Mobile Phone Use and Travel Behaviour of Adult Residents of Ile-Ife, Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the influence of mobile phone use on the frequency of trips which Ile-Ife residents made on social activities. The study covered eleven electoral wards of the urban Ile-Ife. Purposive sampling method was used to select a sample size of 330 working adults who were mobile phones users and between aged 35 years and 50 years. Moreover, to obtain the qualitative data, purposive sampling method was adopted to obtain a total sample size of 22 for in-depth interviews. Contents analysis and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the qualitative data and the quantitative data respectively. This study found an increase in frequency of trips made on visitation to friend and relatives, business/work, religion purposes while mobile phone use did not influence the frequency of trips made on recreational purposes and ceremonies. This study concluded that mobile phone use influenced the frequency of some trips which the adults in Ile-Ife, Southwestern Nigeria made on social activities.

Keywords: mobile phone, travel behaviour, social activities.