Understanding Cybercafés Users Behavior in Mainland China: An Exploratory Study

This work was carried out under the Amy Mahan Research Fellowship Program at the University Pompeu Fabra through the support of Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC). It analyses the use of communication tools by cybercafé users in mainland China. From the Abstract: "As a major venue of public access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), cybercafés in China have been contributing to the increase of ICT penetration, especially Internet penetration for the last decades. However, social problems related to Internet addiction and even juvenile delinquencies are considered as correlated with cybercafés. The objective of this research is to find influencing factors of users’ intention to go to cybercafés and what are the impacts on cybercafé users. The exploratory research proposes a conceptual framework for understanding cybercafé users behavior based on Theory of Panned Behavior. Open questionnaires, interviews and observations are adopted to elaborate the user behaviour framework. And a cybercafé user survey is launched to test the framework and further explore user behavior patterns. The user behavior framework is well fitted with the survey data. Internet speed and cybercafé facilities are found to be most influencing factors in users’ choice of cybercafés. Chatting and gaming are found to be major activities in cybercafés. Urban and rural users’ behavior are similar in general. Rural users expect more but achieve less in cybercafés. Internet addiction is found not as serious as reported. Lack of installed software and printers is found to be a barrier of users’ instrumental use. And differentiate government policy regulations with regards of rural and urban cybercafés could be beneficial to both the cybercafé industry development and the ICT penetration."

Using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), which considers the relationship between actual behaviour and will or intention, including attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural controls, the research design included an exploratory survey and a main survey using interviews and questionnaires. Results show:

1. “Cybercafé factors have positive influence on users' attitude towards cybercafé. Internet speed and facility (computers and software) are most influential factors. Food service and stay-overnight serve are less influential factors.
2. Users' activities have positive influence on users' behavior control. Social networking users and Internet surfing are most influential factors. Gaming and Movie/TV are less influential factors.
3. Behavior control, attitude and subjective norms are influencing factors of users' intention to come to a cybercafé. Behavior control and attitude have higher influencing level than subjective norms.
4. Users' intention to come to a cybercafé has positive influence on users' willingness to pay at a significant level.”