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Exploring the Continuance Intention of Young Chinese Females to Use Social Media: The Case of Xiaohongshu
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Several research has been conducted on social media application's acceptance, but factors that impact educational purposes are completely ignored in this research. Therefore, the research has been conducted with the purpose of developing a conceptual model, which is derived from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The subjective norm of the study is to find out social media's acceptance in education by students. To find out the exact conclusion, the research follows the questionnaire survey method in which 310 questionnaires were distributed to the students of the United Arab Emirates' well-reputed university. In this questionnaire survey, two famous approaches were used to examine the collected data that is the partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and Machine Learning approach (ML). From the above-stated study, it has been observed that perceived usefulness, subjective norms, and perceived ease of use are proven to be significant measures of student's intention that motivates them to use social media networks for their educational purpose.
With the popularization and development of the Internet, the Internet has become the daily needs of people. Life shopping software, as a network accessory, is becoming an important part of people’s lives. The reason why Red APP is so successful, in addition to the advantages of the product itself, its customer pertinence is also inseparable. Red APP delivers its products to the audience through its unique and cordial operation method, allowing audiences to share their lives with each other and resonate, to feel the sense of participation and the joy of pursuing a refined life. The article first interprets the indicators of Red APP, and then analyzes the characteristics of its users from different perspectives.
Given the scale and scope of consumer conversations on social media, it is both possible and challenging for organizations to identify valuable ideas from those conversations that could lead to successful innovations. We examine how a large retailer developed a new capability to leverage public social media conversations for innovation through a process of filtering, assessing, converting, and deploying. By inductively developing a process model of how the retailer managed to convert consumer conversations on social media into organizational innovation, our study sheds light on the microfoundations of this important capability.
Research on group cohesion often relies on individual perceptions, which may not reflect the actual social structure of groups. This study draws on social network theory to examine the relationship between observable structural group characteristics and individual perceptions of group cohesion. Leveraging Facebook data, we extracted and partitioned the social networks of 109 participants into groups using a modularity algorithm. We then surveyed perceptions of cohesion, and computed group density and size using social network analysis. Out of six linear mixed effects models specified, a random intercept and fixed slope model with group size as a predictor of perceived group cohesion emerged as best fitting. Whereas group density was not linked to perceived cohesion, size had a small negative effect on perceived cohesion, suggesting that people perceive smaller groups as more cohesive. We discuss the potential of social network analysis, visualization tools, and Facebook data for advancing research on groups.
Background
YouTube, the online video creation and sharing site, supports both video content viewing and content creation activities. For a minority of people, the time spent engaging with YouTube can be excessive and potentially problematic.
Method
This study analyzed the relationship between content viewing, content creation, and YouTube addiction in a survey of 410 Indian-student YouTube users. It also examined the influence of content, social, technology, and process gratifications on user inclination toward YouTube content viewing and content creation.
Results
The results demonstrated that content creation in YouTube had a closer relationship with YouTube addiction than content viewing. Furthermore, social gratification was found to have a significant influence on both types of YouTube activities, whereas technology gratification did not significantly influence them. Among all perceived gratifications, content gratification had the highest relationship coefficient value with YouTube content creation inclination. The model fit and variance extracted by the endogenous constructs were good, which further validated the results of the analysis.
Conclusion
The study facilitates new ways to explore user gratification in using YouTube and how the channel responds to it.
Maven behavior and its fusion with social media was a natural progression from an auspicious beginning. The acknowledgement of market influencers and their impact on consumer behavior emerged in the discipline literature during the 70’s with a study by Sheth (1971) who recognized the marketing opportunity of information disseminators. The potential publicizing influence of these brokers was investigated by Kotler and Zaltman (1976) whose findings advocated for their inclusion within a communication stratagem. Further examination produced precise demographic variables and personality traits along with the more accurate terminology of market mavens (Feick and Price, 1987) to delineate their unique dispositions. Laughlin and MacDonald (2010) recently proposed the identification of online mavens as indispensable, predicated on the significant position they hold in web based purchase behavior. This research explores the idea of social media mavens and determines specific actions most likely to transpire by online market mavens.
Social media adoption has been phenomenal especially among the youth. This study seeks to examine the effect of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and gender on social media adoption. The survey research design was used in this study to provide a basis for the generalisation of the findings of this study. The respondents were mostly youth and were selected using convenience sampling technique. Data was analysed using multiple regression. The findings indicate that, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use significantly predict social media adoption. However, there is no significant difference between males and females on adoption of social media. The implications of the results for the youth, teachers, technologist, marketers and developers of information systems have been put forward.
Previous studies have identified that social influence and personal preference are two key mechanisms to understand users’ social media adoption behavior. However, whether or not these two mechanisms play equal roles under different contexts has rarely been empirically investigated. To fill this gap, in this study, we propose sociability as a criterion to classify social media and examine the determinants of usage intention across social media with different sociability. An empirical study of 118 low-sociability and 123 high-sociability social media users found that social influence factors play a more important role for high-sociability media users while attitude has stronger impacts on intention for low-sociability media users. Implications for research and practice are also discussed.
The success or failure of social media is highly dependent on the active participation of its users. In order to examine the influential factors that inspire dynamic and eager participation, this study investigates what motivates social media users to share their personal experiences, information, and social support with anonymous others. A variety of information-sharing activities in social media, including creating postings, photos, and videos in 5 different types of social media: Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, YouTube, and Flickr, were observed. Ten factors: enjoyment, self-efficacy, learning, personal gain, altruism, empathy, social engagement, community interest, reciprocity, and reputation, were tested to identify the motivations of social media users based on reviews of major motivation theories and models. Findings from this study indicate that all of the 10 motivations are influential in encouraging users' information sharing to some degree and strongly correlate with one another. At the same time, motivations differ across the 5 types of social media, given that they deliver different information content and serve different purposes. Understanding such differences in motivations could benefit social media developers and those organizations or institutes that would like to use social media to facilitate communication among their community members; appropriate types of social media could be chosen that would fit their own purposes and they could develop strategies that would encourage their members to contribute to their communities through social media.
Purpose
– Drawing upon the literature of Uses and Gratifications (U & G) Theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose that entertainment, information seeking, socialization, and self-presentation are the motivational factors affecting continuance intention of social media. This paper further investigates the moderating effects of cultural difference and socio-economic status on the link between these motivational factors and continuance intention.
Design/methodology/approach
– Data collected from the 493 active users of Facebook in five countries (Australia, Austria, Japan, Taiwan, and the USA) were used to test the proposed model. Partial least squares method was used to assess the relationships in the model and the subgroup analysis method was employed as well to examine the moderating roles of cultural difference and socio-economic status.
Findings
– Information seeking exerts stronger effect on continuance intention for users from individualistic cultures, while socialization, and self-presentation has stronger influence on continuance intention for users from collective cultures. Entertainment has stronger influence on continuance for high educated users, whereas self-presentation has stronger influence on continuance intention for users with lower level of education. Finally, the effect of entertainment, information seeking on continuance intention is stronger for users with higher level of income, while self-presentation has stronger influence on continuance intention for users with lower level of income.
Originality/value
– This study is one of first studies to extend the research context of U & G Theory from adoption of social media to continuance intention of social media. This study is also the first to investigate the moderating roles of cultural difference and socio-economic statuses in social media usage behavior simultaneously.
Background and aims: Recent research suggests that use of social networking sites can be addictive for some individuals. Due to the link between motivations for media use and the development of addiction, this systematic review examines Facebook-related uses and gratifications research and Facebook addiction research.
Method: Searches of a large academic database revealed 23 studies examining the uses and gratifications of Facebook, and nine studies of Facebook addiction.
Results: Comparison of uses and gratifications research reveals that the most popular motives for Facebook use are relationship maintenance, passing time, entertainment, and companionship. These motivations may be related to Facebook addiction through use that is habitual, excessive, or motivated by a desire for mood alteration. Examination of Facebook addiction research indicates that Facebook use can become habitual or excessive, and some addicts use the site to escape from negative moods. However, examination of Facebook addiction measures highlights inconsistency in the field.
Discussion: There is some evidence to support the argument that uses and gratifications of Facebook are linked with Facebook addiction. Furthermore, it appears as if the social skill model of addiction may explain Facebook addiction, but inconsistency in the measurement of this condition limits the ability to provide conclusive arguments.
Conclusions: This paper recommends that further research be performed to establish the links between uses and gratifications and Facebook addiction. Furthermore, in order to enhance the construct validity of Facebook addiction, researchers should take a more systematic approach to assessment.
Purpose
This research extends Mehrabian and Russell's Stimulus‐Organism‐Response model to include both external (i.e. reputation) and internal source of information (i.e. website quality) as stimuli which affect consumers' response systems. The purpose of this paper is to test a more comprehensive model consisting of reputation and website quality (stimuli), cognition and emotion (organism) and purchase intention (response).
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 219 usable questionnaires were obtained at a large Midwestern university through online survey. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed for data analyses.
Findings
Reputation had a significant positive effect on consumers' emotion and significant negative effect on perceived risk. All four website quality dimensions had significant negative effects on perceived risk and significant positive effects on emotion, except for customer service. Perceived risk had a significant negative effect on consumers' emotion, and both perceived risk and emotion had a significant impact on purchase intention.
Research limitations/implications
This research employed convenience sampling, which resulted in a majority of female respondents. The results may be generalized to a limited extent.
Originality/value
This study allows for empirical examination of the different effects of various components of retail websites on emotion, perceived risk and behavioral intentions. This research will add value to the related literature by filling the void of previous research and also will provide practical implications for online retailers on designing and maintaining positive consumer response. Strength of the research lies in its ecological validity, since respondents were not simply all reacting to the same single stimulus.
Drawing on Uses and Gratifications (UG) Theory and Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DIT), this study aimed to augment an exploration of individual user needs based on UG constructs with an analysis of the material characteristics of the innovation based on DIT constructs to provide a comprehensive explanation of people's motivations underlying various Twitter usage levels and frequencies. Whereas previous literature on Social Network Sites (SNS) have explored individuals' motivations underlying initial adoption, the equally interesting and relevant question of use (dis-) continuance has so far been largely overlooked. To fill this void in the literature, this study compares active users that have continued to use Twitter and inactive users that initially adopted, yet discontinued usage of Twitter. This study provides insights into different usage levels and frequencies through an investigation of 1) users' perceptions of the medium, 2) users' expected outcomes associated with the medium's use, and 3) the role and effect of mobile access. An analysis of 130 surveys with Partial Least Squares (PLS) and R 2 partitioning revealed that an understanding of adoption and use (dis-) continuance of Twitter requires us to account for both user-related motivations (UG) and perceived characteristics of the medium (DIT), as combining UG and DIT increased explanatory power (R 2) for the overall sample. Furthermore, our findings showed that inactive users' initial adoption and subsequent discontinuance was solely impacted by user-related needs, (i.e. UG constructs), whereas active users' continued use was largely motivated by technology characteristics, (i.e. DIT constructs). Finally, our study revealed significant differences between active and inactive users in terms of the devices and platform used for accessing Twitter, with active users reporting a significantly higher use of mobile devices. Based on these findings, we discuss contributions and implications for future research and practice.
The explosion of new communication technologies has generated widespread controversy over their potential effects on the workplace. Accurate claims of effects must be rooted in valid assumptions about just how the technologies are used. Consequently, media-use behavior has resurfaced as a vibrant area of inquiry. In this chapter, we take a close look at current media-use theories. http://sk.sagepub.com/books/organizations-and-communication-technology/n6.xml
Social media is a critical area of interest for marketing scholars and practitioners. Recent research has shown that 88% of marketers are using social media and that they are spending over $60 billion annually on social media advertising (Gil-Or, 2010; Smith, 2011). Successfully making contact with consumers via social media is predicted to show great returns for marketers in the coming years (Okazaki, Katsukura, & Nishiyama, 2007). Despite the importance of social media, there is little understanding of how and why consumers use social media.
Uses and gratifications theory, which has its roots in the communications literature, can be an integral part of developing better scales and measurement instruments for social media marketers. The basic premise of uses and gratifications theory is that individuals seek out media that fulfill their needs and leads to ultimate gratification (Lariscy, Tinkham, & Sweetser, 2011). Uses and gratifications theory has specific relevance to social media, but it has not been given prominence in the marketing and social media literature. Therefore this paper seeks to apply uses and gratifications theory to help explain why consumers use social media. In particular, this research seeks to (1) demonstrate the importance of uses and gratifications theory to social media, (2) to apply uses and gratifications theory to social media, and (3) to identify the uses and gratifications that consumers receive from using social media. By applying uses and gratifications theory, this research seeks to provide a better and more comprehensive understanding of why consumers use social media.
We begin by briefly summarizing the literature on social media and uses and gratifications theory. Next, we describe the methodology used and the research findings. Last, the article discusses the implications and conclusions of the current research.
Computer systems cannot improve organizational performance if they aren't used. Unfortunately, resistance to end-user systems by managers and professionals is a widespread problem. To better predict, explain, and increase user acceptance, we need to better understand why people accept or reject computers. This research addresses the ability to predict peoples' computer acceptance from a measure of their intentions, and the ability to explain their intentions in terms of their attitudes, subjective norms, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and related variables. In a longitudinal study of 107 users, intentions to use a specific system, measured after a one-hour introduction to the system, were correlated 0.35 with system use 14 weeks later. The intention-usage correlation was 0.63 at the end of this time period. Perceived usefulness strongly influenced peoples' intentions, explaining more than half of the variance in intentions at the end of 14 weeks. Perceived ease of use had a small but significant effect on intentions as well, although this effect subsided over time. Attitudes only partially mediated the effects of these beliefs on intentions. Subjective norms had no effect on intentions. These results suggest the possibility of simple but powerful models of the determinants of user acceptance, with practical value for evaluating systems and guiding managerial interventions aimed at reducing the problem of underutilized computer technology.
This article reviews the recent developments in digital platform antitrust in China. I first introduce the key players in China’s platform industry, particularly those that have been frequently affected by recent antitrust events. I then provide a brief overview of economic theories that are often cited in think tank reports and official documents, including network externalities, hub-and-spoke collusion, and contestable markets. Finally, recent platform antitrust events in China are reviewed, including the introduction of platform antitrust guidelines and major antitrust cases.
Word-of-web (WOW) today has become crucial to exchange marketing information between customers via online platforms. However, there is a lack of research on the marketing potency of WOW on customer purchasing process. This study employed expectancy-confirmation theory (ECT) and trust factors to understand consumers’ purchasing process using WOW on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese social media and e-commerce platform. Due to its popularity and representativeness among digital marketing platforms, it was chosen as a case study. The process is studied in three periods: pre-purchase, transaction, and post-purchase. In pre-purchase period, users are suspicious of WOW, though it can trigger high expectations with appealing display. During transaction period, people generally have a positive expectation confirmation of using Xiaohongshu to purchase F&B services and it was further discovered that moment-of-truth can contribute to overall satisfaction. Nonetheless, at post-purchase period, the intention of re-visiting restaurants is low while the continuity with Xiaohongshu is affirmative. The strong perceived usefulness leads to users’ loyalty to the app even with a negative catering experience. This paper contributes to revising and extending the application of the ECT model in explaining customers’ purchasing process based on WOW. It also helps marketers make adaptive management decisions regarding online marketing with WOW.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors influencing content generation and community initiative in PESCs. Taking advantage of an emerging PESC – Xiaohongshu APP, the study identifies three antecedent resources, including customer-owned knowledge, harmonious passion to shopping and perceived information usefulness, that affect content generating and further community initiative.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the service-dominant (S-D) logic model and resource integration related work, the authors proposed a conceptual framework empirically tested using data of a survey and the real content-generating behavior from 347 respondents.
Findings
This paper identifies three resource antecedents of content generating behavior with significant influence. Furthermore, there is a moderating effect of perceived information usefulness among these three resources, which echoes the concept of resource integration. Content generating has a significant and positive influence on community initiative.
Originality/value
First, the paper identified customer and platform resources promoting the prosperity of PESCs, enhancing the research on antecedents of community prosperity. Second, the paper empirically quantifies the process and outcome of resource integration conceptual model. Third, it enriches the understanding of C2C interaction by investigating the value creation process on PESCs. Moreover, findings in the study provide insights for community managers to improve the operation of PESCs.
With the increasing use of social media, the addictive use of this new technology also grows. Previous studies found that addictive social media use is associated with negative consequences such as reduced productivity, unhealthy social relationships, and reduced life-satisfaction. However, a holistic theoretical understanding of how social media addiction develops is still lacking, which impedes practical research that aims at designing educational and other intervention programs to prevent social media addiction. In this study, we reviewed 25 distinct theories/models that guided the research design of 55 empirical studies of social media addiction to identify theoretical perspectives and constructs that have been examined to explain the development of social media addiction. Limitations of the existing theoretical frameworks were identified, and future research areas are proposed.
With the rise of social commerce, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has become an important reference for users to make purchase decisions. However, the quality of information communicated by eWOM on all major platforms is uneven, which seriously affects user trust in eWOM, and in the reputation of the platform. Therefore, from the perspective of information quality, this study adds the social psychological distance of consumers to research the effects of WOM on trust, and its further influence on purchase intentions. This research adopts a questionnaire survey method to collect data from users of Xiaohongshu. Through path analysis, the following conclusions are obtained: (1) information quality is positively associated with social psychological distance and trust; (2) social psychological distance is positively associated with trust; (3) social psychological distance mediates the relationship between information quality and trust; and (4) trust is positively associated with purchase intention. Finally, based on the research conclusions, we put forward suggestions for social e-commerce platforms. The limitations of the study and direction of future research are analyzed.
Social media is being increasingly used as a platform to conduct marketing and advertising activities. Organizations have spent a lot of time, money, and resources on social media ads. However, there is always a challenge in how organizations can design social media advertising to successfully attract customers and motivate them to purchase their brands. Thus, this study aims to identify and test the main factors related to social media advertising that could predict purchase intention. The conceptual model was proposed based on three factors from the extending Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) (performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, and habit) along with interactivity, informativeness, and perceived relevance. The data was collected using a questionnaire survey of 437 participants. The key results of structural equation modelling (SEM) largely supported the current model’s validity and the significant impact of performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, interactivity, informativeness, and perceived relevance on purchase intentions. This study will hopefully provide a number of theoretical and practical guidelines on how marketers can effectively plan and implement their ads over social media platforms.
Social Networking Sites (SNSs) provide a public platform for communication, interaction, and socialization. The intention behind conducting this research was to evaluate whether perceived ease of use and related factors influence SNSs addiction and to discover their connection with this excessive use. Theoretically, we developed a model which integrates perceived ease of use with habit and psychological dependence to predict social networking addiction and tested the model among university students in Pakistan. Further, we examined the moderating effect of the perceived usefulness of these connections. The link between perceived ease of use and social networking addiction and psychological dependence is moderated by perceived usefulness. However, perceived usefulness shows an insignificant moderating relationship with habit. This study data was collected online using a Google documents application on a sample of university students in Pakistan. In total, 336 samples were collected and analyzed with SPSS version 21. The results show that Pakistani students tend to have higher SNSs addiction because of its perceived ease of use
Social-networking functions are increasingly embedded in online rating systems. These functions alter the rating context in which consumer ratings are generated. In this paper, we empirically investigate online friends’ social influence in online book ratings. Our quasi-experimental research design exploits the temporal sequence of social-networking events and ratings and offers a new method for identifying social influence while accounting for the homophily effect. We find that rating similarity between friends is significantly higher after the formation of the friend relationship, indicating that with social-networking functions, online rating contributors are socially nudged when giving their ratings. Exploration of contingent factors suggests that social influence is stronger for older books and for users who have smaller networks, and that relatively more recent and extremely negative ratings cast more salient influence.
The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2017.0741 .
This article introduces concepts of self-awareness and computer-mediated communication. A number of studies that have investigated the relationship between the use of computer-mediated communication and self-awareness are reviewed to provide an overview of existing findings within this line of research. These studies provide preliminary empirical evidence that self-awareness does interact both as trait and state with different contexts of computer-mediated communication. The reviewed studies are discussed in light of contemporary media developments. On this basis theoretical directions for future research are proposed.
People worldwide are largely engaged and attached with the web 2.0 technology and Social media platforms. By the same token, businesses start looking at such technologies as effective mechanisms to interact more with their customers. Equally, the related issues of social media marketing have been also the focus of attention for academics and researchers to expand the current understanding about such phenomena over the marketing area. Accordingly, the main aim of this study is to systematically examine and review the current studies that have conducted over the related area of social media and marketing. By reviewing approximately 144 articles, the researchers were able to provide an overview of the main themes and trends covered by the relevant literature such as the role of social media on advertising, the electronic word of mouth, customers’ relationship management, and firms’ brands and performance. In this review, it has also studied the most common research approaches adopted to examine the related issues of social media marketing. Further discussion is also introduced followed by an explanation of the current review limitations and recommended directions to be examined by future studies.
Organizations increasingly use social media and especially social networking sites (SNS) to support their marketing agenda, enhance collaboration, and develop new capabilities. However, the success of SNS initiatives is largely dependent on sustainable user participation. In this study, we argue that the continuance intentions of users may be gender-sensitive. To theorize and investigate gender differences in the determinants of continuance intentions, this study draws on the expectation-confirmation model, the uses and gratification theory, as well as the self-construal theory and its extensions. Our survey of 488 users shows that while both men and women are motivated by the ability to self-enhance, there are some gender differences. Specifically, while women are mainly driven by relational uses, such as maintaining close ties and getting access to social information on close and distant networks, men base their continuance intentions on their ability to gain information of a general nature. Our research makes several contributions to the discourse in strategic information systems literature concerning the use of social media by individuals and organizations. Theoretically, it expands the understanding of the phenomenon of continuance intentions and specifically the role of the gender differences in its determinants. On a practical level, it delivers insights for SNS providers and marketers into how satisfaction and continuance intentions of male and female SNS users can be differentially promoted. Furthermore, as organizations increasingly rely on corporate social networks to foster collaboration and innovation, our insights deliver initial recommendations on how organizational social media initiatives can be supported with regard to gender-based differences.
As a relatively new behavior, donation to content creators in social media has become very popular in the last few years. Different from traditional donation to nonprofit organization or victims, donation to content creators in social media has received little attention from academic researchers. On the basis of the socio-technical systems framework and attachment theory, this study develops a model to investigate the effects of social and technological factors on users’ donation behavior. Our results indicate that donation intention is determined by the emotional attachment to the content creator and functional dependence on social media, which are influenced by both social factors (identification, interaction, and information value) and technical factors (sociability and personalization).
The purpose of this study is to propose a unified model integrating the technology acceptance model (TAM), task fit technology (TTF) model, MOOCs features and social motivation to investigate continuance intention to use MOOCs. A sample of 252 participants in China that have already used MOOCs took part in this study. Structural equation modeling implemented via partial least squares (PLS) is conducted to test the research hypotheses. The results show that research framework for integrating the TAM for the adoption and TTF model for utility provides a more comprehensive understanding of the behaviors related to this context: (1) perceived usefulness and attitude are critical to the continuance intention to use MOOCs; (2) perceived usefulness is a significant mediator of the effects of perceived ease of use, task-technology fit, reputation, social recognition and social influence on continuance intention; (3) perceived ease of use, task-technology fit, reputation, social recognition and social influence are found to play important roles in predicting continuance intention; (4) individual-technology fit, task-technology fit, and openness affect the perceived ease of use; (5) unexpectedly, perceived ease of use and social influence have no significant effect on attitude, and individual-technology and openness do not affect perceived usefulness.
Social networking sites (SNSs) have attracted more and more people to interact on line. Because of their popularity, firms and organizations are now marketing their business on SNS pages. It is essential for both SNS providers and firms to retain their current members. Consequently, use continuity of SNSs has gained the attention of both practitioners and researchers. However, few studies have systematically examined gender differences in such a context. To address this gap, we have developed an advanced framework to explain and analyze gender differences in users’ SNS continuance decisions. We propose an SNS continuance model by integrating SNS-oriented constructs (perceived privacy risk, perceived enjoyment, perceived reputation, and community identification) into the established ECM-ISC model and introduce gender as a key moderator. Our research results indicate that all the added SNS-oriented constructs influence users’ SNS continuance directly and indirectly. Furthermore, the impact of each factor on SNS continuance varies by gender. Each gender bases SNS continuance decisions on a different set of factors and/or different weights of the same factors. This study provides evidence that gender effects should be considered in understanding the continued usage of SNSs. It also provides an opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of gender differences in SNS continuance and fills the research gap regarding this. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.
Internet advertising has become increasingly personalized as advertisers tailor content to individual users. However, this has led consumers to be concerned about their privacy. Based on rational choice theory and self-awareness theory, the current research explores the role of relevance in personalized advertisements and examines its impact on perceptions of privacy invasion, self-awareness, and subsequent continuous use intentions of personalized advertising. Analysis of survey data from 386 online users found that although privacy invasion perceptions are negatively related to continuous use intentions, perceived advertisement relevance mitigates consumer's privacy concerns. Perceived relevance was also found to be positively related to consumer's continuous use intentions through the mediation of self-awareness. This research identifies and highlights the importance of relevance in the tension between privacy concerns and personalized advertisements.
Although health information search might be the most common motive that consumers have for using the Internet for healthcare, they also use the Internet for other purposes such as healthcare management. To date, most research on consumer use of the Internet for healthcare has focused on consumers’ search for health information, while focusing less on other activities of consumers on the Internet. The purpose of this study was to examine how Internet-related characteristics (Internet experience and trust in the Internet) and individual-related traits (confidence in self healthcare and general health status) were associated with consumers’ use of the Internet for different purposes, such as healthcare management. Using a subsample of the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) 4 Cycle 3 data, ordered probit regressions were conducted to test the hypotheses. The results of the study further suggest useful implications for public health policy makers, marketers, and healthcare businesses in terms of factors to consider in the successful implementation of healthcare promotion and management in the computer-mediated environment of the Internet.
To increase their revenue from electronic commerce, more and more Internet businesses are soliciting personal information from consumers in order to target products and services at the right consumers. But when deciding whether to disclose their personal information to Internet businesses, consumers may weigh the concerns of giving up information privacy against the benefits of information disclosure. This article examines how Internet businesses can motivate consumers to disclose their personal information. Based on a synthesis of the literature, the article identifies seven types of extrinsic or intrinsic benefits that Internet businesses can provide when soliciting personal information from consumers. Through comprehensive conceptual and empirical validation processes, the article develops an instrument that allows Internet businesses to gauge the preference of consumers for the various types of benefits. By testing a set of nomological networks, some ideas are presented to Internet businesses about what types of benefits may be more effective given the personality traits of particular consumer populations. Besides providing a foundation for efforts aimed at developing theories on information, privacy and information disclosure, the results of this research provide useful suggestions to Internet businesses on how best to solicit personal information from consumers. Implications for research and practical application are discussed.
User loyalty or continued use is critical to the survival and development of any website. Focusing on the social network services (SNSs) context, this study proposes a research model for investigating individuals’ use motivations and the moderating role of habit with regard to gratification and continuance intention. This research integrates two influential media communication theories, media system dependency (MSD) and uses and gratifications, to examine SNSs-related behaviors. To comprehend online users’ motivations in depth, three motivations derived from MSD (understanding, orientation and play dependency relations) are operationalized as reflective, second-order constructs. The three motivations are theorized to affect parasocial interaction positively, and parasocial interaction is hypothesized to positively affect the gratification that individuals derive from SNSs usage. Furthermore, this study hypothesizes that gratification positively affects individuals’ continuance intention. Finally, we theorize that habit moderates the impact of gratification on continuance intention. Data collected from 657 Facebook users provide strong support for all six hypotheses. The results indicate that individuals’ motivations (i.e., the understanding, orientation and play dependency relations) positively affect parasocial interaction, which in turn has a positive effect on gratification, and subsequently continuance intention. In addition, the results show that habit has a small but negative moderating effect on the relationship between gratification and continuance intention. Implications for theory and practice are discussed, and suggestions are made for future research.
Theory suggests that coworkers may influence individuals' technology use behaviors, but there is limited research in the technology diffusion literature that explicates how such social influence processes operate after initial adoption. We investigate how two key social influence mechanisms (identification and internalization) may explain the growth over time in individuals' use of knowledge management systems (KMS)--a technology that because of its publicly visible use provides a rich context for investigating social influence. We test our hypotheses using longitudinal KMS usage data on over 80,000 employees of a management consulting firm. Our approach infers the presence of identification and internalization from associations between actual system use behaviors by a focal individual and prior system use by a range of reference groups. Evidence of these kinds of associations between system use behaviors helps construct a more complete picture of social influence mechanisms, and is to our knowledge novel to the technology diffusion literature. Our results confirm the utility of this approach for understanding social influence effects and reveal a fine-grained pattern of influence across different social groups: we found strong support for bottom-up social influence across hierarchical levels, limited support for peer-level influence within levels, and no support for top-down influence.
Interactive social networking sites (SNSs) have transformed information acquisition, communication, and lifestyles. However, the values and sustainability of SNSs largely depend on sustaining users' participation and their willingness to recommend the SNS to others. Research on SNSs has mainly explored the behavioral intentions of users using the social psychology approach. This study integrated the concepts of conformity tendency and perceived playfulness into the technology acceptance model to explain why people continue to use an SNS. We collected 671 valid questionnaires through the SNS site, Facebook, and used a structural equation model to conduct an empirical study. The results indicated that for conformity tendencies, informational influence promoted the continued intention to use SNSs through perceived usefulness, not through normative influence. Furthermore, perceived ease of use was the primary factor that predicted whether users would continue using SNSs, and perceived playfulness may have facilitated users' continued intentions to use SNSs.
In this paper, we draw on an extended Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) to explore factors that affect members’ continued use intention toward Social Networking Sites (SNSs). We also theorize about the intricate relationships among a variety of UGT constructs. Further, we conduct this research in a global context by comparing SNS use in the United States and Taiwan. Empirical survey data are collected to validate the research model, and several intriguing findings are observed. Our research results indicate that four determinants, i.e., gratifications, perceived critical mass, subjective norms, and privacy concerns, influence SNS users’ continuance intention and that regional differences moderate the effects of both gratifications and privacy concerns on continuance intention. Our study makes noticeable contributions to the literature on UGT and SNSs. The findings reported also inform service providers in developing better strategies for member retention.
This study examines the continuance participation intentions and behaviour on Facebook, as a representative of Social Networking Sites (SNSs), from a social and behavioural perspective. The study extends the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) through the inclusion of perceived value construct and utilizes the extended theory to explain users' continuance participation intentions and behaviour on Facebook. Despite the recent massive uptake of Facebook, our review of the related-literature revealed that very few studies tackled such technologies from the context of post-adoption as in this research. Using data from surveys of undergraduate and postgraduate students in Jordan (n = 403), the extended theory was tested using statistical analysis methods. The results show that attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, and perceived value have significant effect on the continuance participation intention of post-adopters. Further, the results show that continuance participation intention and perceived value have significant effect on continuance participation behaviour. However, the results show that perceived behavioural control has no significant effect on continuance participation behaviour of post-adopters. When comparing the extended theory developed in this study with the standard TPB, it was found that the inclusion of the perceived value construct in the extended theory is fruitful; as such an extension explained an additional 11.6% of the variance in continuance participation intention and 4.5% of the variance in continuance participation behaviour over the standard TPB constructs. Consistent with the research on value-driven post-adoption behaviour, these findings suggest that continuance intentions and behaviour of users of Facebook are likely to be greater when they perceive the behaviour to be associated with significant added-value (i.e. benefits outperform sacrifices).
This secondary analysis of television viewing motivations and patterns located two television user types: (1) users of the television medium for time consumption and entertainment; and (2) users of television content for nonescapist, information seeking.
The authors examine two aspects of brand loyalty, purchase loyalty and attitudinal loyalty, as linking variables in the chain of effects from brand trust and brand affect to brand performance (market share and relative price). The model includes product-level, category-related controls (hedonic value and utilitarian value) and brand-level controls (brand differentiation and share of voice). The authors compile an aggregate data set for 107 brands from three separate surveys of consumers and brand managers. The results indicate that when the product- and brand-level variables are controlled for, brand trust and brand affect combine to determine purchase loyalty and attitudinal loyalty. Purchase loyalty, in turn, leads to greater market share, and attitudinal loyalty leads to a higher relative price for the brand. The authors discuss the managerial implications of these results.
The purpose of this study is to apply the technology acceptance model to examine the employees' attitudes and acceptance of electronic learning (e-learning) systems in organisations. This study examines four factors (organisational support, computer self-efficacy, prior experience and task equivocality) that are believed to influence employees' perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitudes and intention to use e-learning systems. Participants were selected from Taiwanese companies that have already implemented e-learning systems. Three hundred and thirty-two valid questionnaires were collected, and structure equation modelling was conducted to test the research hypotheses. The findings provided practical implications for organisational trainers, educators and e-learning system developers.