Title: How the theory of planned behaviour and flow theory contribute to the acceptance of 5G technology

Authors: Morteza Akbari; Azadeh Rezvani; Miguel Ángel Zúñiga; Elmira Shahriari

Addresses: Faculty of Entrepreneurship, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran ' College of Business Administration, Ajman University, Ajman, UAE ' Department of Business Administration, Earl G. Graves School of Business and Management, Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA ' Faculty of Marketing, Georgia Southern University, Hinesville, Georgia, USA

Abstract: Fifth-generation (5G) networks are currently being adopted at high rates and have recently gained significant popularity creating endless opportunities for consumers. It is vital for corporations to further understand 5G technology and how customers benefit and change their behaviours after using this technology. By emphasising Flow Theory and the Theory of Planned Behaviour, we include the flow experience and trust as the main mediators in our model. SEM was used to investigate the predicted model with data from 518 respondents from Iran and the USA. Our results support our hypotheses, indicating social influence and self-efficacy have a positive impact on flow and trust, even though the satisfaction of previous technologies influences only flow. Moreover, we found evidence that flow and trust mediate the associations among self-efficacy, satisfaction and social influence with 5G acceptance. Finally, the findings indicated that trust and intention are significantly different between students from developed and developing countries.

Keywords: behavioural intention; flow experience; trust; self-efficacy; social influence; 5G.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2022.126170

European Journal of International Management, 2022 Vol.18 No.4, pp.518 - 545

Received: 26 Jul 2020
Accepted: 27 Sep 2020
Published online: 14 Oct 2022 *

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