An ethnographic study of intergenerational smartphone MMS use in sojourning experiences
Hong-Chi Shiau | Department of Communications Management, Shih-Hsin University
This study presents an ethnographic approach to unpack the differences in digital media use, illustrating how these differences can be better understood as a negotiable quality of incessant action and interaction, rather than as a given quality of social life mandated by the individualism/collectivism dichotomy. Drawing on ethnographic interviews with seven Taiwanese sojourners in the United States and five Americans in Taiwan, this study asked informants to retrospectively recount their sojourning experiences regarding the use of multimedia messaging services (MMS), which presently often involve smartphones. Taiwanese sojourners exhibited stronger family ties than their American counterparts. Instead of relying on collectivistic/individualistic traits as an explanatory mechanism, this study identifies three themes from the life narratives of both groups of sojourners that could explain the observed cultural differences in the terrain of smartphone communication: first, the economic basis on which sojourning was organized was asymmetric between the two groups; second, parents of the two groups had asymmetric knowledge of the sojourning destinations, and this impacted conversational repertoire; and third, the intersection of gender and media constructions of sojourning destinations also shaped varying degrees of bonding. The larger asymmetric structural context at a macro-level may offer fertile ground for further theorization on cultural differences and commonalities.
(2000) Partnering across borders: Negotiating organizational culture in a German-Japanese joint venture. Human Relations, 53(4), 451–487.
Cai, D., & Rodriguez, J
(1996) Intercultural adaptation model. Intercultural Communication Studies, 6(2), 31–42.
Cemalcilar, Z., Falbo, T., & Stapleton, L
(2005) Cyber communication: A new opportunity for international students’ adaptation?International Journal of Intercultural Relation, 291, 91–110.
Chen, G.M
(2012) Impact of new media on intercultural communication. China Media Research, 8(2), 1–10.
Chen, G.M., & Dai, X-d
(2012) New media and asymmetry in cultural identity negotiation. In P.H. Cheong, J.N. Martin, & L. Macfadyen (Eds.), New media and intercultural communication: Identity, community and politics (pp. 123–138). New York: Peter Lang.
Chen, G.M., & Starosta, W.J
(2005) Foundations of intercultural communication. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Chen, R.T., Bennett, S., & Maton, K
(2008) The adaptation of Chinese international students to online flexible learning: Two case studies. Distance Education, 291, 307–323.
Chen, W
(2010) Internet-usage patterns of immigrants in the process of intercultural adaptation. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 13(4), 387–399.
(2003) A critique of Hofstede’s fifth national culture dimension. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 31, 347–368.
Gao, G., & Ting-Toomey, S
(1998) Communicating effectively with the Chinese. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Geertz, C
(1973) Thick description: Towards an interpretive theory of culture. In C. Geertz (Ed.), The interpretation of cultures (pp. 3–30). New York, NY: Basic Books.
Gudykunst, W.B
(1985) Intercultural communication: Current status and proposed directions. In B. Dervin & M. Voigt (Eds.), Progress in communication sciences 6 (pp. 1–46). Norwood: Ablex.
Hofstede, G
(1980) Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Hofstede, G
(1991) Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hofstede, G
(2001) Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Kim, M.S
(1999) Cross-cultural perspectives on motivations of verbal communication: Review, critique, and a theoretical framework. Communication Yearbook, 221, 51–90.
Kim, Y.Y
(1978) A communication approach to the acculturation process: A study of Korean immigrants in Chicago. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 21, 197–224.
Kim, Y.Y
(2001) Becoming intercultural: An integrative theory of communication and cross-cultural adaptation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Kim, Y.Y
(2005) Adapting to a new culture: An integrative communication theory. In W. Gudykunst (Ed.), Theorizing about intercultural communication (pp. 375–400). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Lee, J.W.Y., Kim, B.K., Lee, T.L., & Kim, M.S
(2012) Uncovering the use of Facebook during an exchange program. China Media Research, 8(4), 62–76.
Leung, K., Bhagat, R.S., Buchan, N.R., Erez, M., & Gibson, C.B
(2005) Culture and international business: Recent advances and their implications for future research. Journal of International Business Studies, 36(4), 357–378.
Lincoln, Y., & Guba, E
(1985) Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Lutz, R
(1989) Positivism, naturalism and pluralism in consumer research: Paradigms in paradise. Advances in Consumer Research, 161, 1–8.
Markus, H., & Kitayama, S
(1991) Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 981, 224–253.
Menon, T., & Fu, H.Y
(2005) Culture and control: How independent and interdependent selves experience agency and constraint. In E.A. Mannix, M.A. Neale, & Y. Chen (Eds.), Research on managing in teams and groups (Vol. 91, pp. 21–51). Greenwich, CT: Elsevier Science Press.
McSweeney, B
(2002) Hofstede’s Model of national cultural differences and their Consequences: A triumph of faith—A failure of analysis. Human Relations, 55(1), 89–118.
Miller-Rassulo, M
(1992) The mother-daughter relationship: Narrative as a path to understanding. Women’s Studies in Communication, 15(2), 1–21.
Morgan, M., & Hummert, M.L
(2000) Perceptions of communicative control strategies in mother daughter dyads across the life span. Journal of Communication, 50(3), 48–64.
Oetzel, J.G
(1998) Explaining individual communication processes in homogeneous and heterogeneous groups through individualism-collectivism and self-construal. Human Communication Research, 251, 202–224.
(2001) Investigating the role of communication in culturally diverse work groups: A review and synthesis. Communication Yearbook, 251, 237–270.
Pecchioni, L.L., & Nussbaum, J.F
(2000) The influence of autonomy and paternalism on communicative behaviors in mother-daughter relationships prior to dependency. Health Communication, 121, 317–338.
Penington, B
(2003, July16-20). Listening in mother-adolescent daughter relationships: A preliminary investigation into emergent themes using a multi-ethnic sample. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Listening Association, Haninge, Sweden.
Penington, B
(2004) The communicative management of connection and autonomy in African-American and European-American mother-daughter relationships. The Journal of Family Communication, 4(1), 3–34.
Sackmann, S.A., & Phillips, M.E
(2004) Contextual influence on culture research: Shifting assumptions for new workplace realities. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 4(3), 370–390.
Sawyer, R., & Chen, G.M
(2012) The impact of social media on intercultural adaptation. Intercultural Communication Studies, 21(2), 151–169.
Shah, H
(1991) Communication and cross-cultural adaptation patterns among Asian Indians. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 151, 311–321.
Taiwanese are region’s most phone-obsessed
(2013, August24). China Post News. Retrieved from [URL]
Tannen, D
(1990) You just don’t understand: Women and men in conversation. New York: Ballantine Books.
Trebbe, J
(2007) Types of immigration, acculturation strategies and media use of young Turks in Germany. Communications, 31, 171–191.
Triandis, H.C
(1995) Individualism and collectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Tsai, H
(2006) Use of computer technology to enhance immigrant families’ adaptation. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 381, 87–93.
Vorderer, P., & Kohring, M
(2013) Permanently online: A challenge for media and communication research. International Journal of Communication, 71, 188–196.
Ye, J
(2006) An examination of acculturative stress, interpersonal social support, and use of online ethnic social groups among Chinese international students. The Howard Journal of Communication, 171, 1–20.
Cited by
Cited by 4 other publications
Abel, Susan, Tanya Machin & Charlotte Brownlow
2021. Social media, rituals, and long-distance family relationship maintenance: A mixed-methods systematic review. New Media & Society 23:3 ► pp. 632 ff.
Guan, Shu-Sha Angie, Tom Anh Bui & Wan Ho
2017. Considering Cultural Factors in Emerging Adult Use of Communication Technologies. International Journal of Information Communication Technologies and Human Development 9:3 ► pp. 14 ff.
Shiau, Hong-Chi & Claudia Alvares
2016. Easily connected but difficult to become intimate? Intercultural friendships on social media among Taiwanese ESL students in the US. Cogent Social Sciences 2:1 ► pp. 1264152 ff.
Shiau, Hong-Chi & Catherine Hua Xiang
2018. Learning English With Texting on Social Media. In Cases on Audio-Visual Media in Language Education [Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design, ], ► pp. 240 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.