Factors affecting mobile application usage: exploring the roles of gender, age, and application types from behaviour log data

This study empirically investigates the effect of mobile app types, and the moderating effects of gender and age on mobile apps usage through actual user experience and behaviour log data, as captured by metered software on 7,374 panellists comprised of mobile phone users in the United States in 2013. The apps usage variable is examined from both the width (i.e., reach) and depth (i.e., time and frequency intensity) aspects to capture the multiplicity of mobile apps usage behaviour. The results of this study demonstrated that all of the mobile apps usage dimensions (reach, time usage intensity and frequency usage intensity) were significantly affected by the type of mobile app, with the exception of specific mobile apps in each dimension, by utilising multiple regression with dummy variables. Furthermore, the effect of the mobile app type on its usage was mostly moderated by age alone.