Factors affecting LIS Israeli students’ mobile phone use: an exploratory study

Although the mobile phone is a popular gadget, only a few studies have examined the relationships between personality characteristics and mobile phone use. This study aims to integrate and extend the literature by focusing on various personality characteristics and motivations to fully understand the influence of these variables on mobile phone use.

The research was conducted in Israel during the first semester of the 2015 academic year and encompassed 181 library and information science students. Participants were asked to complete the following questionnaires: personal details, mobile usage, motivation, self-disclosure and personality characteristics (openness to experience and extroversion and loneliness).

The most common use of students’ mobile phones is for mobile voice communication. Further, results show that the major factors that influence individual mobile phone use are motivation and the time spent using the phone. In addition, results indicate that personality characteristics have a large impact on mobile phone use as well, and that the dominant ones are openness to experience and self-disclosure.

The current study expands the scope of research about mobile phone use by examining the different functions provided by mobile phones within the context of personality characteristics as well as motivation. Further, mobile phones now not only serve as a means of communication but also have become a central means in students’ lives to access their social network system of choice, search for information and enjoy online leisure activities.