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Abstract
After adopting mobile phones, most older adults use them only for calling and SMS. The purpose of this study is to extend their usage of mobile phones to new functions. To understand older adults’ requirements of mobile phones, a questionnaire was constructed and 351 Chinese older adults were recruited to complete the questionnaires. Data collected through the questionnaires were analysed using explorative factor analysis. The results revealed that older adults’ requirements were composed of 10 factors: Find a Specific Function, Awareness and Attractiveness, Readability, Personal Concern, Soft Keys and Multi-tap, Hardware Capacity, Touch Screen, Concern of Learning, Connectivity, and Social Influence. Then, from the above 10 factors, the 6 most important factors were revealed using multiple linear regression analysis. The results imply that accepting new functions is different from accepting a product. Readability and Find a Specific Function, which are critical for older adults’ acceptance of feature phones, are not determinants of their acceptance of new functions in smart phones.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the support from National Natural Science Foundation in China (70971074) and National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (71188001).