Determining the Diversion as a Gratification Factor Influencing Mobile Phone Technology Use by Public University Students in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

This study aims to investigate diversion as a gratification factor influencing mobile phone technology use by public university undergraduate students in Nairobi, Kenya. The objective of the study was to assess the influence of diversion on undergraduate university students’ use of mobile phones. The study employed the uses and gratifications theory and media technological determinism theory. The target population was 246,871 undergraduate university students in public universities in Nairobi, Kenya. The study design used was quantitative design. The research used self-administered questionnaires as data collection tools. The sampling technique that was employed in this study was purposive sampling to get a sample size of 573 undergraduate students. The data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics and then processed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. Findings revealed that mobile phone technology has become essential in diversion activities among undergraduate university students. The study concluded that the higher the need for diversion, the higher the need for mobile phone technology use among undergraduate university students. The study recommended, first to software developers that they could develop a specific mobile phone software for university students to use for diversion. Since this study focused on undergraduate university students in public universities in Nairobi, Kenya, the researcher recommends that another study could be carried among post graduate students and also among private universities to find out the gratification factors influencing mobile phone technology use.