Mobile communication and cross-cutting discussion: A cross-national study of South Korea and the US

• We examined the role of mobile communication in cross-national contexts.
• Two independent surveys of adults in the US and in South Korea were used.
• Informational mobile use was linked to greater cross-cutting discussion.
• Relational use was linked to greater cross-cutting discussion in South Korea only.
• Informational and relational mobile uses jointly predicted enhanced deliberation.

This study aims to examine how distinct uses of mobile telephony are associated with one of the key elements in deliberative democracy from a cross-national and cross-cultural perspective. Specifically, we investigate the process in which the dynamic interplay between mobile phone uses for social relations and information is linked to an individual’s engagement in open dialogue with non-likeminded people (i.e., cross-cutting discussion). In addition, we assess the extent to which cultures shape the implications of mobile communication for deliberative democracy while drawing on two independent surveys of adults in the US and South Korea. In brief, we show that the proper recipe of mobile phone use is linked to an enhanced deliberative democracy with a noteworthy qualification that the role of mobile communication may depend on unique cultural characteristics.