Determinants of adoption and use of mobile cloud computing in firms

The combination of mobile technology and cloud computing, that became known as mobile cloud computing (MCC) in the literature, has emerged recently as a very active research area in information systems (IS). In this context, cloud computing can contribute to overcome the limitations of mobile technology and amplify the scope of its utilization by executing mobile applications on resource providers external to the devices. We have identified a major gap, however, in the research literature: the absence of a framework that can be used to assist organizations in assessing their potential for adopting MCC for business purposes. This study attempts to bridge this gap by developing and proposing a framework which focuses on identifying and examining the factors that influence firms' adoption of MCC, as well as its continuation to use it. We assess whether information technologies enabled process virtualization capabilities impact organizational MCC adoption and use, proposing a conceptual model that combines two theories: process virtualization theory and technologyorganization-environment framework to address the adoption of MCC at the organization level. We expect this work to be relevant for the research community and to have significant interest for the organizations, application and telecommunication providers, as well as government agencies and regulators.