Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 31 (2016) 313322

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Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jretconser

The effect of benets generated from interacting with branded mobile

apps on consumer satisfaction and purchase intentions
Ibrahim Alnawas a,n, Faisal Aburub b
a
Department of Marketing, Petra University, Amman, Jordan
b
Head of Management Information Systems Department, Petra University, Amman, Jordan

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study extends the Uses and Gratications approach (U&G) from a web context to a new one, i.e.
Received 24 January 2016 mobile applications. It seeks to investigate the effect of the key benets generated from interacting with
Received in revised form branded mobile apps on consumer satisfaction and purchase intentions. A self-administrated ques-
6 April 2016
tionnaire was used to collect the study data. The questionnaire was distributed to 358 participants inside
Accepted 8 April 2016
seven major malls in a Middle Eastern country (Jordan). Purposive sample was employed. The data were
analyzed using structural equation modeling (AMOS 18). Four key ndings emerged from the current
Keywords: research. First, the study conrms the existence of four interaction-based benets in the context of
Usage and gratication approach mobile apps, namely: learning benets, social integrative benets, personal integrative benets and
Experiential engagement
hedonic benets. Second, apart from social integrative benets, the other three benets are found to
Mobile apps
inuence consumer satisfaction to varying degrees. Third, with regard to purchase intentions, only
learning benets and hedonic benets are found to generate that. Finally, the study conrms the re-
lationship between consumer satisfaction and purchase intentions in a mobile context. The study con-
tributes to the literature through adopting the U&G approach as a theoretical base to examine the key
benets that consumers gain when interacting with branded mobile apps.
& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The availability of mobile phone applications (apps), which are
becoming ubiquitous on all mobile operating systems, are en-
couraging users to spend an increasing amount of time on their
phones (Garg and Telang, 2013). There are now 1.6 million apps
available for download for Android users and another 1.5 million
apps available for download from Apple's App Store (Statista,
2016a). In 2015, global mobile apps generated revenues around
41.1 billion dollars, and in 2020, consumers are expected to spend
over 101 billion dollars on mobile apps (Statista, 2016b). The
number of mobile internet users is expected to grow from 1.6 bil-
lion users worldwide to 3.8 billion by 2020 (GSMA, 2016).
However, users of existing mobile apps, which facilitate con-
ducting transactions, disseminating content and social networking
(Gasimov et al., 2010), expect "a more application like experience",
i.e. application-centric error messages, fast and animated transi-
tions and smooth load experiences (Nicolaou, 2013: 46). Such an
issue is not an easy task and it represents a signicant marketing
n
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: ialnawas@uop.edu.jo (I. Alnawas),
faburub@uop.edu.jo (F. Aburub).
challenge for app sponsors (Chen, 2012), given that most apps lose
76% of their users after the rst three months of use (Hareld,
2015).
Accordingly, researchers have utilized the most popular ap-
proaches; the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the The-
ory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Mekic and Ozlen, 2014; Kang, 2014;
Jambulingam, 2013; Yang, 2013; Kumar and Mukherjee, 2013;
Zheng et al., 2012), to help marketers to more fully understand
how and why people adopt smartphones or mobile apps, given
that advertising and app sales revenues are dependent upon them
(Gerlich et al., 2015). However, although previous studies were
instrumental in enhancing our understanding of the applicability
of TAM and TRA to predict consumer intention to adopt smart-
phones or mobile apps, they demand attention for two reasons.
First, the drivers of adopting mobile apps identied by previous
research describe the app itself or the sponsor of the app (i.e. the
company itself), rather than how the app ts into the consumer's
life. For example, perceived ease of use, credibility, trust and se-
curity are all related to either the app itself or its sponsor. From an
experiential engagement perspective (Calder and Malthouse,
2005), these characteristics offer little explanation (Cheung et al.,
2005) as to why consumers engage with the surrounding media
context. In other words, the value of the experiential engagement
approach is that a mobile app has something to focus on (Calder

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2016.04.004
0969-6989/& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
314 I. Alnawas, F. Aburub / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 31 (2016) 313322
et al., 2009). Second, prior research that used TAM and TRA did not
examine whether mobile apps affect consumer consequences such
as consumer satisfaction and purchase intentions, but rather it
examined the extent to which such theories help in predicting
consumer intention to adopt mobile apps.
In this sense, the Uses and Gratications approach (U&G),
which was originally proposed by Katz et al. (1974), indicates that
customers interaction experiences with the surrounding media
can themselves be a source of value as they provide users with a
number of benets, and thus may form the motivational founda-
tion for using mobile apps (Nambisan and Baron, 2007). However,
what these benets are, and how they inuence consumer sa-
tisfaction and his/her purchase intentions in a mobile context, are
still open empirical questions. In addition, it has already been
pointed out that sponsors of mobile apps nd challenges in at-
tracting and retaining users, therefore, there is a greater need to
link mobile apps with different consumer consequences to see the
extent to which a strategy is effective in communicating with
consumers. The extant literature barely has any evidence, to the
best of the researchers' knowledge, on whether using branded
mobile apps enhances consumer satisfaction and generates pur-
chase intentions (Bellman et al., 2011). Thus, to maximize the
promising marketing potential of apps, the current research has
three key objectives:
1. Extending the U&G approach to a mobile context in order to
examine the kind of benets that consumers gain from inter-
acting with branded mobile apps.
2. Testing the effect of these benets on consumer satisfaction and
purchase intentions.
3. Conrming the relationship between consumer satisfaction and
purchase intentions in a mobile context.
The contribution of the current study to the literature is
threefold. First, the study extends the concept of the U&G ap-
proach to a new context (i.e. mobile apps). Second, the study
provides insights on the nature of the benets generated when
interacting with branded mobile apps. Finally, the study provides
an empirical support for new relationships in a new context. The
rest of the paper is structured as follows: the second section
provides a theoretical background to the U&G approach. The third
section develops the study hypotheses. The fourth section ana-
lyzes and tests the research hypotheses. This will be followed by
concluding the ndings and providing managerial implications
and direction for future research.
2. Literature review
2.1. Branded mobile apps
Branded mobile apps could be dened as software down-
loadable to a mobile device which prominently displays a brand
identity via the name of the app and the appearance of a brand
logo throughout the user experience (Bellman et al., 2011: 191).
Branded mobile apps are either preinstalled on handheld devices
such as smartphones and tablet computers or can be downloaded
from various mobile app stores such as Google Play and Apples
App Store (Hoehle and Venkatesh, 2015). Such apps are developed
to satisfy a range of different needs including entertainment,
communication, information and commerce (Huang and Koratis,
2015). Branded mobile apps can be freeware, which allow con-
sumers to use the basic functions of them without a time limit,
and can also be upgraded to the full version. They can also be
trialware, which contain all the functionality of the app but its use
is restricted to a specic time frame, beyond which payment is
needed (Lee and Tan, 2013).
Zhao and Balague (2015) identied ve business objectives
when developing branded apps, namely: communication (i.e.
communicating brand values, information and products to im-
prove brand image and awareness); CRM (i.e. managing rm in-
teractions with customers through brand engagement with loyal
customers, collecting user data and generating product re-
commendations); sales (i.e. branded apps aim to develop com-
pletely new shopping experiences and interaction models for
consumers, with a whole set of capabilities including location
awareness, context sensing and product customization); product
innovation (i.e. allowing consumers to generate new ideas for
products and building a community for sharing and rating ideas);
and marketing research (i.e. helping rms survey their customers
in new ways). The authors pointed out that individual branded
apps can have a number of different business objectives and that
individual brands can design multiple mobile apps to target dif-
ferent products and business objectives.
However, when studying branded mobile apps, prior research
tended to examine the key attributes and the technical aspects of
mobile apps, rather than the benets that users obtain from using
a particular app. Among those attributes, previous studies identi-
ed the following: usefulness, enjoyment, ease of use (Yang, 2013;
Kim et al., 2010); perceived price (Wu et al., 2015); convenience,
speed and personalization (Hess et al., 2009); search time and
accuracy (Adipat et al., 2011); design, innovation, feedback and
efciency (Kim et al., 2012); and color, text and menu icons
(Sonderegger and Sauer, 2010). Only recently have researchers
started to examine the benets that drive users to download/use
branded mobile apps. This issue is examined in the following
subsection.
2.2. The U&G approach and branded mobile apps
The U&G approach is developed to study: (a) the reasons be-
hind audience engagement in different forms of media behavior,
(b) the gratications that attract and hold audiences to the dif-
ferent types of media, and (c) the nature of contents that fulll the
psychological and social needs of the audience (Wimmer and
Dominick, 1994). It explains the audiences role in selecting a
specic type of media and assumes media users to be driven by
individual needs and gratication-seeking motives (Blumler and
Katz, 1974; Krcmar and Strizhakova, 2009). Thus, the key tenants
of U&G are that media users are active communicators, goal or-
iented and driven by specic motivations that vary among in-
dividuals and across communication processes; and that social and
structural determinants (e.g. media availability) have a major role
in mediating communication behavior and effects (Rubin, 2009).
The primary way the U&G approach is distinguished from other
approaches/theories that examine media effect is that U&G con-
siders the audience as the starting point, whereas the other ap-
proaches/theories usually examine the same issue from the com-
municator's point of view (Windahl, 1981). In this particular vein,
Katz et al. (1974) identied four broad types of benets that au-
dience can derive from using media: cognitive benets; social
integrative benets; personal integrative benets and hedonic
benets.
The U&G approach has also been used in different contexts
ranging from radio, television, mobile TV, and news consumption
(Rubin, 1984; Shim et al., 2015; Choi et al., 2009; Lee, 2013) to
mobile phones, mobile learning, and social networking sites
(Paragas et al., 2011; Hashim et al., 2015; Wei et al., 2015). These
studies, which mainly draw on the framework developed by Katz
et al. (1974), focused primarily on consumers' interactions in a
specic media context (i.e. interactions with the media itself and
interactions with other media users) and, how such interactions
 I. Alnawas, F. Aburub / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 31 (2016) 313322
create gratication opportunities or gratify their different needs.
For example, the primary motives of using xed telephones are
sociability, instrumentality and reassurance (Dimmick and Sikan,
1994), while those using SMS text messages seek immediate ac-
cess, relaxation, information and socialization (Grellhest and Pu-
nyanunt-Carter, 2012). Those of using mobile phones are affection
and sociability, information seeking, immediate access, entertain-
ment, reassurance and status (Leung and Wei, 2000). Other studies
examined the general gratications sought by consumers when
using social networking sites and identied the following grati-
cations: interpersonal communication, self-expression, entertain-
ment (Hunt et al., 2012), belonging, hedonism, self-esteem and
reciprocity (Pai and Arnott, 2013).
In the context of mobile apps, previous researchers identied
two (Gerlich et al., 2015), four (Kim and Park, 2014; Jung, 2014), six
(Lewis et al., 2014; Kang et al., 2015), seven (Lin et al., 2014) and
eight motives (Lee et al., 2010) for downloading/using mobile
apps. For example, Gerlich et al. (2015) identied two key factors
for using mobile apps. These factors consist of endogenously
motivated activities, such as acquisition of knowledge and edu-
cation, and exogenously driven needs and wants that tap into
social activities. In mobile content-sharing games, Lee et al. (2010)
identied eight dimensions of gratications: information dis-
covery, socialization, leisure, escape problems, information quality,
personal status, entertainment and relationship maintenance.
However, when studying why consumers download apps at high
rates, Lewis et al. (2014) found the following associated gratica-
tions: personal productivity, entertainment, personal enjoyment,
self-improvement, status, education and communication with
others. For other researchers, social benets, mobility, entertain-
ment, self-status seeking, pursuit of happiness, information seek-
ing and socialization represent the primary motives driving users
to download/adopt mobile apps (Lin et al., 2014).
However, when closely examining the studies conducted on the
motives of using mobiles apps, four observations can be made,
which urge the need for further research on such an issue. First,
although previous studies mainly draw on the U&G approach, they
did not appear to have a theoretically nor an empirically grounded
agreement on the nature and the number of motives for using
mobile apps. Second, the nature of motives identied by prior
research appear to overlap with each other, which may cause
confusion to branded app developers. For example, social benets
and socialization, which were identied by Lin et al. (2014) as two
distinct motives, tap into social integrative benets that was ori-
ginally proposed by Katz et al. (1974). Similarly, pursuit of happi-
ness and entertainment, which were proposed by Lin et al. (2014)
as two distinct motives, tap into hedonic benets that was sug-
gested by Katz et al. (1974). The same issue also applied to the
work of Lewis et al. (2014). For example, the authors suggested
that entertainment and personal enjoyment were two separate
motives, and that self-improvement and status were another two
separate motives. However, a close look at these motives suggests
that the rst two motives tap into hedonic benets and the other
two motives tap into personal integrative benets. Likewise, lei-
sure, escape problems and entertainment that were suggested by
Lee et al. (2010) tap into hedonic benets, and relationship
maintenance and socialization tap into social integrative benets.
In this particular vein, it is worth noting that Katz et al. (1974)
originally proposed four primary motives for using media, as will
be discussed next. Thus, it could be argued that identifying specic
and particular motives, as previous studies did, may restrict and
hinder the ability of branded app developers from developing
more creative and innovative apps. Such an approach may lead
app developers to develop apps that respond specically to those
particularly motives, and thus ignoring other particular motives
that were not identied by previous studies. In this case, rather
315
than trying to generate a list of particular motives, which surely
cannot be denite, inclusive and complete, it may be better to
identify and conrm the primary/main motives in a mobile con-
text, and then leave it to app developers themselves to tailor and
integrate specic features into their apps in away that respond to
those primary motives.
Third, reducing the motives of downloading/using apps to two
motives as proposed by Gerlich et al. (2015) or increasing them to
a large number of motives as suggested by Lin et al. (2014) and Lee
et al. (2010) is problematic. This is because when reducing the
motives to a very small number, it may hinder branded app de-
velopers from fully beneting from the capability and capacity of
their apps, which in turn may lead to developing apps that lack
some of the key benets that users look for. On the other hand,
when increasing the number of motives, it may not provide clear
guidance to branded app developers as such an issue may not
allow them to truly understand which features they need to focus
on when developing a particular app. This is particularly important
given that the development of mobile apps is expensive and in-
tegrating mobile channels into existing strategy requires sig-
nicant investments (Deloitte, 2012). Fourth, previous studies tend
to research the key motives for using branded mobile apps with-
out examining their effects on consumer outcomes such as sa-
tisfaction and purchase intention.
Thus, to overcome the above issue, the current research
adopted the framework of Katz et al. (1974), which identied four
types of benets that media users can obtain from using any type
of media (in this case, from using mobile apps). These benets are
as follows:
2.3. Learning benets
Include, but are not restricted to, acquiring information to in-
crease the understanding of the environment, learning and self-
education, knowing about relevant events in immediate sur-
roundings, society and the world; obtaining advice and decision
choices and practical matters or views; gaining a sense of security
through knowledge (Calder et al., 2009: 323; Nambisan and Baron,
2007: 43; McQuail, 1983: 82). We interpret this kind of benet in a
mobile app context as the ability of mobile apps to help consumers
to: become more knowledgeable about products, make good de-
cisions, become smarter and up-to-date on things they care about
and stimulate them to think about things in new ways.
2.4. Social integrative benets
Include, but are not restricted to, identifying with others;
gaining a sense of belonging; enabling the individuals to connect
with family, friends and society; developing and enhancing the
consumer's ties with relevant others, getting insight into the cir-
cumstances of others; nding a common ground for discussion
and social interaction; having a substitute for real-life compa-
nionship (Calder et al., 2009: 323; Nambisan and Baron, 2007: 43;
McQuail, 1983: 82). In a mobile app context, these benets are
derived from the social and relational connections that develop
over time among the consumer and other users of the same app.
As such, this kind of benet can be dened as the extent to which
mobile apps promote values that are similar to their users and that
make them feel more a part of their community and better
citizens.
2.5. Personal integrative benets
Include, but are not restricted to, nding models of behavior;
enhancing the credibility, status and condence of the individual,
nding reinforcement for personal values; and getting insight into
316 I. Alnawas, F. Aburub / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 31 (2016) 313322
one's self (Calder et al., 2009: 323; Nambisan and Baron, 2007: 43;
McQuail, 1983: 82). In a mobile context, these benets relate to the
ability of mobile apps to: enhance the credibility, status and con-
dence of the consumer; improve his/her reputation or prestige
among peer customers and the sponsor of the app; and allow the
consumer to achieve a sense of self-efcacy.
2.6. Hedonic benets
Include, but are not restricted to, enhancing aesthetic or plea-
surable experiences; escaping from problems; relaxing; releasing
emotion; obtaining intrinsic cultural or aesthetic enjoyment;
having fun and lling time (Calder et al., 2009: 323; Nambisan and
Baron, 2007: 43; McQuail, 1983: 82). This last type of benet
embodies the ability of mobile apps to make users feel relaxed and
rewarded, lighten their mood and hold their attention, surprise
them and provide fun while users are engaged and make them not
want to stop. It also refers to the extent to which mobile apps have
a distinct personality and are in contrast to the mainstream media.
Following the work of Calder et al. (2009) and others (e.g.
OBrien and Toms, 2008; Nambisan and Baron, 2007), we argue
that these four benets are not mutually exclusive, and that mo-
bile app experience is realized through engendering and offering
multiple benets. For example, some content of mobile apps such
as Wal-Mart and Procter and Gamble offer users learning benets,
i.e. users believe that the app offers them information that helps
them make important decisions and stimulates them to think
about things in new ways, yet other content in the same apps
provide users with personal integrative benets that promote
values that are similar to them, and make them feel more a part of
their community and better citizens. Thus, different users could
have different benets with the same content offered by mobile
apps.
There are also many examples where companies have em-
ployed mobile apps successfully to offer consumers different
benets. For example, in 2010, Ikea launched a free app which has
two purposes: helping customers identify their own unique style
by completing a series of tests; and creating an augmented reality
that allows customers to use their mobiles phones to see how
furniture will look in their home (Agius, 2014). In South Korea,
Tesco, a UK-based retailer, plastered the walls of subway stations
with life-size photos of products on store shelves, along with QR
codes that can be scanned by an app called Home Plus. The app
allows consumers to shop and arrange for delivery while waiting
for their trains (Gupta, 2013).
3. Hypotheses development and suggested model
3.1. Consequences of mobile app experience: satisfaction and pur-
chase intention
Two behavioral outcomes of online customer experience are
identied in prior research: satisfaction and purchase intention (e.g.,
Rose et al., 2012; Ranaweera et al., 2008), and they will be hy-
pothesized in the current study as consequences of the four ben-
ets generated from interacting with mobile apps. Satisfaction
from using mobile apps results from the user's assessment and
impression of the app performance across a number of aspects,
whereas purchase intention involves individual assessment of the
subjective probability or degree of effort one will exert to purchase
from the sponsor of the mobile app in the future.
There are three reasons as to why it is expected that the four
interaction-based benets of mobile apps would affect satisfaction
and purchase intention. First, mobile apps have numerous inter-
active features which enable mobile app sponsors to provide
distinctive brand experience unavailable with a traditional mobile
web experience (Moceri et al., 2011). Thus, users of mobile apps do
not simply encounter brands when surng the Internet via mobile
devices, but they actively and enthusiastically interact with them
(Kim et al., 2013). Second, mobile apps appeal to consumers for
both social and professional reasons (Franko and Tirrell, 2012), and
therefore, they are not perceived by users as an advert interrupting
their mobile experience (Hutton and Rodnick, 2009). Finally, mo-
bile apps are expected to offer users pervasive, highly targetable
and close to purchase and consumption experiences at a con-
siderably lower cost (Bagdasarian, 2013). They would also allow
for context-aware engagement with users, which can be tailored
to their wants and needs when making purchasing decisions
(Aaron, 2013). Thus, in the following subsections, the effect of each
interaction-based benet of mobile apps on satisfaction and pur-
chase intention is discussed and hypothesized.
3.2. Learning benets-satisfaction and purchase intention
It is widely accepted that mobile apps could provide important
factual and experiential information about brands (e.g. Krafts
iFood Assistant app offers users meal type and preparation time,
recipes indexed by ingredients, a shopping list feature and in-
structional videos) (Deloitte, 2011). The experiential knowledge
acquired from interacting with mobile apps and the beliefs about
potential learning benets would allow customers to use the
product more effectively (e.g. Nambisan and Baron, 2007; Kim
et al., 2012). A searchable product catalog, featured sales and a
store locator, which are offered by mobile apps, will further aug-
ment the experiential knowledge obtained from interacting with
them (Phunware, 2014). Additionally, when consumers approach a
new in-store display, mobile apps can automatically trigger pop-
up videos, coupons or other product-related information, and can
also help them to navigate the store with turn-by-turn directions
so they can nd what theyre looking for. For example, A.C. Moore
mobile users can access the arts and crafts retailers weekly ads,
review its portfolio of crafts projects and join its rewards program
all in real time (MicroStrategy, 2014). Similarly, store associates of
Gucci are armed with an app that allows them to provide a higher
level of service to Guccis customers and recommend products
that, statistically, consumers are more likely to buy (ibid). Ac-
cordingly, the following hypotheses are formulated:
H1a. Learning benets offered by mobile apps are positively as-
sociated with customer satisfaction.
H1b. Learning benets offered by mobile apps are positively as-
sociated with purchase intention.
3.3. Personal integrative benets- satisfaction and purchase
intention
Mobile apps include some progressive options such as video
and Facetime usage, Click-to-Call and Click-to-Connect/Click-to-
Talk or instant messaging (ICMI, 2013). They allow consumers to
continue browsing them while chatting with the sponsors of the
apps and to share their live mobile screens with their chat agents.
The sponsor of the app can also display a button in the chat
window to easily guide consumers to a specic product or page
(LivePerson, 2012). This kind of one-to-one chatting, which ad-
dresses product-related contents, is expected to enhance the op-
portunities for consumers to establish or improve their expertise-
based reputation in one's social system and achieve a sense of self-
efcacy by inuencing peer customers and/or the sponsor of the
app (e.g. Nambisan and Baron, 2007). Chatting with the sponsor of
the app regarding complex product-usage problems offers the
 I. Alnawas, F. Aburub / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 31 (2016) 313322
context for consumer to suggest innovative product usage, and
thus, inuencing peer consumers. It also allows consumers to
suggest innovative product improvement ideas, which in turn af-
fects the product development plans of the sponsor of the app. The
more in-depth and varied the product-related issues that are
discussed with the sponsor of the app, the greater the opportunity
for consumers to show their unique knowledge and breadth of
expertise, and thus, the higher the possibility to enhance their
product-related status in their social system (Nambisan and Baron,
2007; Jeppesen and Molin, 2003). In a similar vein, Adidas de-
veloped a free training app called mi-Coach to help customers to
improve themselves 'physically and emotionally' through perso-
nalized coaching (Banham, 2010). Such an app is expected to en-
hance Adidas users' satisfaction with Adidas products and increase
the likelihood of buying making a purchase. Accordingly, the fol-
lowing hypotheses are formulated:
H2a. Personal integrative benets offered by mobile apps are
positively associated with customer satisfaction.
H2b. Personal integrative benets offered by mobile apps are
positively associated with purchase intention.
3.4. Social integrative benets- satisfaction and purchase intention
With regard to content personalization, recent mobile apps
have started to offer a content tagging attribute into their designs
(Splunk, 2015). Additionally, with regard to content rating, com-
menting and sharing, a large number of mobile apps allow their
users to like, rate, comment on their contents, and to share the
contents with external social networks (Zhao and Balague, 2015).
Interactions among users via mobile apps may take different forms
such as following/un-following people, peer-to-peer conversation,
and inviting contacts from existing social networks. These forms
which have recently started to be incorporated in app designs
(Mblox, 2012), will eventually lead to building a community for
socializing (Kim et al., 2013). Moreover, when the interactions
among users are deep, the opportunity to develop a greater mu-
tual understanding of one anothers product-related issues and
problems becomes higher. This in return would allow a consumer
to establish a greater number of ties with other consumers, and
thus enhancing his/her beliefs about the focal product. As such,
the following hypotheses are proposed:
H3a. Social integrative benets offered by mobile apps are posi-
tively associated with customer satisfaction.
H3b. Social integrative benets offered by mobile apps are posi-
tively associated with purchase intention.
3.5. Hedonic benets-satisfaction and purchase intention
Mobile apps, which tap into consumers' needs for aesthetic,
fun, and emotional experiences, and allow consumers to escape
from stressful events and the demands of day-to-day life, are
viewed as interesting and entertaining (Choi et al., 2011). Thus, a
large number of companies have started to leverage hedonic de-
sign features in their mobile apps (e.g. in-app games, infotain-
ment), which go beyond the prime utilitarian intention (Mettler
et al., 2014). A recent study indicated that consumers repeatedly
considered the added enjoyment when using grocery shopping
apps, and that they described a gamication effect from app usage
with emotional and psychological gratication (Childs, 2015). The
mobile app experience is also considered perfect for swiping
through visually appealing images. In this vein, Criteo (2015)
found that the average user can see 14 products via the app vs.
four products on the browser, and that mobile apps are easier to
317
purchase, which leads to a purchase rate that is 1.6x higher than
via the mobile browser. This means that mobile apps lead to an
intrinsic reward which encourages a pleasurable experience. The
assessment of and the impression from such an experience is ex-
pected to enhance consumer satisfaction and to encourage con-
sumers to buy via mobile apps. As experiencing pleasure/enjoy-
ment is viewed as a major factor that inuences consumers' atti-
tudes towards the adoption of a system and/or a new technology
(Bruner and Kumar, 2005; Vander Heijden, 2003), then it is rea-
sonable to hypothesize the following:
H4a. Hedonic benets are positively associated with satisfaction.
H4b. Hedonic benets are positively associated with purchase
intention.
3.6. Satisfaction-purchase intention
In an ofine context, it is concluded that "customers evaluate
future purchase intentions based on the value obtained from
previous episodes/contacts, with relationship benets being a
proxy for expectations of future benets" (Olaru et al., 2008). This
view is conrmed in an online context where Khalifa and Liu
(2007) provide support for the relationships between online cus-
tomer experience, online customer satisfaction and online pur-
chase intention. Online customer satisfaction is also found to be a
key driver of purchase intention (Wu et al., 2015). Based on that,
the following is hypothesized:
H5. User satisfaction is positively associated with repurchase in-
tentions. Figure 1 summarizes the conceptual model of the current
study.
4. Research methodology
4.1. Item generation and purication of scale items
The current study borrowed and adapted items to measure the
four interaction-based benets of mobile apps from the work of
Calder et al. (2009) and Nambisan and Baron (2007). These items
are as follows: learning benets (four items), hedonic benets
(seven items), social integrative benets (seven items), and per-
sonal integrative benets (ve items). User satisfaction (Khalifa
and Liu, 2007) and purchase intentions (Spears and Singh, 2004)
were measured using four and ve items, respectively. Careful
attention was paid to rewording some of the items to make them
suitable for the current study. The nal questionnaire consisted of
33 items. All scales were measured using a ve-point Likert scale,
except purchase intentions, which was measured using a semantic
scale (See Appendix). "Not applicable" options were included.
4.2. Data collection
The current study gathered the survey data via a self-admini-
strated questionnaire. A purposeful sample was employed. That is,
the study rst asked participants if they had branded mobile apps
Interaction-Based Benefits Consumer Satisfaction
Learning Benefits
Hedonic Benefits
Personal Integrative Benefits
Social Integrative Benefits
Purchase Intentions
Fig. 1. The study's framework.
318 I. Alnawas, F. Aburub / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 31 (2016) 313322

and if they had used them. Those who met these two conditions Table 2
were eligible to participate. Respondents were approached at dif- Hypotheses testing.
ferent times of the day and different days of the week. The survey
Hypotheses Sig. Level R2
asked the participants to refer to the primary branded app they
currently use. This resulted in identifying a number of different H1a: learning benets-satisfaction 0.209 0.05 0.49
branded apps such as banking apps, hotels apps, sport-related apps, H1b: learning benets-purchase intentions 0.240 0.05 0.25
cars apps, cosmetics apps and food-related apps. It is worth noting H2a: social integrative benets- satisfaction 0.060 Insignicance
H2b: social integrative benets-purchase 0.102 Insignicance
that the choice of not focusing on a particular brand/industry has its intentions
strengths and weaknesses. The main strengths of this approach are H3a: personal integrative benets-satisfaction 0.389 0.001 0.49
that: (1) it helps to generate accumulative evidence on the key H3b: personal integrative benets- purchase 0.077 Insignicance 0.25
benets that users obtain regardless of the type of the app they use, intentions
H4a: hedonic benets-satisfaction 0.228 0.05 0.49
and thus, encouraging any branded app developer to focus on them;
H4b: hedonic benets-purchase intentions 0.350 0.001 0.25
and (2) it helps to provide a compelling evidence on the effect of H5: satisfaction-purchase intentions 0.250 0.01 0.25
these benets on satisfaction and purchase intention in the context
of branded mobile apps. On the other hand, the main weaknesses of
this approach are that: (1) it does not take into account the specicity rst-order factors correlated with each other. This conceptualization
associated with a particular brand/industry, and therefore it does not provided a good t: CMIN/DF (1.495), RMSEA (0.055), GFI (0.895), IFI
provide detailed insights on the relative importance of these benets (0.954), TLI (0.944) and CFI (0.953).
at brand/industry level; and (2) it does not offer deep insights re-
garding the benets that have the highest impact on satisfaction and 4.4. Hypotheses testing
purchase intention at brand/industry level. Given that the in-
vestigated topic is a very recent one and that there is little research AMOS (18.0) was also used to model the structural relation-
on it, the choice was made to not focus on a specic branded mobile ships proposed by our model. The results provide support for H1a
app or industry. Additionally, although the development of branded ( 0.209, Pr0.05, R2 0.49) and H1b ( 0.240, Pr 0.05,
mobile apps is expensive, there is a severe lack of research on the R2 0.25), thus conrming the positive association between
effect of branded mobile apps on different consumer consequences. learning benets and satisfaction and purchase intentions. How-
Such an issue further encouraged the researchers of the current ever, the ndings did not conrm H2a ( 0.060, P4 0.05) and
study to not focus on a particular branded app or industry in order to H2b ( 0.102, P40.05). Therefore, H2a, which suggests that so-
provide convincing evidence of the effect of benets generated from cial integrative benets are positively associated with satisfaction,
interacting with branded mobile apps on consumer outcomes. and H2b, which posits that social integrative benets are positively
The study recruited 358 participants (n 358) inside seven associated with purchase intentions, were not supported. Re-
major malls in Jordan. Forty-six questionnaires were excluded due garding H3a, which indicates that personal integrative benets are
to their partial completeness. Accordingly, 311 usable ques- positively associated with satisfaction, it was conrmed ( 0.389,
tionnaires remained for the nal data analysis. Participants' gender P40.001, R2 0.49). However, no support was found for H3b,
was: 54.5% male and 45.5% female. Participants' experience with which suggests that personal integrative benets are positively
mobile phones was: 3.56% less than a year, 39.3% 13 years, 38.8% associated with purchase intentions ( 0.077, P40.05). The
46 years, 11.6% 79 years, and 5.8% more than ten years. Partici- ndings also provide support for H4a, i.e. hedonic integrative
pants' daily usage was: 7.1% less than one hour, 35.7% 13 h, 40.2% benets are positively associated with satisfaction ( 0.228,
46 h, and (17%) more than six hours daily. P40.05, R2 0.49), and H4b, i.e. hedonic integrative benets are
positively associated with purchase intentions ( 0.350,
4.3. Measurement validation P40.001, R2 0.25). Finally, the ndings conrm H5, which sug-
gests that satisfaction is positively associated with purchase in-
A factorial analysis was rst performed to ensure a clear six-factor tentions ( 0.250, P40.01, R2 0.25). Table 2 summarizes the
model. Seven items were deleted due to cross loading (40.30) and/ ndings of the research hypotheses.
or low factorability (o0.50). This led to reducing the original scales
to 26 items. Conrmatory factor analysis was then conducted using
AMOS (18.0). The results suggest sufcient reliability for all the 5. Discussion and conclusions
scales: composite reliability (CR) ranged from 0.808 to 0.944, and
indicators reliability were all signicant at 0.001 (see Table 1). Con- The recent diffusion of smartphones has made marketers re-
vergent validity was evaluated via average variance extracted (AVE). cognize the potential of smartphone apps as an effective market-
All the scales exceeded the minimum threshold value of 0.50, ran- ing communication tool since apps take advantage of mobile
ging from 0.514 to 0.848 (see Table 1). The criterion of Fornell and capabilities to perform activities that traditional desktop compu-
Larcker (1981), which was used to assess discriminant validity, in- ters cannot. Mobile apps have changed from being a commu-
dicates that the AVE exceeded the squared correlations between all nication tool that locates the exact information sought in a tradi-
pairs of variables (see Table 1). Our proposed model was tested as six tional web environment to a tool that alters information to

Table 1
Measurement validation.

Indicator Reliability CR AVE Sat Learn Social Personal Hedonic Purchase

Sat 0.770.83 0.849 0.653 0.808

Learn 0.680.79 0.808 0.514 0.344 0.717
Social 0.680.84 0.85 0.586 0.319 0.240 0.765
Personal 0.730.82 0.857 0.601 0.568 0.144 0.382 0.775
Hedonic 0.770.88 0.887 0.663 0.471 0.079 0.262 0.425 0.814
Purchase 0.850.96 0.944 0.848 0.472 0.275 0.270 0.284 0.421 0.921
 I. Alnawas, F. Aburub / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 31 (2016) 313322
different user contexts in a highly interactive and tailored manner
(Kim et al., 2013). Thus, to gain insights into this communication
tool, the current study examined the key benets that consumers
gain when interacting with branded mobile apps.
Our ndings provide support for the notion that in order to fully
understand customer interaction with branded mobile apps, we need
to shift our focus away from the characteristics of the app and/or the
sponsor of the app and more towards consumers' actual interaction
with the app. The U&G approach provides an alternative way to
understand usage of branded mobile apps beyond the deterministic
paradigm of user adoption. At the heart of this approach, branded
mobile app users are active consumers who have primary motives
and look for particular types of gratications when downloading/
using mobile apps, rather than passive ones who are assumed to
respond to the given technology as in the traditional research. Ac-
cordingly, this approach focused specically on what consumers ac-
tually do with branded mobile apps or what gratications they ac-
quire from using such apps, rather than focusing on factors affecting
consumer adoption of branded mobile apps.
This means that consumers' interaction with branded mobile
apps can itself be an essential source of value and can shape his/her
future satisfaction and purchase intentions. In other words, branded
mobile apps which: make them smarter and up-to-date on things
they care about, stimulate them to think about things in new ways,
lighten their mood and hold their attention, improve the consumer's
reputation or prestige among peer customers and the sponsor of the
app, promote values that are similar to their consumers and make
them feel more a part of their community, will improve consumers'
decision making, thus, enhancing customer satisfaction.
Accordingly, the current study makes a number of contribu-
tions to media literature in general and mobile marketing in par-
ticular. First, unlike previous research, which mainly used TRA and
its family (e.g. TAM) to investigate aspects related to branded
mobile apps, the current study adopted an Experiential Approach
and used the U&G approach as a theoretical base to identify the
key interaction-based benets that are generated from interacting
with branded mobile apps. It shows that these benets, which
have been promoted and discussed in an ofine context (e.g. Ru-
bin, 1984; Algesheimer et al., 2005) can be extended to a new
context, i.e. branded mobile apps, and can also be a source of
competitive advantage for rms. Thus, the current research pro-
vides evidence on the existence of four interaction-based benets
in the context of branded mobile apps, namely: learning benets,
personal integrative benets, social integrative benets and he-
donic benets. The current study also extends previous re-
searchers' work in other online settings such as websites (Calder
et al., 2009) and virtual customer environments (Nambisan and
Baron, 2007) to a new online setting and shows that these benets
are valid, reliable and have predictive validity.
Additionally, our study differs from those studies that utilized
the U&G approach, in the context of mobile apps, in terms of not
identifying a very small number of motives (e.g. Gerlich et al.,
2015) or identifying a relatively large number of motives (Lin et al.,
2014; Lee et al., 2010) for downloading/using mobile apps. As such,
the current study provided a reasonable number of motives that
are expected to offer branded app developers clear guidance on
the key features that need to be to integrated when developing
their apps. Further, prior research in this area tended to identify
particular/specic motives that might be app-specic or brand-
specic, which may not be applicable to other apps or brands.
Such an approach may restrict the creativity of branded app de-
velopers and may also restrict the development of innovative app
features.
Second, the study provides evidence on the nature of the re-
lationships between the four interaction-based benets and con-
sumer satisfaction. It shows that the effect of these benets on
319
consumer satisfaction in a descending order is as follows: personal
integrative benets, hedonic integrative benets and learning
benets. However, social integrative benets did not appear to
inuence consumer satisfaction. It is worth noting that features
that allow web users to socialize with each other are easily
available and incorporated into the majority of current website
designs. However, in mobile apps, those features (e.g. content
tagging, online chatting, peer-to-peer conversation and the ability
to follow or unfollow people) are not incorporated into the design
of the majority of current branded apps (Zhao and Balague, 2015),
and those companies which have incorporated that into their apps
design, have only done that recently. In other words, those fea-
tures that allow branded apps' users to socialize are still in their
infant stage, which could be the reason behind the insignicant
effect of social integrative benets on consumer benets.
Third: the study provides some support for the relationships
between interaction-based benets and purchase intentions. The
ndings reveal that only hedonic benets and learning benets
affect purchase intentions. With regard to the other two benets,
their effect was insignicant. Such ndings are, to some extent, in
line with previous studies (Calder et al., 2009; Kleinen et al., 2009;
Nambisan and Baron, 2007; Park and SuJin, 2006), which con-
cluded that utilitarian benets and hedonic benets are both im-
portant in adopting and using mobile devices, services and mar-
keting. This means that the design of branded apps must contain
both hedonistic aspects, which aim to provide self-fullling value
to the consumer (Vander Heijden, 2003) and utilitarian elements,
which aim to provide instrumental value to the consumer. Finally,
the relationship between satisfaction and purchase intentions that
have been advocated in both ofine and online settings has also
been conrmed in the context of branded mobile apps.
6. Managerial implications
The current study offers two key managerial implications. First,
rms need to realize that enhancing consumer satisfaction, gen-
erating purchase intentions and supporting rms' activity, require
adopting proactive measures to create and sustain app environ-
ments that would contribute towards all four types of interaction-
based benets. For example, with regard to learning benets, rms
are required to increase the depth and the breadth of product-
related contents, provide users with app interfaces that they can
modify/alter to suit their needs and preferences, provide highly
personalized and customized information to consumers' interests
and preferences, and make the content easily accessible and
readable to enhance consumers' ability to process the information.
With regard to hedonic benets, sponsors of branded apps need to
go beyond features that address issues related to productivity and/
or performance improvement, and focus on features that provide
aesthetic, enjoyable, pleasurable and emotional experiences. In
other words, the experiential aspect of the app is equally im-
portant to the technical as well as the functional aspects of the
apps, given its contribution to user satisfaction and purchase in-
tentions. Second, the scale, which measures the strength of the
four interaction-based benets, can be used by marketers to
deepen their understanding of the benets their brands offer for
their customers, and can also be used for assessment, planning
and tracking purposes, as well as for measuring the extent to
which the users experience the intended benet.
7. Limitations and direction for future research
Given that this research is the rst, to the best of our knowl-
edge, to examine the benets that users gain in an app
320 I. Alnawas, F. Aburub / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 31 (2016) 313322

environment, future research can examine the following areas.
First, this study was conducted in a Middle Eastern culture;
therefore future research is encouraged to conrm the ndings of
the current study in another context (e.g. Western culture). This in
turn would lead to the provision of further evidence of the nature
of these benets and their effect on user satisfaction and purchase
intention. Second, the current study did not focus on a specic
brand or a specic industry, but rather examined a range of dif-
ferent branded mobile apps. However, given the relatively small
sample size (311) compared with the number of apps that were
identied in the current study, the researchers were unable to
examine how the four benets vary from a brand/industry to
another and how their effects on satisfaction and purchase in-
tentions differ across brands/industries. Therefore, to provide
more detailed insights on such issues, future studies could look at
ways to examine that. Third, future research can examine how
relevant product and consumer characteristics (e.g. product type,
price of product, perceived differences among brands, gender)
moderate the relationships between interaction-based benets of
mobile benets and satisfaction and purchase intention. These
factors have been found to moderate the relationships between
online experience, satisfaction and purchase intention to varying
degrees, thus, it would be useful to examine them in the context of
mobile apps to further advance our understanding on the topic.

Appendix

Learning benets
This app helps me to obtain solutions to specic product-usage related problems
This app stimulates my thinking about lots of different topics*
This app provides information that helps me make important decisions
This app enhance my knowledge about the product and its usage
This app helps me better manage my money

Social integration benets

This app often gives me something to talk about
I do quite a bit of socializing on this app
I often feel guilty about the amount of time I spend on using this app socializing*
This app does a good job of getting its visitors to contribute or provide feedback
I'd like to meet other people who regularly use this app*
I've gotten interested in things I otherwise wouldnot have because of others on this app*
This app expands my personal/social network

Personal integrative benets

Using this app makes me feel like a better citizen*.
Using this app makes a difference in my life
This app reects my values.
This app enhances my status/reputation as product expert
This app reinforces my product-related credibility/authority

Hedonic Benets
It's a treat for me.
Using this app improves my mood, makes me happier
I like to use this app when I am eating or taking a break
While I am using this app, I don't think about other apps I might go to use
I spend some enjoyable and relaxing time when using this app
This is one of the apps I always go to anytime I am using the mobile*
It helps me to get my day started in the morning*

User satisfaction
I am satised with my overall experiences from using this mobile app
I am satised with the pre-purchase experience from using this mobile app (e.g., consumer education, product search, quality of
information about products, product comparison)
I am satised with the purchase experience from using this mobile app (e.g., ordering, payment procedure).
I am satised with the post-purchase experience from using this mobile app (e.g., customer support and after sales support, handling of
returns/refunds, delivery care).

Repurchase intentions
Never/denitely
Denitely do not intend to buy/denitely intend
Denitely not buy it/denitely buy it
Probably not/probably buy it
Very low/high purchase interest
* items were deleted either to low factorability and/or cross loading
 I. Alnawas, F. Aburub / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 31 (2016) 313322
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