The influence of location and social network on customers’ acceptance of mobile marketing: Evidence from group buying field experiment

Abstract

With the rapid development and widespread popularity of smart phone devices, location-based social networking service (LBSNS) creates an era of GeoLife2. 0 where people can share life experiences and connect to each other with their location histories. Previous academic studies have also realized the crucial role of location and social network on mobile marketing. However, many of them have been conceptual work using structural equation modeling, and the effects of these two factors are never considered at the same time. In our study, mobile marketing is exemplified as a time-limited, group-based “two for the price of one when you get a friend to buy together” promotion campaign advertised via mobile devices. Field experiment was conducted to explore the influence of location and social network on consumers’ decision to accept mobile promotions. We then conducted follow-up surveys that revealed users’ personality features and psychological states as supporting materials to explain our field experiment observations.