GenZ mobile app users. Therefore, this study extends the UTAUT2 model framework. Furthermore, this study uses a qualitative design, which has not been used in previous studies, with a focus on the under-researched Gen Z market, and in particular in an emerging market, such as South Africa.

Although brands have developed mobile applications (apps) to offer consumers new experiences, low app usage numbers indicate the need to develop a systematic, practical evaluation framework for branded app design that specifies concrete design features.

An expert review provides an overview of the design of current branded apps. On the basis of an extensive literature review, this article classifies state-of-the-art design features for branded apps according to a proposed evaluation framework that includes human–computer interaction (HCI)–related and marketing-related evaluation criteria. In an application of these evaluation criteria, the authors evaluate 73 branded apps issued by 11 top fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands.

The expert review identifies strengths and weaknesses that are common to the design of current branded apps. These findings inform the set of design recommendations that this article offers, which includes 14 features common to all types of apps and 9 features specific to particular types of apps.

This research offers practical implications for app designers, who need to address design dimensions contained in the proposed framework including the HCI-related (mobile, social and user experience design features) and marketing-related (branding and customer relationship management design features) to create effective branded apps.

Design elements identified in prior literature remain abstract and do not prescribe a systematic or pragmatic approach to using them in practice. This study takes a multidisciplinary perspective (HCI, marketing and design science) to establish a practical evaluation framework for branded app designs.

This study aims to examine the drivers and outcomes of the usage intention of branded mobile applications (apps), revealing findings of theoretical and practical relevance. First, it uncovers the specific technological features that underpin the perceived usefulness and ease of use of branded apps driving (directly and indirectly) usage intention. Second, it outlines two key outcomes that are relevant to the strategic management of branded apps: willingness to recommend the app and willingness to pay to continue using the app.

This study uses data randomly derived from a panel of one million UK consumers, analyzed via structural equations modeling. The unit of analysis was individual apps prominently displaying a brand identity. The study tested indirect relationships between the key drivers considered and usage intention via perceived usefulness and ease of use.

Consumers who view branded apps as protecting their privacy, customizable and compatible with what they do, will have stronger perceptions of usefulness and ease of use and greater intention to use the app. These effects also occur indirectly. Furthermore, usage intention drives the willingness to recommend the app and to pay to continue using it.

To influence usage intention, managers can improve the perception of usefulness of branded apps by protecting consumer privacy and improving the app’s design and its compatibility with people’s needs and lifestyle. Managers can also enhance the perception of ease of use of the branded app by heightening its security and ubiquity. Combined, these factors can enhance (directly and indirectly) the intention to use the app, which will lead to the willingness to recommend the app and pay for it.

This study extends previous research by examining factors driving the intention to use branded apps and the resulting outcomes. It also offers a model that yields predictions for individual branded apps (not the brand powering the app), thus providing practical recommendations on how to manage, in general, apps with a brand identity.

Enabled by pronounced advancement in technology, branded apps have dramatically changed how consumers communicate with brands. However, despite the proliferation of mobile apps, brands are struggling to engage users. Without engagement, a mobile app is unable to attract continued usage and brands are unable to establish relationships with consumers. Grounded in construal level theory, this study aims to adopt a fresh perspective to examine the determinants of psychological distance, which plays a key role in branded app engagement.

An online survey with valid data from 396 app users of UberEats, Foodpanda, 7-11 and FamilyMart in Taiwan was conducted.

Perceived synchronicity, localization, homophily, ease of use and design aesthetics are the key determinants that drive branded app engagement, which, in turn, facilitates continuous app usage intention, a positive brand attitude and brand loyalty.

This study contributes to the literature by revealing the five determinants of psychological distance that exert impacts on the establishment of branded app engagement. This research provides valuable findings that practitioners can emphasize to drive branded app engagement.

The purpose of this paper is to examine influential factors on branded app adoption from the perspectives of brand relationship and consumption values. Thus a research model integrating consumer-brand relationship literature and the theory of consumption values is developed.

Using the survey approach, 245 participants were recruited from several app market forums and app fan communities. The banking apps issued by three large banks in Taiwan were used in the research.

The findings support the research model and confirm that brand relationship in terms of brand attachment and brand identification, and perceived overall consumption values are influencing factors in branded app adoption.

The research advances the understanding of the effect of brand relationship on branded app use behavior and the functional and non-functional value components pertaining to branded apps.

Little research has investigated if brand-consumer relationship and consumption values can sustain and continually impact consumers’ choice in mobile apps.

This paper aims to examine consumers’ behaviors toward personalized services offered by branded mobile apps in the food service industry by applying privacy calculus theory and technology acceptance model (TAM). Further, this research identified the moderating role of technology anxiety.

An online survey was carried out to investigate the role of personalization on continuance intention toward branded mobile apps. In total, 348 valid responses were analyzed to test hypotheses using structural equation modeling.

The results show that personalization had significantly affected perceived benefit, perceived risk and perceived ease of use. Perceived benefit had positive effects on perceived value of disclosure, but perceived risk did not affect perceived value of disclosure. Perceived value of disclosure and perceived ease of use were linked to trust. Trust, in turn, positively affected intentions to use mobile apps. With regard to the moderating effect of technology anxiety, it had a significant moderating impact on the relationship between personalization and perceived risk. However, it did not moderate the relationship between personalization and perceived benefit.

The findings of this study could provide useful theoretical and practical implications related to the successful implementation of mobile marketing.

This study proposes the integrated model of privacy calculus theory and the TAM for deeper understanding of the customers’ responses toward personalization of branded mobile apps.

The current study extends the technology acceptance model (TAM) and information system success model (ISSM) to the context of branded sport applications. Specifically, the study examined the influences of app system success dimensions and TAM determinants on branded sport app usage intention. Moreover, the current study examined the gender differences regarding the relative importance of the drivers and predictors of usage intention.

Data collection (n = 256) was conducted using convenience sampling in South Korea. The data were primarily analyzed via partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), multi-group analysis and importance–performance map analysis (IPMA) using SmartPLS 3.0.

App users who viewed branded sport apps as having a higher level of system and information quality were likely to have stronger perceptions of enjoyment, usefulness, and ease of use. Among the TAM determinants, perceived enjoyment most significantly influenced their usage intention, followed by perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Multigroup analysis revealed that some relationships between app system success dimensions and TAM determinants were significantly different by gender. In addition, IPMA indicated that perceived enjoyment and system quality of branded sport apps were relatively more important than the other predictors.

The current study contributes to the literature by incorporating both TAM and ISSM and extending the TAM with the perceived enjoyment construct to examine the key determinants of usage intention in the context of branded sport apps.

This study aims to integrate the perspectives offered by TAM and related models, respectively, the theory of values, to examine the impact of branded mobile shopping apps perceived value dimensions on continuance and recommendation intention.

A quantitative research was conducted online on a sample of 459 Romanian consumers to investigate how various facets of the perceived value of mobile shopping apps of some fashion brands influence continuance intention and the intention to recommend mobile apps. Sample selection implied a mixed non-probability method, convenience sampling and snowballing method, and the research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) and path analysis.

This study validates significant positive relationships between perceived ubiquity, app incentive, respectively, epistemic value of branded mobile shopping apps and continuance intention, and between perceived hedonic value, social value, continuance intention and the intention to recommend branded mobile apps.

The research provides a deeper understanding of the influence played by the perceived value of mobile shopping apps on the consumer post-purchase behaviour and takes into consideration the mediating role of continuance intention for the perceived value and recommendation intention relationship.

Companies understand the potential to use gamification marketing to facilitate a better connection. However, most endeavours in gamification fail. This study aims to identify the design factors that drive the marketing effectiveness of branded applications (apps) with gamification features.

This study investigates branded apps covering various industries such as hospitality, retail and financial services. A total of 296 respondents were recruited from an online questionnaire platform.

The results show that playability, design aesthetics, goal clarity, incentive provision and symbolic benefits were drivers of consumer–brand engagement, which in turn generated purchase intention, app continuance intention and brand loyalty.

Based on the elemental tetrad model, this study specified relevant factors identified in the literature to represent the technology, aesthetic, mechanical and story elements. The authors contribute to the literature by identifying design factors as drivers of consumer–brand engagement in the branded app context.