Musical consumption, self-control and smartphone addiction: a dual-systems theory perspective and evidence from a survey study

In the past decade, smartphone adoption has reached almost 100% in industrialized countries, which is predominantly due to advancements in capabilities. Given the increasing number of people who are addicted to the smartphone and the significant growth of people who consume music via the smartphone, the purpose of the study is to explore the underlying mechanisms through which musical consumption affects smartphone addiction.

Based on dual-systems theory, a research model was developed to determine the impact of System 1 (emotion related to music) and System 2 (self-control) on smartphone addiction. A partial-least-squares approach was used to test the model with 294 survey participants.

The empirical data confirmed the research model. Regarding System 1, musical emotion positively influenced smartphone addiction through musical consumption and musical response. Moreover, musical preference significantly affected musical response. Regarding System 2, self-control negatively predicted smartphone addiction.

The study is limited, as the participants were college students who are not representative of all populations.

The study extends the literature on the dark side of information technology use and complements a research agenda by Gefen and Riedl (2018) on consideration of music in information systems (IS) research.