This document is downloaded from DR‑NTU (https://dr.ntu.edu.sg) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Impact of mobile phone on the acculturation of South Asian migrant workers in Singapore Rajiv George Aricat 2015 Rajiv George Aricat. (2015). Impact of mobile phone on the acculturation of South Asian migrant workers in Singapore. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/65736 https://doi.org/10.32657/10356/65736 Nanyang Technological University Downloaded on 27 Sep 2021 23:57:59 SGT IMPACT OF MOBILE PHONE ON THE ACCULTURATION OF SOUTH ASIAN MIGRANT WORKERS MIGRANT ASIAN SOUTH OF ACCULTURATION THE ON PHONE MOBILE OF IMPACT IMPACT OF MOBILE PHONE ON THE ACCULTURATION OF SOUTH ASIAN MIGRANT WORKERS IN SINGAPORE RAJIV GEORGE ARICAT RAJIV GEORGE ARICAT GEORGE RAJIV WEE KIM WEE SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION 2015 2015 IMPACT OF MOBILE PHONE ON THE ACCULTURATION OF SOUTH ASIAN MIGRANT WORKERS IN SINGAPORE RAJIV GEORGE ARICAT GEORGE RAJIV RAJIV GEORGE ARICAT Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information A thesis submitted to the Nanyang Technological University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the following persons and institutions for providing me necessary support to do the PhD research that culminated in this thesis. First and foremost, my supervisor for PhD, Prof. Rich Ling: He patiently read through the drafts and made comments to the minutest detail. He introduced me the latest studies in the field that I was not aware of. Under his guidance I learned to write for journals and to the academic community in general. I owe him a great deal. I also thank Dr. Arul Chib, who was my PhD supervisor at one point, and whose funds I utilized for conducting the research. Strengthening Information Society Research Capacity Alliance (SIRCA), a programme jointly funded by International Development Research Centre, Canada and Singapore Internet Research Centre, offered me the Graduate Research Award, which helped me defray much of the cost incurred to complete this research. The organizations were generous to cover the expenses of my trip to international conferences on ICT for Development. I learned a lot through peer collaboration and expert guidance, under the aegis of the two organizations. I am grateful to SIRCA’s support. Part of the funding also came from Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the School and the University for conducting this research and for its subsequent dissemination through various means. I extend my gratitude to my friend Thara Ravindran in helping me at different junctures of the writing of this thesis. I am also thankful to everyone in my family for their concern and endless encouragement. i TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………….. i TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………………….. ii ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………... vi CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION ………………………………………… 1 Civil society and low-skilled migrant population in Singapore ……………… 4 Cultural similarities and differences ………………………………………….. 6 Migrant class differences and acculturation ………………………………….. 7 Acculturation and mobile phones …………………………………………….. 9 CHAPTER TWO SOCIAL SCIENCE OF TECHNOLOGY ………………. 14 Debates on technological determinism and social constructivism …………… 15 Migrants, mobile communication and mobile phone appropriation …………. 17 Mobile phones and functional benefits for migrants …………………. 21 Mobile phone appropriation by migrants …………………………….. 29 Cultural salience of mobile phone communication …………..…..….. 33 Summary ……….……………...………………………………..……………. 37 CHAPTER THREE ACCULTURATION AND MOBILE PHONES ……... 39 Acculturation and communication technologies: A typology …………….….. 40 The cumulative-progressive approach ………………………….….…. 41 The pluralistic-typological approach …...…………………….……… 43 Cultural identity …………………………………………. 50 Multiculturalism in workplace …………………………… 53 Adaptation outcomes in social and work domains ………………………….... 55 The social domain …………..…………………………………..….… 56 The work domain ………………………………………..………….... 60 Acculturation and mobile phone appropriation: Non-essential patterns ...…… 65 Summary ……………………………………………………………………… 69 ii CHAPTER FOUR METHODS ………………………………………………. 71 Sample ……………………..…………………………………………………. 72 Data collection ...……………………..…………………………….…….…… 73 Missing data …………………………………………………………………... 76 Quantitative measures ……………………………………………..…………. 78 Acculturation orientations ………………….…………..…………... 78 Adaptation outcomes: Social life and work domains ………..……… 89 Amount of mobile phone communication ………………..…………. 101 Demographic variables ……………………………………………... 106 Qualitative instrument ………………………………………………………... 106 Data analyses ………………………………………………………………… 111 Regression diagnosis ……………………..………………………… 111 Regression tests …………………………………………………….. 112 Qualitative data analyses ……………………………………………. 113 CHAPTER FIVE FINDINGS ..…………………………………….…………... 118 Predicting migrants’ adaptation to social life ………………………………… 119 Multiculturalism influencing social adaptation …..………..……….. 120 Predicting migrants’ organizational commitment …………………………… 128 Factors influencing organizational commitment …......…………….. 129 Mobile phone appropriation .………………..………………………………... 135 Usage and handling ……………………………………………....... 135 Prestige and social identity ………………………………………….. 145 Mobile phone appropriation types …………………………………... 151 Retaining links with home and relating to dominant host cultures …………... 155 Migrant acculturation types ……………………………………....... 159 Linking appropriation types with acculturation types ………………………. 161 CHAPTER SIX DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION …………..…….…….. 167 Acculturation, mobile communication and adaptation to social life ……….… 167 iii Acculturation, mobile communication and organizational commitment …….. 173 Mobile usage-acculturation types ……………………………………………. 178 The aspirational migrant ……………………………………………. 179 The ethnic migrant ………………………………………………….. 182 The ascetic migrant …………………………………………………. 185 Theoretical implications………………………………………………………. 187 Policy implications …………………………………………………………… 189 Beyond the impact model ……………………………………………………. 190 Limitations of the study …………………………………………………….... 191 Future research ………………………………………………………………. 194 In conclusion …………………………………………………………………. 195 REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………….. 199 APPENDICES …………………………………………………………………... 243 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Factor analysis results – Acculturation …………………………...… 83 Table 2 Factor analysis results – Social adaptation ….. …………………….. 92 Table 3 Factor analysis results – Organizational commitment ……..……….. 97 Table 4 Factor analysis results – Mobile communication …………………... 104 Table 5 List of categories in qualitative analysis …………………………… 116 Table 6 Descriptives for the six variables used in regression analyses ….….. 125 Table 7 Results of hierarchical regression …………………………………... 126 Table 8 Details of interviewees ……………………………………………... 247 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 The circular model of mobile phone appropriation ………………... 20 Figure 2 Acculturation orientations …………………………………………. 47 Figure 3 Model showing relationships between IVs and DVs ……………… 64 Figure 4 Integrated diagram of research design …………………………….. 68 Figure 5 Model diagram with standardized beta coefficients ……………….. 127 Figure 6 The aspirational migrant …………………………………………… 164 Figure 7 The ethnic migrant ………………………………………………..... 165 Figure 8 The ascetic migrant ………………………………………………… 166 Figure 9 Scree plot of factor analysis on acculturation items ….…………..... 243 Figure 10 Scree plot of factor analysis on social adaptation items ……...……. 244 Figure 11 Scree plot of factor analysis on organizational commitment items ... 245 Figure 12 Scree plot of factor analysis on mobile communication items …….. 246 APPENDICES Appendix A Figures …………………………………………………………. 243 Appendix B Tables ………………………………………………………….. 247 Appendix C IRB Approval Letter – 1 …………………………..……………. 252 Appendix D IRB Approval Letter – 2 …………………………..……………. 253 Appendix E Grant Approval Letter from WKWSCI ………………………… 254 Appendix F Grant Approval Letter from SIRCA ……………………………. 255 Appendix G Questionnaire in English ……………………………………….. 256 Appendix H Questions for in-depth interviews ………………………………. 266 v ABSTRACT The study examines how migrants’ communication over mobile phone as well as their appropriation of the technology affects their acculturation in host society. A pluralistic-typological approach towards acculturation helps understand the phenomenon as assimilation, integration, marginalization and separation. Previous research has shown that integration leads to migrants’ optimal adaptation to the host society. This study investigated the effects of mobile phone calling and of acculturation on the adaptation of low-skilled migrant workers in the host country’s social and work domains. The study followed a mixed methods approach and drew on data from survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews with 462 male migrant workers from South Asia in Singapore. Scales representing the quadri-modal model failed in construct validity, suggesting that the model was not applicable for the population under study. Instead, scales of cultural identity and multiculturalism in workplace were used to represent acculturation. Cultural identity, multiculturalism, and mobile calling to host cultures had positive effect on migrants’ organizational commitment, whereas multiculturalism in workplace positively affected