Connecting through Technology: Smartphone Users’ Social Cognitive and Emotional Motivations

Song-yi Youn
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Song-yi Youn: Department of Textile and Apparel Management, University of Missouri, 137 Stanley Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA

Social Sciences, 2019, vol. 8, issue 12, 1-19

Abstract: Smartphones provide various services not only for social purposes but also for personal desires. This study aims to understand the multi-dimensional motivations of smartphone users. An extended motivational framework was developed using perceived benefits (i.e., expected benefits) and social influence (i.e., social identity achieved from mobile social media) from a social cognitive perspective, which was then expanded to incorporate the second-order construct of emotional attachment (i.e., emotional desires). This study examines the effects of motivations on value perceptions, which consequently explains current smartphone use. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used, and data collected from 738 current smartphone users were analyzed. Regarding the results, expected benefits (i.e., information seeking, entertained activity, self-reactiveness, and immediate access), social influence (i.e., social identity achieved from mobile social media), and emotional desires (i.e., emotional attachment) explained value perceptions (i.e., social, hedonic, and utilitarian values) which positively influence the recent use of smartphones.

Keywords: smartphone users; motivation; social cognition; emotional attachment; consumer value (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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