Abstract
The swift evolution of mobile phone technology has benefited various groups within communities. Fishermen, as one of the important groups, particularly in terms of their role in ensuring the nation’s food security, rely on mobile phones to conduct their fishing routines. While there is an abundance of studies that explore factors influencing mobile phone usage in various groups of communities, less interest has been placed on mobile phone usage among fishermen. This has driven the current study to its focal objective, which is to determine the behavioral factors that influence the usage of mobile phones among fishermen. This study is quantitative, and surveys a total of 250 registered fishermen from Pangkor Island – one of the main fishing areas in Perak. The results demonstrate that most of the fishermen use mobile phones for safety and communication purposes. In addition, due to a number of problems, fishermen are found to use advanced mobile phone applications such as 3G, Internet and GPS at a minimal level. Further analysis confirms that four behavioral factors, namely performance expectancy, effort expectancy, behavioral intention and social influence, have positive and significant correlations with mobile phone usage.
Highlights
In Malaysia, mobile phones have been used for decades, and have been effectively replaced the traditional means of communicating
Further analysis confirms that four behavioral factors, namely performance expectancy, effort expectancy, behavioral intention and social influence, have positive and significant correlations with mobile phone usage
For Pangkor Island fishermen, mobile phones are useful devices, as they assist them in their fishing operations, with respect to safety, communication, marketing and entertainment
Summary
In Malaysia, mobile phones have been used for decades, and have been effectively replaced the traditional means of communicating. Digital gap refers to a scenario where differences occur in term of ICT usage between those who are literate and knowledgeable in ICT and those who are not. The government has come out with a number of initiatives such as Rural Internet Centre, Community Broadband Centre and Medan Infodesa. Such initiatives have met its objective and albeit placing their investment on these ICT projects, the government is continually finding ways to encourage and embolden community to use ICT. One of the recognized ways to attract people in using ICT is by offering tools that are germane to their daily tasks and daily life
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