Isolating the Causality of Uses and Gratification in Mobile Communication: A Case of Increased Mobile Voice Calls After a Massive Natural Disaster

Although it is widely known that the use of mobile phones is associated with communication between close ties, little is known about the causality of this association. Based on a uses-and-gratification framework and terror management theory, the present study investigates the causal impact of motivation to maintain and strengthen close ties on the promotion of mobile voice calls. Specifically, we utilized the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 and investigated whether the motivation exogenously intensified by the disaster causally promoted voice calls. Study1 found that voice calls were promoted after the earthquake compared with beforehand, which was particularly dramatic in areas where there were severe tremors and calls placed to close ties. Study2 demonstrated that psychologically priming the earthquake led to an increase in the number of voice calls with close ties. These results clearly demonstrate the causality of the uses-and-gratification framework in the context of mobile communication studies.