감지추구자적매체습관(感知追求者的媒体习惯)

Media Habits of Sensation Seekers

对营销和广告经理来说, 理解消费者的偏好和使用的媒体类型是非常有必要的, 尤其是在如今市场细分的情况下. 清晰的理解能帮助经理更有效的选择合适的媒体. 而且由于性格特征的不同, 个人对媒体类型的选择和使用都不相同. 本文测试了一个性格特征, 即感知追求. 这是在测试 "新" 媒体偏好和使用的文献中尚未出现的. 感知追求是被定义为 "一种对变化, 新颖和复杂的感觉的需要和经历. 以及为承担这些经历愿意承受生理的和社会的风险" (Zuckerman 1979). 根据文献回顾, 我们提出了6个假设. 我们尤其关注使用与满足理论(Katz 1959), 这个理论解释了为什么人们选择媒体类型和他们使用不同媒体类型的动机的原因. 目前的理论表明高感知追求者(HSS), 由于他们对新颖, 激励和非传统的内容和想象的需要, 他们会更多的使用新媒体. 因此, 我们假设高感知追求者比低感知追求者(LSS)(H2a)或中等感知追求者(MSS)(H2b)会更多的使用网络而不是广播(H1a)或印刷媒体(H1b). 另外, 高感知追求者有更多的社交活动及朋友, 因此他们会比低感知追求者(a) 和中等感知追求者(b)更多的使用社交网络网页例如Facebook/MySpace(H3) 以及聊天室(H4). 感知追求者可以显示出一系列的行为包括抑制解除. 我们认为具有高水平去抑制的人们比低水平或中等水平的人们会更多的使用社交网络如Facebook/MySpace (H5) 和聊天室(H6). 我们的数据来源于对参加极限运动的参与者的网上调查. 为得到这个群组的信息, 我们使用雪球样本技术的提高版, 即连锁推荐方法来选择应答者. 这种方法被认为是对隐藏人群进行有效估算的方法(Heckathorn, 1997). 最终的有效样本包括1108名应答者. 主要是年轻人(56.36%在34岁以下), 男性(86.1%)和中产阶级(58.7%的家庭收入超过50,000美元). 我们用这个样本来进行感知追求的研究. 我们用简要感知追求量表来测试感知追求(Hoyle et al. 2007). 我们用自我报告使用过的不同媒体类型来测量媒体使用. 结果并不支持H1a和b. 高感知追求者并没有更多的使用网络这样的媒体. 事实上, 同其他的媒体类型相比, 这个平均水平是较低的. 高感知追求者使用最多的媒体类型时印刷媒体, 这说明了一种对主流的反抗. 结果支持H2a和b. 高感知追求者比低感知或中等感知追求者更多的使用网络. 进一步的分析揭示了在高感知和低感知追求者之间在使用印刷媒体方面有显著不同. 高感知追求者在他们感兴趣的极限运动方面会追求更专业的印刷出版物. 假设3a和b 揭示了高感知追求者比低感知或中等感知追求者更多的使用Facebook/MySpace. 在使用聊天室方面低感知和高感知追求者之间没有显著差距. 所以结果也不支持假设H4a, 但是H4b的结果是显著的. 不同抑制解除水平的应答者被认为使用Facebook/MySpace 和聊天室的水平也不同. 去抑制水平高比低水平或中等水平的使用Facebook/MySpace的水平高. 所以H5a和b 被支持. 类似的, H6b也被支持. 去抑制水平高的人们使用聊天室的概率显著多于中等水平的但并不多于低水平的人们(H6a). 这些结果为管理者提供了一些有趣的见解. 第一, 尽管高感知追求者比低感知或中等感知追求者更多的使用在线媒体, 但他们使用在线媒体仍然少于印刷或广播媒体. 广告执行者们不应该对这个重要的客户群过分的强调在线媒体. 第二, 社交媒体, 例如Facebook/MySpace和聊天室会是接近这个群体的有潜力的方法. 最后, 对去抑制水平高的群体, 有公共关系方面的启示. 这些个体更倾向于一些社会风险的行为. 这些直接的启示包括因特网捕食者和未来的雇主. 本研究的一个不足是受访者都是参与极限运动的. 这本身就是一个高感知追求者活动. 更大范围的人群需要被测试.

Understanding consumers' preferences and use of media types is imperative for marketing and advertising managers, especially in today's fragmented market. A clear understanding assists managers in making more effective selections of appropriate media outlets, yet individuals' choices of type and use of media are based on a variety of characteristics. This paper examines one personality trait, sensation seeking, which has not appeared in the literature examining "new" media preferences and use. Sensation seeking is a personality trait defined as "the need for varied, novel, and complex sensations and experiences and the willingness to take physical and social risks for the sake of such experiences" (Zuckerman 1979). Six hypotheses were developed from a review of the literature. Particular attention was given to the Uses and Gratification theory (Katz 1959), which explains various reasons why people choose media types and their motivations for using the different types of media. Current theory suggests that High Sensation Seekers (HSS), due to their needs for novelty, arousal and unconventional content and imagery, would exhibit higher frequency of use of new media. Specifically, we hypothesize that HSS will use the internet more than broadcast (H1a) or print media (H1b) and more than low (LSS) (H2a) or medium sensation seekers (MSS) (H2b). In addition, HSS have been found to be more social and have higher numbers of friends therefore are expected to use social networking websites such as Facebook/MySpace (H3) and chat rooms (H4) more than LSS (a) and MSS (b). Sensation seekers can manifest into a range of behaviors including disinhibition,. It is expected that alternative social networks such as Facebook/MySpace (H5) and chat rooms (H6) will be used more often for those who have higher levels of disinhibition than low (a) or medium (b) levels. Data were collected using an online survey of participants in extreme sports. In order to reach this group, an improved version of a snowball sampling technique, chain-referral method, was used to select respondents for this study. This method was chosen as it is regarded as being effective to reach otherwise hidden population groups (Heckathorn, 1997). A final usable sample of 1108 respondents, which was mainly young (56.36% under 34), male (86.1%) and middle class (58.7% with household incomes over USD 50,000) was consistent with previous studies on sensation seeking. Sensation seeking was captured using an existing measure, the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (Hoyle et al., 2002). Media usage was captured by measuring the self reported usage of various media types. Results did not support H1a and b. HSS did not show higher levels of usage of alternative media such as the internet showing in fact lower mean levels of usage than all the other types of media. The highest media type used by HSS was print media, suggesting that there is a revolt against the mainstream. Results support H2a and b that HSS are more frequent users of the internet than LSS or MSS. Further analysis revealed that there are significant differences in the use of print media between HSS and LSS, suggesting that HSS may seek out more specialized print publications in their respective extreme sport activity. Hypothesis 3a and b showed that HSS use Facebook/MySpace more frequently than either LSS or MSS. There were no significant differences in the use of chat rooms between LSS and HSS, so as a consequence no support for H4a, although significant for MSS H4b. Respondents with varying levels of disinhibition were expected to have different levels of use of Facebook/MySpace and chat-rooms. There was support for the higher levels of use of Facebook/MySpace for those with high levels of disinhibition than low or medium levels, supporting H5a and b. Similarly there was support for H6b, Those with high levels of disinhibition use chat-rooms significantly more than those with medium levels but not for low levels (H6a). The findings are counterintuitive and give some interesting insights for managers. First, although HSS use online media more frequently than LSS or MSS, this groups use of online media is less than either print or broadcast media. The advertising executive should not place too much emphasis on online media for this important market segment. Second, social media, such as facebook/Myspace and chatrooms should be examined by managers as potential ways to reach this group. Finally, there is some implication for public policy by the higher levels of use of social media by those who are disinhibited. These individuals are more inclined to engage in more socially risky behavior which may have some dire implications, e.g. by internet predators or future employers. There is a limitation in the study in that only those who engage in extreme sports are included. This is by nature a HSS activity. A broader population is therefore needed to test if these results hold.