Attracting New Customers in the Field of Cloud Virtual Spaces: Behavioural Research and Development of Recommendations on the Example of Company X

Currently, the Russian IT services market is on the cusp of a new era. Having recovered from the initial shock and somewhat adjusted to the new economic reality in which foreign players are curtailing their expansions and no longer regard Russia as a significant market, Russian companies find themselves in a unique situation: their further development largely depends on their ability to timely capture and track market trends faster than their domestic competitors. This situation includes the market for cloud technologies, specifically its B2C segment, which is the focus of this master's thesis. The study investigated the behavioral factors that encourage consumers to use cloud virtual spaces, exemplified by the Russian company X. The research aimed to identify significant factors that contribute to the formation of the behavioral intention to use cloud virtual spaces and to develop product positioning recommendations for the company. The starting point was the exploration of the phenomenon of cloud virtual spaces and the consumer segmentation based on their readiness to adopt technologies. Based on the Diffusion of Innovations theory and the Crossing the Chasm theory, it was concluded that cloud services as a product are relatively new to the market, and the target audience of the study belongs to the Late Majority and Laggards. The UTAUT2 conceptual model was chosen to study behavioral factors, supplemented by factors from the PMT model. The research employed mixed methods, including qualitative and quantitative stages. The first stage involved conducting 12 in-depth interviews with non-users of cloud virtual spaces. The qualitative stage results confirmed the significance of the selected factors and provided a basis for formulating the questionnaire for the quantitative stage. The second stage involved an online survey among 256 respondents. The data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). During the research, 9 hypotheses were proposed regarding the relationship between the behavioral intention to use cloud virtual spaces and factors such as Performance expectancy, Facilitating conditions, Effort expectancy, Social influence, Hedonic motivation, Habit, Perceived severity, Perceived vulnerability, and Price. The results confirmed 4 hypotheses: the presence of relationships between behavioral intention and factors such as Habit (strong connection), Performance expectancy (moderate connection), Hedonic motivation (moderate connection), and Facilitating conditions (moderate connection). Based on the findings, recommendations were developed for company X regarding positioning and communication messages. Emphasis should be placed on how cloud virtual spaces can naturally extend users' everyday life, highlighting the ease of use of the service, as well as the pleasure of interaction with it. Special attention should be given to the availability of support and resources for new users.