Edinburgh Napier University

  The given dissertation focuses on the area of mobile business interactions and strives for a better understanding of related human cognitive characteristics. One motivation is to find out the individual triggers for someone reaching for a mobile device and how this can be used to establish a relation between optimised drivers of cognition and the employee’s performance in mobile workforces.

In this way, mobile technology is already a fundamental part of consultancy and
field-working industries, however, the identification of individual benefits and mobile-enhanced strategies lags behind. A proper understanding of relevant drivers for supportive mobile interactions stumbles behind the fast pace of technological trends and especially misses specific chances and opportunities in mobile business.

The research takes this into account and builds up a comprehensive route from today’s analogies from a non-digital world, via psychological and human-resource definitions and theories, towards a practice-oriented model of individual mobile business interactions called Mobile Moments. The qualitative approach used resides in a theoretical foundation of historical and contemporary literature in combination with reflective and aggregating input from a practice-focused main study.

As a result, this research outlines the underpinning facilitators and drivers of mobile business interactions including their relations and dependencies. With practical insights and iterations, a conceptual model of Mobile Moments derives from various areas of technology, business and psychology and provides guidance on its application in practice. The results of the qualitative study with subject matter experts (>10) is justified as part of an exemplary application into an established mobile consultancy approach.

The research provides a detailed view on related human cognitive characteristics, impacts on workforce performance as well as technological viewpoints in current mobile enablements. The summarised outcome of the research is a fundamental extension to existing user-oriented tools and practices by the means of Mobile Moments. It enhances the common awareness and, even more, it provides a structured model to extend the focus from existing to-be-mobilised problems to the currently unknown, but promising, mobile-only opportunities.