Culturally-Aware Motivation for Smart Services: An Exploratory Study of the UAE.

Abstract

The adoption of smart services could be challenging despite the benefits they can offer in terms of ubiquity and intelligence. The main reason for that is the relatively difficult administration of the services on smart phones and the availability of other options including the in-person and desktop services. However, the design of smart services could be more proactive and attract users’ adoption through the use of persuasive and motivational techniques. These techniques should be culturally-sensitive. This paper reviews the use of Cialdini six principles of influence in the cultural context of UAE, and it assesses how they should be used to increase the adoption of smart services. As a method, we conducted in-depth interviews with ten experts in various domains; including marketing and customer services; in the UAE. We report on the potential and the adverse effects and identify context specific factors of the use of these principles in the context of the UAE aiming to give the management of software-based motivation a starting point for their design and evaluation.