ABSTRACT
Smartphones are not only multifunctional tools but also users' personal extensions and identity symbols, as they are constantly with users and highly visible to the public while in use. Due to this public property as well as the close bond between smartphones and users, they are frequently used for personal identity expression besides functional purposes. The current study conceptualizes such behavior as symbolic use and aims to understand it. Anchoring on the attachment theory, mobile identity is postulated as an important antecedent of symbolic use. Mobile identity in turn is formed by mobile symbolism and mobile design esthetics. The research model was tested by a hybrid of both online and offline survey with 271 valid responses. SEM analysis was used to test the research model and SPSS was used for descriptive statistics. The results confirmed the role of mobile identity in affecting smartphone symbolic use. Additionally, individual materialism was confirmed as a moderator using hierarchical analysis. By defining and explaining smartphone symbolic use, this study clarifies the unique characteristics of the smartphone usage context as compared to non-portable technologies, thereby enriching the mobile usage literature and the application of attachment theory. It also defines the boundary condition of attachment formation by studying the contingent role of individual characteristics.
Subject(s)
Mobile Applications , Smartphone , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Touch screen devices are nowadays part of everyday life and parents and educators assume that young children use their images in a symbolic way. This research aims at replicating and expanding a previous one that reported that, contrary to expectations and to studies with printed or video images, 2-year-old children used the images on a touch screen tablet to retrieve a hidden object (Search), but not to communicate the location of an object they have observed being hidden (Point). In this research, we carried out a transfer study comparing the performance of an Experimental (Search-Point) and a Control group (Point-Point). First, we found that the Experimental group outperformed the Control group. Second, we found that the successful symbolic previous experience gained in the Search tasks was transferred to the Point task, task which 2-year-olds otherwise fail.
ABSTRACT
En este trabajo analizamos los significados que los jóvenes y las jóvenes de Chile de bajos recursos atribuyen a la compra, uso y tenencia de un celular. La investigación cualitativa utilizada no sólo nos permitió descubrir las necesidades que los sujetos jóvenes buscan satisfacer con la compra y/o uso de un celular, sino también los factores socioculturales que determinan este comportamiento de compra. La importancia del presente no es sólo por la pretensión de ser un estudio sociológico sobre la conducta de compra, uso y tenencia de celular por parte de los jóvenes y las jóvenes de Chile de menores recursos, sino también porque constituye una poderosa herramienta para comprender los problemas sociales relacionados con este hecho.
This study examines the value that Chilean teenagers low socio-economic status give to the purchase, use and possession of a cell phone. The qualitative approach used in this paper doesn't just allow an understanding of the needs that teenager are trying to satisfy, but also allows the identification of the socio-cultural factors behind their purchasing behavior. This paper is worthy because it is not just a sociological characterization of the purchasing behavior of teenagers of low socio-economic status in Chile, but it also provides a powerful tool to understand the social problems related to this issue.
Este trabalho analisaos significados que os jovens chilenos de baixa renda atribuem à compra, uso e possede um celular. A pesquisa qualitativa realizada, não só permitiu descobriras necessidades que os jovens buscam satisfazer com a compra e/ou uso de um celular, mas também os fatores socioculturais que determinam o seu comportamento de compra. A importância da presente pesquisa não está somente naintenção de ser um estudo sociológico sobre o comportamento de compra, uso e possede celular pelos jovens chilenos de baixa renda, mas também consiste em uma poderosa ferramenta para compreender os problemas sociais relacionados a esse fato.
