Zhang, Xinyi (Ceciley)Piercy, Cameron W.Lee, Sun Kyong2023-09-112023-09-112023-08-30Zhang, X., Piercy, C. W., & Lee, S. K. (2023). A test of mobile phone appropriation model: a comparison between Chinese and US samples. Asian Communication Research, 20(2). https://doi.org/10.20879/acr.2023.20.012https://hdl.handle.net/1808/34785The published version is being made available with the permission of the publisher.The mobile phone appropriation (MPA; Wirth et al., 2007, 2008) model is an integrative model that seeks to explain attitudes and behaviors related to mobile phone usage from a communication perspective, proposing a dynamic loop of metacommunication, evaluations, and usage patterns. Following a previous study (Lee & Cioena, 2023), the current research tests the MPA model with a Chinese sample collected through an online survey (N = 510) and compares it with the U.S. sample (N = 501) collected by Lee and Cionea (2023) using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis and multigroup structural equation modeling. Although the core structure of MPA model was shown to be tenable cross-culturally, the results of comparative analysis reveal some noticeable cultural differences in mobile phone appropriation and call for further model revisions. Noticeably, relational and social implications of mobile communication penetrate more aspects of mobile phone appropriation with greater strength in the Chinese sample, potentially due to the collectivistic Chinese culture, and the results demonstrate a paradox between perceived affordability and usage. The more Chinese participants evaluated the cost of mobile phone usage as a restrictive factor of MPA, corroborate the more they used it for relationship maintenance and daily schedule management. In addition, the results indicate some tensions between instrumental purposes and entertainment and symbolic usage unique to the Chinese context.Copyright ⓒ 2023 by the Korean Society for Journalism and Communication StudiesMobile phone appropriationMobile communicationCross-cultural comparisonsMultigroup confirmatory factor analysisMultigroup structural equation modelingArticle10.20879/acr.2023.20.012https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5216-2093https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1431-3086https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8645-8922openAccess