A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Internet Usage: Media Habits, Gratifications, and Addictions in Korea and the US

Korea and the United States both rank among the leading nations of the world in terms of Internet penetration, but have arrived there at different speeds, through varying development policies, and in the contexts of contrasting cultures. The present research presents a new model of Internet usage with concepts from Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, comparing the factors that predict Internet usage among the US and Korean college students. Hypotheses about differing models of Internet usage were inferred from known differences between the two cultures and were tested through surveys administered to 276 US and 241 Korean college students. Evidence of cross-cultural validity for the model was found, but differences between the two samples still emerged. That is, this cross comparison study found that global nature and cultural difference co-exist in the Internet usage context. For example, the impact of Internet self-efficacy, outcome expectations, judgment, and deficient self-regulation on Internet usage seems not to be moderated by cultural differences because of the Internet’s global nature. Depression positively influences judgment and deficient self-regulation in both countries, but not habit strength. The differences found were that different judgment roles to Internet usage (negative in the US and positive in Korea) and American students had higher relationships in Internet self-efficacy and status; Internet self-efficacy and social; novel sensory and Internet usage than Korean students.