Abstract
This study examines the motivations for mobile phone use and how various motivations can predict mobile news seeking among college students in Asia's four leading cities. A total of 3,500 college students sampled from Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taipei were surveyed on why and how they use their mobile phones to stay informed. The results show that the respondents' common motivations for mobile phone use included “being connected with friends and relatives,” “maintaining relationships,” “entertainment and relaxation,” and “sharing opinions.” Another motivation evaluated was “getting news and information.” Even though the “getting news and information” motivation was not rated highly, it was a strong and significant predictor of mobile news seeking. Two of the other motivations (namely “maintaining relationships” and “sharing opinions”) also predicted using mobile phones to seek news. Among the four samples, the motivation of “entertainment and relaxation” was found to be a significant predictor of seeking mobile news both in Shanghai and Hong Kong, whereas the motivation of “maintaining relationships” was only a significant predictor in the Hong Kong sample. The study ends with a discussion of how the role of the versatile smart phone affects the relationship between the motivations for mobile phone use and the behavior of seeking mobile news.
| Translated title of the contribution | Motivations for Mobile Phone Use as Predictors of Seeking Mobile News: A Comparative Study of College Students in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Singapore |
|---|---|
| Original language | Chinese (Traditional) |
| Pages (from-to) | 207-237 |
| Number of pages | 31 |
| Journal | 传播与社会学刊 |
| Volume | 2014 |
| Issue number | 27 |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |
Keywords
- mobile news
- motivations
- smart phone
- uses and gratifications