Start Date
10-12-2017 12:00 AM
Description
In 2015, about 890,000 refugees arrived in Germany and an increasing number of mobile applications have been specifically developed to socially include newcomers by informing them about bureaucracy, customs, and language of the host country. Though such applications may be functional in terms of the potential value they deliver to refugees, they may also contribute to unexpected and overlooked forms of further exclusion because the very label "refugee" is associated with an excluded and disempowered population. In this paper, we draw on social identity theory to provide indications that applications specifically developed for refugees can trigger an identity threat and may lead to associations with stereotypical and undesirable aspects of one's identity. We propose a research design to compare the intention to use of two versions of a mobile language-learning application, a refugee-specific version in the identity threat condition and a neutral version in the control condition.
Recommended Citation
Pethig, Florian; Noeltner, Markus; Cabinakova, Johana; and Krönung, Julia, ""Don't Call Me Refugee!" – The Role of Social Identity in the Adoption of Refugee-Specific Mobile Applications" (2017). ICIS 2017 Proceedings. 18.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2017/IT-and-Social/Presentations/18
"Don't Call Me Refugee!" – The Role of Social Identity in the Adoption of Refugee-Specific Mobile Applications
In 2015, about 890,000 refugees arrived in Germany and an increasing number of mobile applications have been specifically developed to socially include newcomers by informing them about bureaucracy, customs, and language of the host country. Though such applications may be functional in terms of the potential value they deliver to refugees, they may also contribute to unexpected and overlooked forms of further exclusion because the very label "refugee" is associated with an excluded and disempowered population. In this paper, we draw on social identity theory to provide indications that applications specifically developed for refugees can trigger an identity threat and may lead to associations with stereotypical and undesirable aspects of one's identity. We propose a research design to compare the intention to use of two versions of a mobile language-learning application, a refugee-specific version in the identity threat condition and a neutral version in the control condition.