The adoption and use of mobile phone in rural China: A case study of Hubei, China

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Abstract

This paper examines the behavioral and psychological factors influencing the adoption and use of mobile phone in rural China. Based on the diffusion of innovations and perceived needs theory, this research, through a case study of Hubei, China, supports the theoretical model that both behavioral and psychological factors can predict Chinese rural residents’ adoption and use of mobile phone. Psychological factors, however, play a weaker role in rural residents’ adoption and use of mobile phone than do behavioral factors. Moreover, behavioral factors can significantly predict some of the psychological factors. By adding behavioral factors into the theoretical model, this study supplements the perceived needs theory and extends it from urban setting to rural setting. Implications of the findings have been discussed.

Introduction

The last decade witnessed the rapid development of telecommunication in rural China. In 1990, only 1 460 000 rural households owned landline telephone, representing 0.29% of the entire rural population (Zhou, 2004). The number increased to more than 0.1 billion in February 2005, accounted for 14.6% of the rural population (Wang, 2005). The increase of the adoption of mobile phone in rural China is even more dramatic. According to a national survey, approximately 35 mobile phones were owned by each hundred rural households in 2004 (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2005). Consistent with the tendency of the global and national telecommunication industry, there has been a growing trend that mobile communication is going to replace the landline phone in rural China since 2003.

The diffusion of innovation theory (Rogers, 1995) provides a solid foundation for the examination of the diffusion of mobile phone in China. Numerous studies were conducted to investigate the diffusion of a variety of media technologies, including television in the 1950–1960s, VCR and cable in the 1970–1980s, computer and mobile phone in the 1990s (Rogers, 1995). In the last decade, Chinese scholars also began to explore the diffusion process of media technologies including radio, telephone, pager, cable television, the Internet and mobile message (Cheong, 2002, Jin, 2001a, Jin, 2001b, Li, 2004, Yang, 2000, Zhou, 2003, Zhu, 1997, Zhu, 1999, Zhu and He, 2002a, Zhu and He, 2002b, Zhu and He, 2002c). New theoretical explanation, such as perceived needs theory (Zhu and He, 2002b) has been found to facilitate our understanding of the diffusion process. Empirical studies about the diffusion of mobile phone, however, are not sufficient to comprehensively depict the picture of the adoption and use of mobile phone in both China and other countries (Botelho and Pinto, 2004, Isaac et al., 2004, Karjaluoto et al., 2003). Moreover, most of the studies about the diffusion of mobile phone in China have been conducted in urban area, and very few studies have been done in rural China.

Due to the colossal urban–rural differences in social structure, life styles, and cultural values in China, it is expected that the diffusion process of new media technologies in rural area is distinct from that in urban area. Based on the diffusion of innovations and perceived needs theory, this paper, through a case study of Hubei, China, describes the current situation of the adoption and use of mobile phone in rural China, identifies the factors influencing the diffusion process of mobile phone, and examines the relationship among different factors.

Section snippets

Theoretical framework

Diffusion of innovation theory attempts to explain the process through which innovations get diffused via certain channel in certain social systems during a period of time. Since the 1960s, the diffusion of innovation model, initiated by Rogers, has been the leading theory in the research of the diffusion of new technologies and products. This model has been recognized and empirically supported as the most important theoretical foundation of diffusion research. Zhu and He (2002b) argue,

Sample

This study attempts to examine the adoption and use of mobile phone in rural China through a case study of Hubei, China. There are several reasons for this selection. First, Hubei is widely recognized as a representative province of Central China in terms of demographics and economy (Huang and Yang, 2006, Hubei Social Sciences Association, 2005). As Central China ranks in the middle between Eastern China and Western China by both GDP and GDP per capita (Zhong et al., 2005), the case of Hubei

Adoption and use of mobile phone in rural China

Among 648 respondents, 59.6% are adopters and 18.8% are potential adopters of mobile phone. Non-adopters represent 21.6% of the sample. This adoption rate is much higher than that generated by National Bureau of Statistics of China (2005) in 2004, which indicates a rapid growth of mobile phone adoption in rural China. Early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards account for 17.9%, 29.3%, 31.2%, and 21.6% of the sample respectively, which is very consistent with our expectation.

As

Conclusion and discussion

This study reveals that adopters, potential adopters, and non-adopters represent 59.6%, 18.8% and 21.6% of the rural residents in Hubei, China. Based on the theoretical model adapted from perceived need theory (Zhu and He, 2002b) and original diffusion theory (Rogers, 1995), this study demonstrates that both behavioral and psychological factors may significantly predict Chinese rural residents’ adoption and use of mobile phone. When behavioral factors have been added to the model, the

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper was presented August 2006 at the annual convention of Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, San Francisco. The authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Jonathan J.H. Zhu at City University of Hong Kong, Dr. Tien-Tsung Lee at the University of Kansas, and Dr. Jianbin Jin at Tsinghua University for their valuable comments.

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