Factors influencing smartphone use and dependency in South Korea Namkee Park a , Yong-Chan Kim b,⇑ , Hae Young Shon c , Hongjin Shim d a College of Communication, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-749, South Korea b College of Communication, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea c Cheil Worldwide, Seoul, South Korea d Korea Information Society Development Institute, Gwacheon, Gyounggi-do, South Korea article info Article history: Available online 27 March 2013 Keywords: Smartphones Technology acceptance model Uses and gratifications Media dependency South Korea abstract This study examined the factors affecting the South Korean people’s use of smartphones within the framework of the technology acceptance model (TAM). Using an in-person survey (N = 852), the study confirmed the propositions of the TAM. The study also included individuals’ psychological antecedents, such as motivations for social inclusion and instrumental use of smartphones, innovativeness, behavioral activation system (BAS), and locus of control. While the motivations and innovativeness verified previous studies’ findings, BAS and locus of control demonstrated their unique contributions to explaining smart- phone use. Smartphone dependency was also affected by the antecedents in the use of smartphones. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Smartphones have been changing the ways in which people communicate with others, find information, have fun, and manage their everyday lives. Moreover, the recent developments of new operating systems, abundant applications, and competition be- tween vendors have facilitated a remarkable growth in the number of users. For instance, as of January 2012, 101.3 million people in the United States own and use a smartphone, comprising 43.29% of the total 234 million users of mobile phones (Mogg, 2012). Sim- ilarly, in South Korea, where the adoption of new communication technologies is relatively faster than other countries, more than 20 million people were using a smartphone as of October 2011, comprising approximately 40% of the whole South Korean popula- tion (Kim, 2011). This unprecedented growth of smartphone use attracts aca- demic attention, given that smartphones are an integration of the functions of voice communication, Internet access, and data retrieval and management. These functions of communication technologies, by and large, have been studied in isolation. How- ever, smartphones are a new technology that encompasses the research areas of interpersonal and mass communication, as well as information management, and therefore research on smart- phones is expected to contribute to theory building for today’s communication technologies in which multifaceted aspects of communication are embedded. To this end, it is first necessary to look at the factors that affect individuals’ use of smartphones. Yet, research that has examined the antecedents of smartphone use is largely undocumented. The primary purpose of the pres- ent study is, thus, to explore individuals’ psychological factors that influence their use of smartphones within the framework of the technology acceptance model (TAM). Although we employ the TAM as a theoretical framework, we are equally, if not more, interested in the effects of psychological antecedents on the key variables of the TAM – perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU). These psychological antecedents include motivations for smartphone use, innovativeness, behavioral acti- vation system (BAS), locus of control, and perceived relationship control. Further, we are also interested in the effects of these psychological factors on smartphone users’ dependency on the medium. Given that a variety of functions and features are embedded in smartphones and that the number of users is con- tinuously growing, the use of smartphones is likely to increase users’ dependency on the medium. Thus, we investigate the associations among the psychological antecedents, the TAM vari- ables, and smartphone dependency. The study focuses particularly upon the case of South Korea since it is well known that the country has been one of the most advanced countries with respect to the adoption and use of new communication technologies. In the case of smartphones, as of late-2011, it was reported that most people involved in eco- nomic activities were using a smartphone, and more than 60% of 20–30 year-olds possessed a smartphone (Kim, 2011). In an- other report, 77% of Korean smartphone users were using it on public transportation, such as on a bus or subway, while 59.4% reported that they were using their smartphone anywhere (Myung, 2010). These statistics indicate that the adoption and use of smartphones in South Korea have already passed the 0747-5632/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.02.008 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 2 2123 2974; fax: +82 2 2123 8660. E-mail addresses: npark@yonsei.ac.kr (N. Park), yongckim@yonsei.ac.kr (Y.-C. Kim), son1481@naver.com (H.Y. Shon), hjshim@kisdi.re.kr (H. Shim). Computers in Human Behavior 29 (2013) 1763–1770 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Computers in Human Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh