Antecedents of smartphone multitasking: roles of demographics, personalities and motivations
ISSN: 1066-2243
Article publication date: 15 January 2021
Issue publication date: 12 July 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Smartphone multitasking behavior has become prevalent in our daily lives, yet factors influencing smartphone multitasking behavior have not been fully investigated. This study aimed to examine the roles of a set of demographic, personality and motivational factors on smartphone multitasking behavior, and how these factors were related to general and application-specific types of smartphone multitasking behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional study was conducted in which 2,659 smartphone users were invited to complete an online survey on smartphone multitasking behavior. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to examine the roles of demographic, personality and motivational factors on smartphone multitasking behavior.
Findings
The results showed that, in general, demographic factors, such as gender, age, occupation status, education and smartphone usage time significantly predicted smartphone multitasking behavior. People characterized by agreeableness, extraversion, neuroticism and openness to experience were more likely to multitask with smartphones. Information seeking, efficiency and habit motivations were identified as major motivational factors for smartphone multitasking behavior. The roles of demographic, personality and motivational factors differed much across varied types of application-specific smartphone multitasking behavior.
Originality/value
This study extends and advances the literature on media multitasking, smartphone multitasking in particular, by identifying a set of demographic, personality and motivational factors as antecedents of smartphone multitasking behavior. In addition, this study revealed the differentiated roles of the above-mentioned factors across varied types of smartphone application usages. The findings provide important implications for practitioners to tailor smartphone applications and services to different target smartphone users and use situations.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for the financial support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71872115), Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (Grant Nos 2019A1515010863, 2020A1515011201, and 2020A151501530), Humanity and Social Science Youth foundation of Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 20YJCZH146), Foundation of Shenzhen Science and Technology Committee (Grant No. 20200813225029002), and Youth Innovation Talent Program of General Universities of Guangdong Province, China (Grant No.2019WQNCX106).Conflict of interest disclosures: None to declare
Citation
Chen, X., Wang, Y., Tao, D., Jiang, L. and Li, S. (2021), "Antecedents of smartphone multitasking: roles of demographics, personalities and motivations", Internet Research, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 1405-1443. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-09-2019-0388
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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