Advances in Applied Sociology
2014. Vol.4, No.2, 37-39
Published Online February 2 014 in SciRes (http://www.scirp.org/journal/aasoci) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/aasoci.2014.42007
OPEN ACCESS
Social Influence of Migrant Workers’ ICT Using in China
Chun Mao
School of Journalism and Communication, Southwest University, Chongqing, C hina
Email: maochun1981@hotmail.com
Received November 20th, 2013; revised December 20th, 2013; accepted December 27th, 2013
Copyright © 2014 Chun Mao. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original
work is properly cited. In ac cordance of the Creative Commons Attribution License all Copyrights © 2014 are
reserved for SCIRP an d the owner o f the intellectual pr operty Chun Mao. All Cop yright © 201 4 are guarded by
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Social influence is one of the most important factors in changing one’s behavior. There are many factors
included in social influence of migrant workers’ information communication technology (ICT) using in
China. For example, family, friends, related agencies such as Trade Union and the Department of human
resources and social security, and the leaders of villages, play important roles in influencing the migrant
workers community to use ICT equipment. The primary research method is quantitative. There are 200
migrant worker respondents from 4 provinces. The result indicates that social influence on migrant work-
ers’ ICT usage is not high. Colleagues, family, and villagers do influence migrant workers’ use of ICT.
The lowest mean score in this research is relating to the relevant migrant workers agencies.
Keywords: Migrant Workers; Social Influence; ICT Using
Introduction
Migrant workers in China are mostly people from impove-
rished regions (especially from rural area) who go to more ur-
ban and prosperous regions in search of work. They are the
main force for urbanization in the People’s Republic of China.
According to Chinese government statistics, the current number
of migrant workers in China is estimated at 262 million (Na-
tional Bureau of Statistics of China, 2013), approximately 19%
of the population. Most migrant workers come from Sichuan,
Anhui, Henan and Guangxi Provinces, and generally go to
Guangdong, Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai and the coastal pros-
perous cities. Overall, the Chinese government has tacitly sup-
ported migration as means of providing labor for factories and
construction sites and for the long term goals of transforming
China from a rural-based economy to an urban-based one.
Some provinces and cities have started providing migrant
workers with social security, including pensions and other in-
surances.
In order to meet the demands of development and moderni-
zation, various types of information communication technology
(ICT) have been offered to aid migrant workers to find work,
express willingness, communicate with home, improve literacy,
entertainment, ICT such as wireless intercoms, mobile phones,
e-mails, tablet computers, and so on. A number of researches
have been carried out about migrant workers’ ICT usage, along
with the social communicating aspect. Several studies have
focused on the impacts of demographic factors in migrant
workers’ ICT usage, such as gender, finance, age, working
location and using time on ICT usage (Huang, 2011; Zhou &
Lv, 2011). In addition, other studies discover the impacts of
behavioral factors on migrant workers’ ICT usage (Zhang, 2012;
Zhou, 2013).
Social influence is one of the most important factors in
changing one’s behavior. Social influence is defined as a
change in an individual’s behavior, feelings, thinking or atti-
tudes, and the change is based on interaction with other people
or groups. Raidah Mazuki (2013) considers that many factors
are included in social influence. For example, family, friends,
related agencies such as Trade Union and the Department of
Human Resources and Social Security, and the leaders of vil-
lages play important roles in influencing the migrant workers
community to use ICT equipment. This is related to one of the
missions of Trade Union, which is to create a developed, inde-
pendent and progressive migrant workers community. Gilligan
(2005) emphasizes the importance of social influence on ICT
usage, asserting that people who live in areas where levels of
ICT use are high will have higher levels of ICT usage, while
those who live in areas where levels of ICT use are low will
have a low level of ICT usage. Tian Qian (2012) considers
social effects have important influence on migrant workers’
adoption of new media, and finds that the attitude of migrant
workers colleagues and community is the most important fac-
tor.
Methodology
This study is quantitative in nature, and a developed instru-
ment (questionnaire) was used to collect the data needed. This
study adopts the structure of close-ended and the Likert-Scale
five-point measure questionnaire. Each item is given a 5-point
scale with 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = slightly agree,
4 = agree, and 5 = strongly agree. Each questionnaire took 20 -
25 minutes to complete. The questionnaire was developed in
Chinese. Questions with regard to social influence in using ICT
are associated with influence of family members, migrant
worker colleagues, agencies officers and village administration
members on migrant workers to use ICT.