Abstract
The advent of mobile communication devices has become an essential part of contemporary human experiences. However, what are consumers' experiences with their mobile devices on a daily basis? This exploratory chapter used an experience sampling method to extract quantitative and qualitative experiential data to understand how concerns over location-sensitive privacy issues affect how consumers feel about mobile phone in their daily lives. Participants from both Taiwan and U.S. took part in this study and recorded their daily experiences with the presence of smartphones at different parts of one single day. The findings suggest that cross-national consumers generally agree with the functional benefits of mobile devices, but at the same time, express their disruptive effects on their daily lives. Taiwanese consumer mood states are overall consistent with those of American participants who similarly feel more disrupted with their mobile phones. Discussions and implications are provided.
TopBackground
The advent of mobile communications in the late 20th century have played a vital part in modern human experiences and make the world become a global village (Silver et al., 2019). A global survey of 11 countries published by Pew Research Center in 2019 on cross-cultural consumers’ attitudes toward mobile communication has also confirmed that the majorities of these participants feel that mobile phones are good for individuals and their daily lives, instead for the society overall (Silver et al., 2019). However, attitudes toward whether mobile devices are indispensable to their daily lives vary among countries in this survey (Silver et al., 2019). For example, over 50% of participants from these countries agree with the statement that mobile phone is something to free them, ranging from 40% in Lebanon to 86% in Kenya (Silver et al., 2019). On the other hand, positive assessment of what mobile phone can do for them seems consistent across countries. For example, among Kenyan consumers, 84% of them agree that mobile phone is something that helps them and 72% of them agree that technology is something that they cannot live without (Silver et al., 2019) (Refer to Figure 1).
Current rapid diffusion of smartphones and the deployment of 5G technology (Yang & Kang, 2020a) have promised a seamless integration of multi-media and personalized services, which has led to the emergence of many location-based applications and services in various business settings. The global 5G smartphone subscription is expected to triple and reach 600 million by the end of 2021 (Richter, 2021). This chapter is particularly interested in one aspect of mobile phone’s impacts on human lives; that is how they would respond to this privacy-invasive technology into their daily lives. What will be the implications for direct marketers when considering this new location-sensitive technology for their practices?
According to a 2012 PEW Report, 74% of smartphone users get real-time location-based information through their smartphones. For example, the report also finds that 18% of them use a geosocial service to share their location information with friends. For example, in Figure 1, while 72% of participants from Kenya agree that mobile phone is something they cannot do without, 26% of them believe the technology is something they do not always need in their lives (Silver et al., 2019). Cross-country variations are noticeable in this 2019 Pew survey and these demonstrate how consumers from each country surveyed feel about mobile phone as a technology. For example, majorities of the participants from India (51%), Venezuela (62%), The Philippines (68%), Columbia (76%), Mexico (77%), and Vietnam (69%) expressed that mobile phone is a technology they do not always need (as shown in the figures within the parentheses) (Silver et al., 2019). However, in more economically advanced countries like the U.S., consumer attitudes have shown a different trend in the Pew’s 2019 survey.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Social media: The term refers to a group of Internet-based applications to allow people to connect socially and includes collaborative projects (such as Wikipedia), microblogs and blogs, contents (such as YouTube), social networking services (such as Facebook) and virtual games.
Information privacy: This term refers to a type of privacy concerns about how personal information and data are stored and used. Types of information privacy include business-related data, criminal records, financial data, political records, and medical records.
Privacy: Privacy is a term that describe people’s right to be let alone, or their freedom from outside interference or intrusion without their prior consent from any noon-profit, profit-making, or government entities.
Mobile Social Media: A term to refer to social networking applications, media, or platforms such as Facebook, Foursquare, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, etc., that are often delivered via mobile devices such as smartphone, tablet, or laptop computer.
Mobile advertising: An emerging platform of new digital media advertising formats that are delivered via mobile devices such as mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, or wearables, etc.
Smartphone: A mobile-based technology that integrates computing functions into a mobile device. Characteristics of a smartphone include strong hardware capabilities, comprehensive mobile operating systems, and computing capabilities similar to a minicomputer. A smartphone enables consumers to access the Internet and to use multimedia contents such as music, videos, and digital games.
Direct Marketing: The term refers to a type of marketing activities that depends on direct communication with target consumers, instead of mediated through a third party or a mass media platform. Some example of direct marketing platforms include email, postal mail, social media, and texting.
Consumer Behavior: The study of consumers’ decision-making processes to select, secure, use, and dispose of products or services. This term often refers to how consumers respond to advertising and marketing messages. The study of consumer behavior also examines social, cultural, regulatory, and other ecological factors in affecting their decision-making processes.
Mixed Research Method: This term describes a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to collect data for a single study.
Mobile commerce: Also known as m-commerce or mcommerce, the term relies on mobile devices to facilitate and conduct business transactions. Often thought to be an extension or an advancement of traditional e-commerce, this new type of commercial activities will enable people to sell and buy goods and services from any locations users would prefer.
Location-awareness: A term commonly found in describing one of the functions in mobile, navigation, and GPS devices through which individual users’ location privacy will be shared and monitored. In general, the term describes navigation, real-time location, and GPS positioning support at a local, regional, and global level.
Mobile Communications: A term that emerges around 2000 refers to the use of a variety of technological systems to enable communication activities away from a fixed location without the use of any physical connectivity via cables or wired.
Experience Sampling Method: A data collection method to gather systematic self-reports of behaviors, emotions, or experiences from research participants to record their experiences in the individual’s natural context. The benefits of ESM are to offer researchers with real-time interactions through a quasi-