What’s Around Me?: Applying the Theory of Consumption Values to Understanding the Use of Location-Based Services (LBS) on Smart Phones

Businesses are increasingly aware of the power of mobile location-based services (LBS) in their success. For consumers, there are abundant options available. To understand the driving factors of consumers’ behavioral intention to use LBS and speak positively about LBS, a model of examining personal values and their influences was developed in this study. The model centers around a set of consumers’ personal consumption values (Sheth et al., 1991a, 1991b), including functional values exemplified by perceived usefulness and ease of use, social value, emotional value, epistemic value, and conditional value. Use behavior is also studied to reveal the learning process in the LBS context, i.e., consumers learn about their perceived values toward using LBS from their actual use. An online survey was conducted among 226 LBS users. The research model was tested by using SmartPLS. The authors found that consumers’ consumption values significantly influenced their intention to use LBS and spread positive word-of-mouth about LBS. Use behavior was also shown to significantly predict the consumption values. Both theoretical and business implications are discussed.