How WeChat can retain users: Roles of network externalities, social interaction ties, and perceived values in building continuance intention

An increasing number of users join and immerse in Social Network Services' (SNS) virtual spaces, but many users quit using these services as well. SNS managers must enhance users' continuance intention. Based on a survey of WeChat users, this research examined the effects of direct and indirect network externalities on users' perceived values (including social value, information value, emotional value, and hedonic value) and continuance intention. We conducted data analysis with structural equation modeling (SEM). Results confirmed that social interaction ties mediate the effect of network externalities on the four types of perceived values. Meanwhile, among the four types of perceived values, only social value and hedonic value influence continuance intention. Examined the impact of both direct and indirect network externalities on users' four types of perceived values.Confirmed that social interaction ties mediate the effect of network externalities on four types of perceived values.Indicated different weighted influences of perceived values on users' continuance intention.

[1]  Detmar W. Straub,et al.  Structural Equation Modeling and Regression: Guidelines for Research Practice , 2000, Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[2]  Anol Bhattacherjee,et al.  Understanding online social support and its antecedents: A socio-cognitive model , 2009 .

[3]  Danah Boyd,et al.  Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[4]  L. Warlop,et al.  Identity-Based Consumer Behavior , 2012 .

[5]  Hee-Woong Kim,et al.  Value‐driven Internet shopping: The mental accounting theory perspective , 2010 .

[6]  Catherine A. Cole,et al.  Consumer decision making and aging: Current knowledge and future directions , 2009 .

[7]  Richard J. Varey,et al.  Marketing as an Interaction System , 2008 .

[8]  Nicole C. Krämer,et al.  Psychosocial functions of social media usage in a disaster situation: A multi-methodological approach , 2014, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[9]  David C. Yen,et al.  Understanding the perceived community value of Facebook users , 2014, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[10]  Vimala Balakrishnan,et al.  Malaysian Facebookers: Motives and addictive behaviours unraveled , 2013, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[11]  Tao Zhou,et al.  Examining mobile instant messaging user loyalty from the perspectives of network externalities and flow experience , 2011, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[12]  C. Wu,et al.  The influence of customer-to-customer interactions and role typology on customer reaction , 2008 .

[13]  C. Shapiro,et al.  Network Externalities, Competition, and Compatibility , 1985 .

[14]  H. Harman.  Modern factor analysis , 1961 .

[15]  R. Oliver,et al.  Assessing the Dimensionality and Structure of the Consumption Experience: Evaluation, Feeling, and Satisfaction , 1993 .

[16]  Nicole C. Krämer,et al.  Impression Management 2.0 , 2008, J. Media Psychol. Theor. Methods Appl..

[17]  Louisa Ha,et al.  Interactivity reexamined: A baseline analysis of early business web sites , 1998 .

[18]  Shelley E. Taylor.  Social Support: A Review , 2011 .

[19]  Nan Lin,et al.  Social Capital and Health Inequality: Evidence from Taiwan∗ , 2009, Journal of health and social behavior.

[20]  Hsi-Peng Lu,et al.  Why people use social networking sites: An empirical study integrating network externalities and motivation theory , 2011, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[21]  Robert C. Blattberg,et al.  Interactive Marketing: Exploiting the Age of Addressability , 1991 .

[22]  G. Soutar,et al.  Retail service quality and perceived value: A comparison of two models , 1997 .

[23]  Chieh-Peng Lin,et al.  Modeling IT relationship quality and its determinants: A potential perspective of network externalities in e-service , 2011 .

[24]  Chao-Min Chiu,et al.  Exploring individuals' subjective well-being and loyalty towards social network sites from the perspective of network externalities: The Facebook case , 2013, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[25]  J. Jacobs.  The Death and Life of Great American Cities , 1962 .

[26]  H. Reis,et al.  Attachment and intimacy: Component processes. , 1996 .

[27]  P. M. Podsakoff,et al.  Self-Reports in Organizational Research: Problems and Prospects , 1986 .

[28]  Don Tapscott,et al.  Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World , 2008 .

[29]  Cristina Bicchieri,et al.  Norms and Beliefs: How Change Occurs , 2014 .

[30]  Anastasia Papazafeiropoulou,et al.  Why people keep coming back to Facebook: Explaining and predicting continuance participation from an extended theory of planned behaviour perspective , 2013, Decis. Support Syst..

[31]  Yuping Liu,et al.  What is Interactivity and is it Always Such a Good Thing? Implications of Definition, Person, and Situation for the Influence of Interactivity on Advertising Effectiveness , 2002 .

[32]  Jungkun Park,et al.  The role of interactivity in e-tailing: Creating value and increasing satisfaction , 2010 .

[33]  Edward Shih-Tse Wang,et al.  Forming relationship commitments to online communities: The role of social motivations , 2012, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[34]  S. Ghoshal,et al.  Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and the Organizational Advantage , 1998 .

[35]  B. J. Hirsch.  Natural support systems and coping with major life changes , 1980 .

[36]  Hsi-Peng Lu,et al.  Intention to Continue Using Facebook Fan Pages from the Perspective of Social Capital Theory , 2011, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[37]  Anol Bhattacherjee,et al.  Elucidating Individual Intention to Use Interactive Information Technologies: The Role of Network Externalities , 2008, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[38]  J. Suhr,et al.  Controllability of Stressful Events and Satisfaction With Spouse Support Behaviors , 1992 .

[39]  Cliff Lampe,et al.  The Benefits of Facebook "Friends: " Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[40]  Yaobin Lu,et al.  Enhancing perceived interactivity through network externalities: An empirical study on micro-blogging service satisfaction and continuance intention , 2012, Decis. Support Syst..

[41]  Jennifer Stromer-Galley.  On-Line Interaction and Why Candidates Avoid It , 2000 .

[42]  V. Zeithaml.  Consumer Perceptions of Price, Quality, and Value: A Means-End Model and Synthesis of Evidence: , 1988 .

[43]  M. Holbrook.  Consumption experience, customer value, and subjective personal introspection: An illustrative photographic essay , 2006 .

[44]  H. Hyman,et al.  The psychology of status , 1980 .

[45]  C. Fornell,et al.  Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. , 1981 .

[46]  Jonah Berger,et al.  When Identity Marketing Backfires: Consumer Agency in Identity Expression , 2014 .

[47]  Chieh-Peng Lin,et al.  Assessing the mediating role of online social capital between social support and instant messaging usage , 2011, Electron. Commer. Res. Appl..

[48]  Barbara L. Gross,et al.  Why we buy what we buy: A theory of consumption values , 1991 .

[49]  Alexander Hars,et al.  Web Based Knowledge Infrastructures for the Sciences: An Adaptive Document , 2000, Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[50]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  On the evaluation of structural equation models , 1988 .

[51]  Laurie Murphy.  Exploring social interactions of backpackers , 2001 .

[52]  Jungkun Park,et al.  Exploring the influences of perceived interactivity on consumers' e-shopping effectiveness , 2009 .

[53]  James D. Robinson,et al.  Linguistic Synchrony in Parasocial Interaction , 2013 .

[54]  Americus Reed.  Activating the Self‐Importance of Consumer Selves: Exploring Identity Salience Effects on Judgments , 2004 .