TowardsanUnderstandingofE-CommerceinChina-UsingInstantMessaging(中國電子商務市場之研究-以即時通訊為例)林娟娟東吳大學資訊科學系jclin@cis.scu.edu.tw林政毅東吳大學資訊科學研究所teddyl@microsoft.comAbstractRecently,InstantMessaging(IM)hasbeenwidelydiscussed.Basedonthecontentofdiscussion,wecanobservethatIMisgraduallybecomingaveryoutstandingcommercialcommunicationtool.Asthenumbersofusersgrowtremendously,theemergingcommercialopportunitiesareattractingmanyinvestors’intereststoenterthismarketaggressively.TheincreasingnumberofworldwideIMsubscribersandthefastgrowingonlinerevenueboostthepotentialofIMasakeybusinessopportunityinChina.ThesuccessinthisbusinessreliesontheunderstandingofthedemandsofcustomersandtheeffectivepromotionofIMusages.ThusthisresearchwillexplorethedeterminingfactorsmotivatingindividualstopayforIMservicesinChina.TheTechnologyAcceptanceModel(TAM)isconsideredasthebasicmodel.TobetterreflectIMcontext,theresearchmodelalsoincorporatesPerceivedServiceQuality,PerceivedExperienceandPerceivedTrust.ThecausalrelationshipsbetweenthetheoreticalconstructsusedintherevisedTAMwillbeexaminedtounderstandIMusers’behaviortowardspayinginIM.Keywords:IM,InstantMessaging,IndividualBehavior,China.1.IntroductionInChina,E-Commercehasgrownrapidlyinthepastfewyears.In1997,therewereonly670,000InternetusersinChinaandthenumberhasremarkablyjumpedto103millionbytheendofJune,2005.IntermsofInternetmarketsize,ChinaE-Commercereached320billionRenMinBi(RMB,thecurrencyofChina)bytheendof2004andisexpectedtoreach1,700billionRMB(equivalentto6,800billionNewTaiwanDollar;NTD)by2007(iResearchInc,2005a).Inshort,thereisgreatpotentialforE-CommercedevelopmentinChina.Recently,InstantMessaging(IM)hasbeenwidelydiscussed.Baseonthecontentfdiscussion(Nardietal.,2000;Ellenetal.,2002;RebeccaandLeysia,2002),itisobservedthatIMisbecomingaveryoutstandingcommercialopportunitiesalsoattractmaninvestors’intereststoenterthismarketaggressively.TakeTencentQQforexample,asthebiggestIMservicesproviderinChina,itsmarketshareisashighas65%,about85.5millionusersin2005(Analysys,2005b).AlthoughTencentQQoffersbasicIMfunctionforfree,italsoprovidesmanypaidservicessuchasavatars,onlinedatingandmessageforwardingfromIMtomobilephones.Inthesecondquarterof2005(2Q05),forthefirsttimeever,Tencentgeneratedover50%ofitsrevenuefromInternetvalueaddedservices(IVAS)andproduced41%ofitsrevenuefrommobilevalueaddedservices(MVAS)includingthesubscriptionserviceforIMforwardingtomobilephones.Thisshowsthepotentialofpaid-serviceswithaspecialfocusonMobileIMandPersonalExpressionasthekeytomonetizationinChina.Eventhough,moreandmoreTaiwanbusinessesaremovingovertoChina,thereishowever,verylittlediscussionaboutChinaE-CommerceandIMindustry.ThisstudyintendstoextendanunderstandingofE-CommerceandIMindustryinChinaandidentifythepossibledeterminantsthatleadtoindividuals’behavioralintentiontoadoptIM.Thus,theobjectiveofthisstudyistwofold:tounderstandtoE-CommercemarketinChinawithanemphasisintheIM;andtoexaminethehumanmotivationsunderlyingindividualbehavioralintentiontouseandpayforIMservicesinChina.InthenextsectionwewillprovideabriefoverviewtheChinaE-CommercelandscapeandtheIMindustrytoday.Insection3,wewillreviewcurrentrelatedtheories.ConceptualbackgroundofthestudyandhypotheseswillbediscussedinSection4.Thelastsectionwillexplaintheexpectedoutcomeofthisstudy.2.ChinaE-CommerceandIMindustryInthissec...
