The purpose of this study is to reveal two aspects of ‘mobile communication experience’ through an investigation of interactions and causal relationships among mobile media, the individual, and society. The first of the two aspects involves social...
The purpose of this study is to reveal two aspects of ‘mobile communication experience’ through an investigation of interactions and causal relationships among mobile media, the individual, and society. The first of the two aspects involves social psychological factors influencing ‘mobile communication experience’ of the individual, and the second is the causal relations existing among ‘mobile communication experience’, the ‘mobility perception’ of the individual, and ‘network relationships’(social relations of the individual managing via mobile interaction.
For this purpose, the study focuses on ‘mobile self-efficacy’ and ‘perceived social presence’ as two factors psychologically influencing adoption and use of mobile media. A concept of measurement was devised to evaluate ‘mobility perception’ and ‘network relationships’ of the individual. ‘Mobile communication experience’ was measured in terms of the quantity of voice messages and text messages by mobile phone.
The validity of the relationships among the major variables was verified by means of a pre-survey employing a qualitative methodology. Results showed that people’s perceptions of mobile communications are varied, and that varied experiences with mobile communications stemming from differences in those perceptions, in turn bear upon ‘network relationships’. This shows that the strong technological properties possessed by media technology do not simply influence humans unilaterally, but rather, media is perceived and utilized variously by individuals according to individual social psychological factors and the contexts and intents of media use.
The results of the present survey --based on pre-surveys-- may be roughly placed into four categories. First, ‘mobile self-efficacy’ and ‘perceived social presence’ were determined to have a significant level of positive influence, statistically, on all mobile communication experiences. Especially, ‘perceived social presence’, rather than ‘mobile self-efficacy’, had a greater influence on ‘mobile experience’, and accordingly, people had high overall ‘mobile self-efficacy’ with accumulated user experience with mobile phones; while on the other hand, women, older people over 40 years of age, and working class felt relatively low ‘mobile self-efficacy’. Considering the trend towards higher performance in mobile apparatuses according to the rapid spread of Smart-phones, this may lead to a future widening of the ‘mobile digital divided’.
Second, according to Kakihara and Sørensen’s concept, ‘mobility’ may be divided into ‘spatial mobility’, ‘temporal mobility’, and ‘contextual mobility’; and a measurement of changes in ‘individual mobile perceptions’ based in mobile communication experiences showed that ‘mobile communication experience’ has a positive impact on ‘mobile perception’. It was shown that ‘mobile communication experience’ had a greater effect on changes in perceptions and related social practices with regard to ‘temporal mobility’ (which comprehends ‘polychronicity’, as in promoting many projects at once, frequent time changes, and flexible time management) and ‘contextual mobility’ (capability to control contexts created by communication) than on ‘spatial mobility’.
Third, mobile communication experiences have statistically positive effects on connectivity and connectedness with family, close friends and acquaintances, as well as on ‘social mobilization of personal networks’ which seek help in terms of personal and material resources and social support from those groups. It was shown that mobile communication experiences have greater influence on the strengthening of connectivity and connectedness with intimate friends and acquaintances and social mobilization than they do on family. This shows that social relationship management has possibilities for contributing to the broadening of personal and social interactions.
Finally, an analysis of the interactions among mobile communication experiences, ‘mobile perceptions’, and network relationships showed that mobile communication experiences have less a direct effect on ‘network relationships’ than indirect effects on network relationships via changes in mobile perception. Separate investigations of the relationship between ‘mobile communication experience’ and ‘mobile perceptions’, on one hand, and between ‘mobile communication experience’ and ‘network relationships’ on the other, showed statistically significant results for both; but an investigation of all three factors together showed that the direct effects of ‘mobile communication experience’ to be statistically insignificant, while the indirect effects of ‘mobile communication experiences’ operate at statistically significant levels on ‘network relationships’ through mobile perceptions’, and the direct effects of ‘mobile perceptions’ are also statistically significant for ‘network relationships’.
This study has several theoretical implications, as follows. First, it attempted to analyze and investigate the relationships adhering among mobile technology, people, and society, not from a unilateral technical determinism or social constructionist perspective, but rather from a user-oriented viewpoint. Mobile media is, more so than any other form of media to date, the most ‘privatized’, and as such, approaching it from the viewpoint of the user allows us to understand individual actions of mobile communication more deeply. Second, this study represents a first attempt to experientially investigate interactive causalities - from user perception of mobile media, to experience and resulting social consequences- by compiling them into a single research matrix. Third, it carried out an experience-based investigation of the causal relationships among communication experience and mobility, which to date have been discussed only in conceptual dimensions or as phenomenological discourses, and analyzed them in their connection with ‘network relationships’, thereby expanding the theoretical discussion of ‘mobility’. Fourth, by analyzing social relations through mobile communications in terms of connectivity and connectedness, and social mobilization, it enacted a primary investigation of the possibilities of media as ‘network capital’.