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Owing to the emergence of converged technologies, a greater number of services and applications are being delivered through mobile networks and received by individual users. According to a forecast by International Data Corporation in 2014, smartphone vendors will ship a combined 1.3 billion units in 2015, representing a growth rate of 27.7% from the one billion units shipped in 2013. Hence, in the next 5 years, a considerable volume of smartphones with powerful computing and ubiquitous service capabilities is expected to be bought and used by consumers. Meanwhile, a greater number of online services and content now can be viewed on different mobile devices such as tablets or wearable devices (Phalen & Ducey, 2012). Although the impact of convergence on users is ubiquitous, it brings new challenges and opportunities (Y.-L. Liu, 2013). A lack of guidelines pertaining to cross-media user behavior creates challenges for marketers to promote convergent products and services (S. J. Kim, 2014). For instance, based on the assumptions of substitution and complementarity, consumers may prefer a dedicated product to a converged product (Han, Chung, & Sohn, 2009; Y. Kim, Lee, & Koh, 2005). In contrast, new technology products such as smartphones and IPTVs incorporate multiple technologies and are well accepted by large groups of users (T.-C. Lin, Wu, Hsu, & Chou, 2012; Shin, 2007b). Hence, the marketers should be capable of foreseeing the emerging demand and consequences of user behavior from the bottom-up approach (Rangone & Turconi, 2003).
The diversity of media user behavior has been described as the consequences of digital convergence among user interaction, mobile devices and online service delivery (Chang, 2007; D. Lee, Son, Yoo, & Lee, 2011; Shin, 2007b; Yoffie, 1997). In the domain of service marketing, the use of various self-service technologies (SSTs) is being promoted to reduce labor cost and provide services without employee interference (Curran & Meuter, 2005; Curran, Meuter, & Surprenant, 2003; Meuter, Ostrom, Roundtree, & Bitner, 2000). Meanwhile, various self-service technologies can now be accessed by people on an all-in-one device such as a smartphone and satisfy their needs from multiple media (Bayus, Kim, & Shocker, 2000; Enoch & Johnson, 2010; Phalen & Ducey, 2012). Although the uses of mobile phone are pervasive in some countries, the perceptions of technological complexity and multiple utilities have impeded people’s continued intention to use mobile data services (MDS) (Se-Joon Hong & Tam, 2006). Based on this convergence phenomenon, prior studies have concluded with inconsistent results by excluding the technology interactions and the consequences of user behavior which should be unveiled beyond the decision of technology adoption (Burton-Jones & Straub, 2006; Sun & Bhattacherjee, 2014). Hence, the purposes of this study is (1) to identify the user behavior in the domain of technology convergence, (2) to examine the user characteristics in the uses of mobile phone for multiple purposes, (3) to investigate factors that explain the use of SST in the uses of mobile phone as a converged device.