2023 Volume 60 Issue 5 Pages 305-313
While the market scale of paper publications is shrinking, that of electronic publications is expanding. Under these circumstances, the purpose of this paper is to analyze consumers' attitudes and behaviors towards paper publications and electronic publications, and to make proposals for usage promotion. A survey of 900 participants was conducted for the purpose mainly through free-form text questions on the Internet. Based on the survey data, consumers were categorized into three groups: users of paper publications, users of both paper and electronic publications, and non-users. The study analyzed the perceived advantages and disadvantages of both paper and electronic publications, as well as the specific advantages and disadvantages for each consumer group. Given that they will coexist, the study focused on the “users of both” group, examining how they use paper and electronic publications differently. In addition, we analyzed the triggers of people's selection of publications based on the data. In the analyses results, the characteristics of users of paper publications and those of “users of both” are seen well. Finally, based on the analyses, recommendations for promoting the use of paper publications are proposed, such as increasing the degree of "attachment" based on the satisfaction of ownership, and by utilizing social media and videos. And measures to promote the use of electronic publications such as enhancing their strengths, avoiding their weaknesses, and expanding genres are proposed.
