A Study on the Effects of Characteristics of Location-Based Services on Customers’ Intention to Visit Stores
- With a Focus on the Moderating Effects of Personalized Service and Self-efficacy -


Name: SeungJoon Lee
Department: Department of Management of Technology,
Graduate School of Management of Technology
Thesis Advisor: YoungJun Kim

Location-based services(LBS) refer to systems and services based on location information, which comprehensively applies IT technologies to devices such as smartphones based on mobile communication networks or the global positioning system (GPS). These services provide improved productivity and the convenience of living by using collected location information. In recent years, LBS have increasingly been diversified. For example, They can be applied to business transactions through the combination of location and user information. Meanwhile, the popularization of smartphones as a leading mobile device is bringing about a number of changes to our lives, and companies are also taking a new approach to their customer service. In particular, companies that have traditionally operated offline stores such as distributors are implementing various marketing strategies using omni-channels. Among them, LBS on smartphones are perceived as a highly useful means to approach customers. Therefore, it has become an important, urgent task for companies to have customers visit their stores by using the LBS that have been designed to suit the characteristics of their customers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the functional characteristics of LBS on customers’ attitude toward using LBS and their intention to use them based on the technology acceptance model(TAM), and to perform an empirical analysis on the moderating effects of variables for personalized services. In doing so, the study aimed to provide implications to corporate workers in charge of improving the TAM and implementing LBS. The results of this study were as follows: First, among the functional characteristics of LBS, mobility and contextual offer showed statistically significant effects on customers’ perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use regarding LBS. In particular, the levels of personalized service had moderating effects on customers’ perceived usefulness. Second, customers’ perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use regarding LBS showed statistically significant effects on their attitude toward using them. Third, customers’ attitude toward using LBS showed statistically significant effects on their intention to visit stores. Fourth, the degree of effect of customers’ intention to visit stores and attitude toward using LBS is different depending on the self-efficacy.

Keywords: Location-based services, Technology acceptance model, Personalized service, Self-efficacy