Thesis (M.S.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1997. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2724. Typescript. Abstract precedes thesis as preliminary leaves [1]-2. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 29-30).

Access to news supports the development of democratic societies. News can promote sustainable community development and encourage healthy social, political, and economic engagement. Mobile news services (MNSs) are one means to reach out to citizens to share news and provide citizens with a forum to review and voice their opinion. However, the extant of research related to technology adoption of MNSs is limited. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to propose a framework which articulates factors influencing the adoption of MNSs particularly by the citizens of South Africa. A review of the literature on MNSs and technology adoption helped to identify potential factors that could influence adoption. This study considers existing theoretical evidence and provides new empirical evidence, to extend current theoretical understanding. Mixed methods research supported the identification of influencing factors and relationships which support the adoption of MNSs. The resultant MNS adoption model offers new insights into the personal and social factors, attributes of adopters and attributes of MNSs influencing adoption of MNSs. The model included influencing factors such as social concerns, psychological drivers, motivators, trust sensitivities for accessing information, relative advantage and value, observability, usability, portability, immediacy, compatibility, and facilitating conditions. The identified relationships between the individual factors introduced a new perspective to the prior models of technology adoption, by highlighting connections between the social environment, the adopter, and MNSs. A pragmatic approach and statistical analysis of the data validated the relationships, and the model. The decision to adopt was found to be directly affected by sixteen interlinked factors. The findings are important to mobile service providers, designers, and developers, in their endeavour to satisfy their consumer’s needs and desires.

In the news media environment, the systemic relationship between the media and public is reflexive, where the media shape public life and vice versa. This dissertation centers on explaining the relationship between the media environment and news consumers in media systems in five countries that share similar sociocultural values, namely Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Kuwait. This study identified state intervention as an influential factor that alters news consumers’ perceptions of the credibility and quality of news content as well as their consumption habits. This dissertation conducted a multinational survey of Twitter news consumers in order to investigate a range of issues relating to news consumers with a fuller consideration of the media system (structure) as a significant tool that can help understand news audiences’ behavior and attitudes towards the news. Findings suggest that the level of state intervention in the media landscape shapes participants’ attitudes and behaviors toward news. Participants who experience a high level of state intervention steer clear of the regulated traditional media outlets, want to obtain news independent from the government, and perceive a very low level of credibility and quality of traditional media. When it comes to participants from a country with greater press freedom, they perceive traditional media outlets as more credible with higher quality content than Twitter because they believe that their government does not interfere with the flow of news. The overall relationship between media systems (structures) and news consumers (agents) arises in the nature and kind of state intervention that must be taken into consideration if one is to grasp news consumers’ attitudes and behavior in these gulf countries. / Media & Communication