Watch, Share or Create: The Influence of Personality Traits and User Motivation on TikTok Mobile Video Usage

TLDR

Internet users are increasingly becoming self‑publishing consumers. The study examined TikTok usage across consuming, participating, and producing behaviors, assessing how personality traits and motivations predict integrated use. An online survey recruited 385 TikTok users via online network sampling. The study found that users’ motivations, rather than personality traits, significantly influence TikTok use, with archiving, self‑expression, social interaction, and peeking each predicting usage behaviors at different levels, thereby advancing theoretical and empirical knowledge of media use in user‑generated media contexts.

Abstract

Internet users are increasingly becoming self-publishing consumers. Applying the Uses and Gratifications (U&G) perspective, this study investigated how people use TikTok in terms of consuming, participating and producing behaviors, and examined the role of personality traits and users’ motivation as predictors to this integrated usage behavior. An online survey was conducted to recruit 385 TikTok users using online network sampling technique. Our findings suggest that it was users’ motivations, not personality traits, that have significant influence on TikTok use. Results show that users’ motivations – namely archiving, self-expression, social interaction and peeking – are significant predictors to TikTok usage behaviors but differ in levels and influence. This study contributes to both the theoretical and the empirical understanding of media use in a user-generated media (UGM) context.