A Research Of Uses And Gratification Model On Internet Instant Message Tool Of University Students

Based on the theories derived from past researches about propagation,psychology, sociology and referencing large amount of literatures and the adequate analysis and induction, this paper catches light on the current situation of instant message(IM)widely used on campus ,gives a detail description on the development environment, current situation and questions which is faced with now. A new definition is made about the connotation and extension of the uses and gratification(U&G) of university students using IM ,an assumption model is also presented to analyze the U&G of theirs, taking into account of the university students'social condition, personal characteristic ,requirement and intention. The factors that affect the use and gratification of university students using IM is also investigated in the form of empirical research(ER),applying SPSS statistic software.A questionnaire survey (QS) on the current using situation of IM is carried out which focuses on 320 students of Wuhan University of Science and Engineering (WUSE). A total of 288 valid questionnaires is collected and analyzed statistically; the results show that the hypothetical model (HM) is scientific and reasonable, come up to the following conclusions:(1)Social condition and personal characteristic are the direct factors that influence the extent of U&G of university students'using IM. The relationship between the two factors and the requirement intention and use behavior is direct proportion, the previous affect the later greatly.(2)IM, network environment, the extent of education and psychology characteristic E, these four principal casual variables influence the U&G of students on using IM. These variables not only directly limit the social condition and personal characteristic but also indirectly influence students'use behavior and satisfaction through the two direct factors.(3)Another important factor which takes effect on the U&G of students using IM is the group communication. It is also one of the key factors which restraint the image of students'instant message and is verified by demonstration through statistic analysis. With the help of the sociology-related spot check statistic method, this ER implements a preliminary survey which aims at the using frequency communication situation, network environment, physical environment of students using IM and theirs'psychology characteristic use intention and satisfaction, also discusses the influence of IM on the students'thought manner, communication concept and life style. The analysis emphasizes on the validation of the assumption model, the relationship of variables and the influencing factors, tries to find out the main factors that affect the intention and the satisfaction of students using IM. Some explanations and conclusions are made from the research results, which are expected to give some benefits to the IM enterprise and the relational departments of university.