How Do Mobile Information Services Improve Quality of Life? The Case of Japanese Students

Abstract

Every technology should be geared to improve the quality of users’ lives. Our study aims to understand how mobile information services (MIS) contribute to quality of life (QoL) for young mobile users. This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive analysis of relationship between two variables: the contribution of MIS in 15 specific life domains and the contribution of MIS to overall quality of life (QoL). We examined bottom-up spillover theory with original and our additional life domains. Eleven life domains derived from previous research include: leisure life, family life, friend life, cultural life, work life, community life, consumer life, financial life, health life, safety life, and self-life. Our proposed four life domains are: home-healthcare life, informational life, educational life and trustworthy life. Questionnaire surveys were conducted in Japan among young mobile users. We analyzed the data of 189 effective respondents. Results from this study clearly indicate that two variables (individual contribution and overall contribution) are valid and reliable to analyze. Contribution to the informational life has the highest influence on the overall contribution for Japanese young, followed by culture life, friend life, leisure life, educational life and work life.