Consumer Migration across Generations of Technology Service Platforms: a Study of 3g Introduction in Hong Kong

This paper examines consumer migration intention across generations of information and communication technology (ICT) service platforms. Our work complements macro-level research on the diffusion of multiple technology generations and thus has implications for ICT service innovations targeted at consumers. Integrating research from multiple disciplines, we proposed four categories of determinants of consumer platform-migration intention: general perceptions of ICT services, perceptions of advancements in a new generation of ICT services, external influences, and individual differences. The direct effects model was supported in a study of over 4,000 consumers in Hong Kong who could migrate to 3G, a new generation of mobile data service platform. A model with interaction terms distinguished three types of migration situations—namely transformative, leapfrogging, and incremental—based on the current technology generation being used by a consumer. Specifically, the new category of constructs introduced in this work, perceptions of the new generation of ICT services, were the strongest drivers of migration intention in incremental migration, whereas external influences and general perceptions of ICT services had stronger effects in transformative and leapfrogging situations.