Investigating Antecedents of Adoption Intention for Audiobook Applications

Despite the uniqueness of audiobook applications, their adoption remains a big challenge. The present study integrates the decomposed theory of planned behavior (DTPB) with switching cost theory (SCT) to examine the antecedents of consumer’s intention toward adopting audiobook applications. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data collected from 720 respondents over two stages, and the results confirm that perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, procedural switching cost, self-efficacy, are important in shaping attitude and adoption intentions for audiobook applications. The effects are non-significant for financial switching costs and facilitating conditions. Book genre is found to have significant moderating effects. The findings add to the existing adoption works by integrating two unique theories in a novel context of audiobooks, as well as offers practical guidance to audiobook application developers to enhance its adoption.