Relatively little is known about media use and habits in Egypt. This study addresses this issue by combining expectancy-value theory and the uses and gratifications approach to investigate media consumption attitudes and behaviors among Egyptian faculty members. Specifically, this study uses normative beliefs and habitual behavior to help predict individuals' beliefs, media usage, and media gratifications that are sought and obtained. LISREL VII was used to compare television viewing and newspaper readership patterns which allowed the researcher to simultaneously test the paths in the theoretic model, thus separating the direct and indirect effects. This study is particularly important because it dealt with a non-Western culture, Egypt, which is considered the cultural leader of the Middle East, and which also has the largest, and the most influential broadcasting system in the Arab world.
The study results largely support major features of the merged theoretic paradigm. Normative beliefs and individuals' beliefs were found to play an important role in the communication process of the Egyptian culture. Normative expectations were not only connected to individual beliefs and needs as was hypothesized, but they were also linked to gratifications obtained. Beliefs concerning attributes of media objects along with evaluations of these beliefs were shown to be important cognitive and affective antecedents of gratifications sought and media consumption.
Research findings reveal that although the decision to use Egyptian media may be individually based, the perceptions of the offerings of different media are normative. Both television and newspapers are evaluated through socially shared images of the media. Such findings support the link between the uses and gratifications approach and expectancy-value theory which answers the criticism directed toward uses and gratifications as an individualistic approach. Finally, recommendations that should be taken in future studies in this area are offered.
