How do different people evaluate mobile applications? A study on demographic characteristics and utilitarian mobile applications

Abstract

Mobile applications are widely downloaded by people on their smartphones. These applications help smartphones meet the accelerating demands of their users, bring them convenience, and increase their working efficiency. However, people may exhibit different behaviours towards each mobile application. This paper studies how the age, gender, professionalism, education and working hours of smartphone users influence the evaluation and actual time that they spend on utilitarian applications (i.e., news, social and communication and tool applications). By analysing data from 101 smartphone users, we find that demographic factors can affect the evaluation and time that users spend on using most utilitarian applications. This study offers contributions to both academics and practitioners.