This thesis studies the impacts of Information Technology (IT) ubiquity on information system research and individuals' technology post-adoption decisions. Two ubiquitous IT services are selected as illustrations: mobile data services and internet connection services. To understand the impacts of increasing ubiquity and potency of IT, Study One aims to answer the question that has sparked heated debate in both the academic arena and the IT industry, "Is IT a commodity?". I develop a research framework to see whether IT service is vended, perceived and purchased like a commodity. Results from this study suggest that IT is not a commodity. Differentiation exists across IT service providers and end-users do not select IT service providers based only on price. To this end, the next issue is...[ Read more ]

This thesis studies the impacts of Information Technology (IT) ubiquity on information system research and individuals' technology post-adoption decisions. Two ubiquitous IT services are selected as illustrations: mobile data services and internet connection services. To understand the impacts of increasing ubiquity and potency of IT, Study One aims to answer the question that has sparked heated debate in both the academic arena and the IT industry, "Is IT a commodity?". I develop a research framework to see whether IT service is vended, perceived and purchased like a commodity. Results from this study suggest that IT is not a commodity. Differentiation exists across IT service providers and end-users do not select IT service providers based only on price. To this end, the next issue is to understand end-users' choice of IT service providers. Study Two investigates individuals' intentions to switch IT service providers. I adopt the push-pull-mooring framework from population migration literature for this study. I examine the effects of push factors (i.e. satisfaction and perceived price equity of current service provider), pull factor (i.e. attractiveness of alternative service providers) and mooring factors (i.e. perceived switching cost and perceived service value ambiguity) on individuals' intention to switch their IT service providers. I have found that perceived service value ambiguity moderates the relationship between service satisfaction, perceived price equity, as well as perceived alternative attractiveness on switching intention. Study Three looks at individuals' willingness-to-pay for an IT service across IT service providers; it validates and explains the significant differences of individuals' willingness-to-pay in terms of IT service provider characteristics across service providers. The results suggest perceived service quality, perceived service variety, and perceived brand popularity have a positive relationships with individuals' willingness-to-pay for IT service.