RESEARCH ARTICLE

Copyright © 2017 American Scientific Publishers Advanced Science Letters

All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Vol. 23, 10573–10576, 2017

Mobile Applications: Integrated User

Acceptance Model
Niken F. Ernungtyas1 ∗ , Billy Sarwono1 2 , Eriyanto Eriyanto1 2 , and Irwansyah Irwansyah1 2
1
Graduate Program of Communication, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
2
Department of Communication, Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia

Mobile applications that embedded on the smartphone have been accepted to explore any information and
extend any activities. Moreover, the users of mobile applications come from not only the first-tier cities but also
from other connected regions. Unfortunately, not many studies focused on behavioral variables especially on
the psychological motives of user’s acceptance of mobile applications. It makes limited understanding about
the acceptance of it. Therefore, this study constructed a prediction conceptual model by applying the theory
of planned behavior, the theory of reason action, and technology acceptance model. The model was tested by
online survey and then it was analyzed by using partial least square structural equation model. The result of
this study showed all hypothesis were supported. The attitude, subjective norms, perceived (behavioral control,
usefulness, and ease of use) determined behavioral intention to use and actual system use on mobile appli-
cations. As the result, this study supported the application and the integration of the construction of the theory
of planned behavior, the theory of reason action, and technology acceptance model on mobile application in
Indonesia context.

Keywords: Mobile Applications, Planned Behavior, Reason Actions, Technology Acceptance, User
Acceptance.

1. INTRODUCTION Moreover, Indonesia is a potential market and start up business

In 2016, the mobile phone user increases into 65.2 million.1
At the same time, the installing of mobile applications (mobile
apps) also growing exponentially.2 In 2015, mobile apps usage
grow 58% in a global world.3 In Indonesia, mobile apps mar-
ket grows for more than 30%.4 The attractive mobile apps by
using local language (Bahasa Indonesia) would be the core of
new business model.5 For example, the Go-Jek app, which is
the motorcycle version of Uber (with delivery service on the
side), is a proof that Indonesia, along with its unique culture and
open-minded consumers, remains an unexploited market for app
makers and tech firms.5
The initial study reported that 67.34% of the mobile app user
is living in the first-tier cities.6 However, the growing of mobile
apps user has developed into the rural area that has been con-
nected by internet and telecommunication service.
Unfortunately, not many studies focused on behavioral
variables especially on the psychological motives of user’s
acceptance on mobile applications. It makes limited understand-
ing about the acceptance of it. Most of the studies focused
on the technological aspects including the mobile application
development.7–9
∗
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
on mobile applications. Market research and business planning
are needed to observe the trend of mobile applications use espe-
cially from user’s motives. They are also needed to support the
small medium enterprise of young generation business in order
to reach new customers.
Therefore, this study focused on the psychological motives
behind user’s acceptance of mobile applications expect. This
study also constructed and tested a conceptual model to predict
user’s attitude toward mobile apps, intent to use and actual use.
The study examined behavioral variables behind user’s accep-
tance of mobile applications in Indonesia context.
2. INTEGRATED USER
ACCEPTANCE MODEL
User acceptance is one of study from the theory of planned
behavior theory (TPB) and it was constructed previously from
the theory of reason action (TRA).10 The acceptance study from
TPB was developed and modified in technological acceptance
model (TAM)11 which also adapted from TRA.12 TPB focused on
user’s intention to have any kinds of behavior that could be pre-
dicted with high accuracy from attitudes toward behavior, subjec-
tive norms, and perceived behavioral control.13 TPB had similar
assumption with TRA which behavior is the result of a decision

Adv. Sci. Lett. Vol. 23, No. 11, 2017 1936-6612/2017/23/10573/004 doi:10.1166/asl.2017.10105 10573
RESEARCH ARTICLE
which could be done by full awareness to do specified action.10
Moreover, previous studies that applied TPB have been validated
about user adoptions of mobile services.14–16 TAM focused on
two variables, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of user,
to decide and to cause the technology acceptance.11 Similar to
TPB, TAM has been applied to the previous studies of mobile
technology.17–20
Previous studies tried also to combine TPB/TRA and
TAM.21–23 Therefore, this study focused to integrate the attitude,
subjective norm, perceived (behavioral control, usefulness, ease
of use), intention (behavioral intent to use), and behavior (actual
system to use).
Attitude is the degree of personal’s evaluation either positive
or negative of the particular performance of behavior.13 Since
Fishbein and Ajzen24 constructed attitude into the attitude toward
the object and attitude toward the behavior, this study constructed
the definition of two main constructs as attitude toward mobile
apps and attitude toward the use of mobile apps. Attitude toward
mobile apps refers to the degree of personal’s evaluation toward
mobile apps. While attitude toward the use of mobile apps refers
to the degree of personal’s evaluation of mobile apps use. Sub-
jective norms are beliefs that determine the specific referent of
individuals or groups’ approval on behavior and motivation.25
Subjective norms are assumed to have two components which
work in interaction: beliefs about how other people, who may
be in some way important to the person, would like them to
behave (normative beliefs), e.g., ‘I feel pressure to use mobile
apps’) and the positive or negative judgments about each belief
(outcome evaluations), e.g., ‘I think It is important/unimportant
to use mobile apps’).
Perceived could be translated as “to become aware of” or “to
recognize.” As Ajzen defined in his study, perceived behavioral
control (PBC) is a recognition or awareness function toward cer-
tain control factors of behavior.25 In this study, users embraced
mobile apps usage based on their resources and control. In addi-
tion, perceived usefulness (PU) refers to the individual’s sub-
jective assessment of the utilities offered by the technology.11
In term of mobile apps, PU is operationalized as user’s beliefs
that mobile apps provide timely, exclusive and customized infor-
mation, constantly connect them with friends anywhere anytime,
and improve their efficiency. While perceived ease of use (EOU)
refers to the cognitive effort that the individual puts forward in
learning the technology.11 In this study, ease of use (EOU) is
defined as the degree to which a user believes it easy to learn
and use mobile apps.
Intention could involve four elements:
(1) the behavior,
(2) the target object at which the behavior is directed,
(3) the situation in which behavior is to be performed, and
(4) the time at which the behavior is to be performed.24
While in TAM, intention refers to the behavioral intention which
defined as a person’s perceived likelihood or subjective proba-
bility that he or she engage in a given behavior.11 This study
focused on the intention of mobile apps use or behavioral inten-
tion to use mobile apps for the specific situation and time. Behav-
ior could be defined as anything an organism does that can be
measured.26 27 In TPB, a given behavior deal with actual per-
formance of the behavior.13 While in TAM, behavior refers to
actual use.11 Therefore, in this study, the behavior may refer to
any behavioral intention to actual use of mobile apps.
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Adv. Sci. Lett. 23, 10573–10576, 2017
Intention could involve four elements: the behavior, the tar-
get object at which the behavior is directed, the situation in
which behavior is to be performed, and the time at which the
behavior is to be performed.24 While in TAM, intention refers
to the behavioral intention which defined as a person’s perceived
likelihood or subjective probability that he or she engaged in a
given behavior.11 Therefore, this study focused on the intention
of mobile apps use or behavioral intention to use mobile apps for
the specific situation and time. Behavior could be defined as any
activities of an organism that could be measured.26 27 In TPB, a
given behavior deal with actual performance of the behavior.13
While in TAM, behavior refers to actual use.11 In this study, the
behavior may refer to any behavioral performance or actual use
of mobile apps.
Therefore, this study proposed the hypotheses about user
acceptance based on variables from TPB/TRA and TAM into:
H1: attitude will be positively related to the subjective norm on
mobile apps use.
H2: attitude will be positively related to (1) perceived behavior
control, (2) perceived usefulness, and (3) perceived ease of use
on mobile apps use.
H3: attitude will be positively related to behavioral intention to
mobile apps use.
H4: subjective norm will be positively related to (1) perceived
behavior control, (2) perceived usefulness, and (3) perceived ease
of use on mobile apps use.
H5: subjective norm will be positively related to behavioral
intention to mobile apps use.
H6: (1) perceived behavior control, (2) perceived usefulness, and
(3) perceived ease of use will be positively related to behavioral
intention to mobile apps use.
H7: behavioral intention to use will be positively related to
actual system use of mobile apps.
3. METHODS
This study adhered a quantitative approach and the online sur-
vey. The respondents or participants of the survey were univer-
sity students who use mobile apps. The instrument of the survey
was posted on a website for student’s assignment postings via a
google form. The website had 1012 members who come from
many universities around Jakarta. At least 400 active members
who currently used the website to post their assignments every
week. The students who fill the questionnaire would get extra
credit for their class.
The respondent filled questionnaire which consisted (1) atti-
tude, (2) subjective norm, (3) perceived (behavioral control, use-
fulness, and ease of use), (4) behavioral intention to actual use
constructs. Attitude (AT) applied three indicators (“my attitude
toward mobile apps is positive”; “generally, I think it is good to
use mobile apps”; “I honestly don’t like to use mobile apps”).2 18
Subjective norms (SN) consisted of three statements (“people
who are important to me think that I should use mobile appli-
cations”; “it is expected that people like me use mobile applica-
tions”; and “people who I look up is to expect me to use mobile
applications”).28
Perceived consisted three constructs. Firstly, perceived behav-
ioral control (PBC) indicated three statements (“I feel free to use
mobile application when I like to”; “To use mobile applications
is entirely within my control”; “I have the necessary means and
resources to use mobile applications”).2 18 Secondly, perceived
Adv. Sci. Lett. 23, 10573–10576, 2017 RESEARCH ARTICLE

usefulness (PU) consisted nine statements (“Using mobile appli- Table I. Reliability and validity of constructs.
cations saves me a lot of time”; “Using mobile applications
Constructs Items Cronbach’s alpha Composite reliability AVE
improves my efficiency”; “Mobile applications are useful to me”;
AT 6 0811 0861 0612
“I stay connected with my friends with mobile applications”;
SN 3 0936 0961 0857
“I communicate with my friends anywhere via mobile appli- PBC 3 0758 0867 0677
cations”; “I communicate with my friends anytime via mobile PU 9 0919 0937 0632
applications”; “I receive timely information via mobile appli- PEU 3 0776 0874 0672
cations”; “I receive exclusive information via mobile applica- BIU 6 0895 0910 0680
ASU 3 0806 0835 0619
tions”; “I receive customized news to my liking via mobile
applications”).2 18 29 30 Thirdly, perceived ease of use (PEU) con-
sisted three statements (“Learning to use a mobile application is
easy to me”; “It is easy to make a mobile application to do what model had adequate reliability, and convergent and discriminant
I want it to”; “It is easy to use mobile applications”).2 30 validity.
This study integrated variables of intention and behavioral In case of model fit, several fit indices have been reported
intent to use (BIU) into one constructs since they are simi- for the investigation of model fit, including x2 . Since x2 (df) is
lar in meaning. Other studies also indicated that the variables sensitive to sample size, the fit indices Adjusted Goodness of
have similar indicator or statement. The indicator used question: Fit (AGFI), Normed Fit Index (NFI), Root Mean Square Error
“How likely will you use mobile applications within the next of Approximation (RMSEA), and Comparative Fit Index (CFI)
6 months?” which has five Likert scales (very unlikely, unlikely, more correctly reflect model fit. An acceptable fit exists when
don’t know, likely, and very likely).2 18 This study also added AGFI is more than 0.80 and RMSEA is less than 0.10.35
five indicators (“I will use mobile apps in the future”; “I will Taken together, these figures provide evidence of reasonably
recommend mobile apps to other”; “I will always use mobile good fit, which is suggestive of trial-valid component measures
apps in the future”; “I will try mobile apps”; and I will initiate to in the form of scales indicating each construct. Internal consis-
use mobile apps.”2 31 In addition, the variables of behavioral and tencies for the three scales were also strong, evidenced by a
actual system use (ASU) have three indicators, “How many— coefficient of 0.94 for the scale indicating perceived behavioral
(1) communication; (2) games; (3) news;—based mobile appli- control, 0.89 for perceived usefulness, and 0.89 for perceived
cations have you ever used on your cell phone?” The indicator ease of use. The model fit was therefore considered acceptable,
indicates the range between zero and more than 100.2 15 and seven structural paths were entered into the model. The fit
Data were analyzed by variance based Structural Equation indices again indicated good fit of the data (Table II). Given a
Model (SEM) and Partial Least Square (PLS). The evaluation satisfactory measurement of the model’s fit to the data, the path
was done on the measurement model and the structural model. coefficients of the structural model were assessed.
The evaluation of the measurement model is done through valid- In case of structural paths and hypothesis tests, to test struc-
ity test, both convergent and discriminant, with a view factor tural relationships, the hypothesized causal paths were estimated.
loading, Average Variance Extracted (AVE), and cross loading; The structural model was measured by the structural equation
as well as the reliability test using Cronbach’s alpha and com- modeling technique. The PLS estimations are shown in Table III.
posite reliability. Evaluation of the structural model is done by The path coefficient among the constructs and the significance of
looking at the correlation (R2  to endogenous construct and path each hypothesis were also examined. The results showed that all
coefficients/t-values for each path.32 33 hypothesis were supported.
The pre-test on research instruments conducted on 30 respon- The testing results attitude had the strongest effect on sub-
dents. The number of respondents in the final test is 267 with a jective norms (H1) ( = 0794, t = 1886). In case of perceived
response rate achieved was 66.7%. This amount has been qual- constructs, attitude also had the strongest effect on perceived
ified for use PLS-SEM because it has reached the minimum behavioral control ( = 0595, t = 4791), while subjective norms
threshold of samples required under ten times the rules and for- had the strongest effect on perceived usefulness ( = 0657, t =
mulas Slovin’s with a significance level of 0.05 or 5%. 6745). However, all of the perceived constructs did not give
much influence on behavioral intention to use. The hypothesized
path from behavioral intention to use is significant in the pre-
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION diction of the actual system use of mobile apps ( = 0549, t =
The testing of convergent validity was performed using a factor 4993), supporting H7. As hypothesized, all paths were positively
loading and AVE, with the provisions of factor loading >0.70
and AVE >0.50.34 All of the variables were considered valid
because all of the factor loadings of indicators are above 0.70 Table II. Model fit of construct.
and AVE values were above 0.50. The testing of discriminant
√ Fit statistics Value Recommended value
validity was performed using AVE and cross loading where the
√ x 2 /df 0.174 <5
AVE value of a latent variable (including dimensions) must be
p-value 0.000 <0.05
greater than the value of its correlation with other latent variables GFI 0.091
(Forner Larcker Criterion), or Cross Loading in one variable is AGFI 0.930 >0.8
greater than 0.70.34 As a result, all of the indicators, constructs, RMSR 0.016
and variables have met discriminant validity. Reliability test has RMSEA 0.084 <0.10
CFI 0.930 >0.90
also been carried out using Cronbach’s Alpha of Nunnally and
NFI 0.950 >0.90
the Composite Reliability of Fornell and Larcker >0.70.32 33 Incremental fit index 0.935 >0.90
This leads to the conclusion that all the constructs in the

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RESEARCH ARTICLE Adv. Sci. Lett. 23, 10573–10576, 2017

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Received: 31 March 2017. Accepted: 25 May 2017.

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