Socio-culture of Youths: Impact of Personal Values towards Effective Communication

Abstract

Understanding the sociocultural context of youths; personal values, will give direction in planning communication strategies and initiatives to motivate participation of youths. In addition, it will give insights to youths preferred tools, medium, design and approach for communication. This study aims to understand the personal values that are being upheld by youths in Malaysia, and identify the effective communication medium that is aligned to their personal values. The objectives were attained through systematic review of secondary data available in open sources platforms, published between the years 2017-2021. Thematic analysis was done using Atlas.Ti followed by an expert focus group discussions (FGD) to validate the findings. Among the main personal values that are upheld by youths in Malaysia from the 10 Basic Human Values Theory (BHV Theory), are hedonism, self-direction and power. Secondary findings from this study shows that youths in Malaysia use social media as their main communication preference platform i.e., WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Personal values influence social media preference, in terms of platform, design and approach with characteristics i.e., affordability (most are free of charge), ease of use, control, and having personalized and customization features. Social media enables them to interact, collaborate, entertain, stay connected, and voice out.