Comparison of communication medium preferences in two different cultures : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Information Sciences in Information Technology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
Loading...
Date
2014
DOI
Open Access Location
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Massey University
Rights
The Author
Abstract
Young people have many mediums for interpersonal communication; among them, Twitter,
Facebook (FB), Instant Messaging (IM), face-to-face (FTF), telephone, email, Short Message
Service (SMS) and Discussion Forums (DF). In our study we examine the impact of different
cultures on the personal communication medium preferences of young people in three specific
scenarios: communicating with peers, lecturers or with parents. We conducted a survey
among university students in two countries, China and New Zealand, who may be seen, to
some extent, as representatives of Eastern and Western cultures.
The results show that medium preference is different in different scenarios. In Western
cultures, people are more likely to use telephone, face-to-face, SMS and IM to discuss
personal problems with their parents and peers. However, they are more likely to choose
telephone, face-to-face, DF and email as their most preferred tools to talk with higher
authorities or under the supervision of the authorities. In Eastern cultures there are no
significant differences between three scenarios. People are more willing to use telephone,
face-to-face, SMS and IM to discuss problems with their parents, peers and lecturers. In
general, our survey results show that FTF, telephone and IM were the most preferred
mediums for most activities in both cultures. For people in the East, SMS is still a very
popular communication tool, whereas DF, RenRen, Weibo and email are the least preferred
mediums for most activities. For Western people, email, SMS, DF and Facebook are very
common communication tools, regardless of who they communicate with, while Twitter is the
least preferred medium.
Description
Keywords
Interpersonal communication, Social media, Interpersonal communication, China, Interpersonal communication, New Zealand, Communication preference, Communication medium