Examining the influential factors for continued social media use. A comparison of social networking and microblogging
| Date | 10 June 2019 |
| Published date | 10 June 2019 |
| Pages | 1104-1127 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-05-2018-0221 |
| Author | Qian Liu,Zhen Shao,Jian Tang,Weiguo Fan |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Data management systems,Knowledge management,Knowledge sharing,Management science & operations,Supply chain management,Supply chain information systems,Logistics,Quality management/systems |
Examining the influential factors
for continued social media use
A comparison of social networking
and microblogging
Qian Liu
Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China
Zhen Shao
Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
Jian Tang
Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China, and
Weiguo Fan
University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA
Abstract
Purpose –Drawing upon the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the self-regulation framework, the
purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and how factors for social media continuance behaviors work
differently between social networking sites and microblogging.
Design/methodology/approach –A survey method was used to collect two samples of 557 social
networking sites users and 568 microblogging users. The proposed research model was tested with the
structural equation modeling technique.
Findings –The empirical results demonstrate that the impacts of influencing factors on users’continuance
behaviors vary by types of social media services. Information sharing has a stronger impact on microblog users’
satisfaction than social network users while social interaction has a stronger impact on satisfaction for social
network users than microblog users. In addition,interpersonalinfluence is more effective in shaping satisfaction
for the social network users while mediainf luenceis more ef fectivein sha pingsatisf actionf ort hemicroblog users.
Originality/value –This is one of the first studies that integrate TPB with Bagozzi’s self-regulation
framework to understand the behavioral model of social networking and microblogging continuance. The
findings show that the impacts of attitudinal beliefs regarding information sharing and social interaction on
social media users’satisfaction are different across social networking and microblogging contexts. Moreover,
this study also reveals different effects of two specific subjective norms –interpersonal and media influence –
on continued use of social networking and microblogging.
Keywords Social interaction, Interpersonal influence, Information sharing, User continuance
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Social networking sites and microblogging services, such as Facebook and Twitter, have
earned millions of active users worldwide in recent years (Gu et al., 2016; Ku et al., 2013).
Social networking sites and microblogging are popular social media platforms that allow
users to create personal profiles, interact with friends and share information (Li et al., 2013;
Ellison et al., 2014; Whitty et al., 2017). Social networking sites are mainly used for social
interaction among friends (Li and Chen, 2014) while microblogging allows users to post
short messages on topics ranging from personal hobbies and interests to current affairs and
politics (Hargittai and Litt, 2011). Though social networking sites and microblogging share
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 119 No. 5, 2019
pp. 1104-1127
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-05-2018-0221
Received 30 May 2018
Revised 8 September 2018
29 November 2018
2 March 2019
Accepted 18 March 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-5577.htm
This researchwas supported by the National NaturalScience Foundation of China (71702206,71771064),
the Ministry of Education of Humanities and Social Science Project (18YJCZH160,17YJC630118), the
Postdoctoral Scientific Research Development Fund (LBH-Q17055) and the Beijing Planning Office of
Philosophy and Social Science (18JDGLB021).
1104
IMDS
119,5
some commonalities in terms of supporting interpersonal communication, a majority of
users still keep using both services.
Prior research observed that users of social networking sites and microblogging appear to
have distinct personalities (Hughes et al.,2012;Paneket al., 2013), and factors for use may differ
across these two services ( Jansen et al.,2011;Kwonet al., 2014). For instance, individuals who
gravitate toward Facebook are more sociable than those who prefer Twitter (Hughes et al.,2012).
Panek et al. (2013) argued that college students posting on Twitter was associated with the
superiority component of narcissistic personality while posting on Facebook was associated with
the exhibitionism component. Facebook users preferred to keep up with their closest friends and
meet new people, while Twitter users tended to follow their favorite celebrities (Jansen et al.,
2011). Though extant research confirmed that individual motivation showed different patterns,
most of these studies used a data-driven approach ( Jansen et al.,2011;Kwonet al., 2014) and
lacked a solid theoretical explanation. In addition, though issues related to social networking
sites and microblogging continuance have beenexaminedinmanyISstudies(Bhattacherjee,
2001b; Chen et al., 2016; Zhao and Lu, 2012), much fewer studies investigate whether and how the
effects of factors for continuance use differ between these two services. For instance, Al-Debei
et al. (2013) identified that factors, such as subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and
perceived value, may determine users’continuance behaviors. It is still uncertain whether these
factors function the same way between social networking sites and microblogging services.
Drawing upon the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and Bagozzi’s self-regulation
framework, we conducted a systematic and theoretically grounded investigation of
influencing factor for continuance behavior in social networking sites and microblogging
services. TPB is a parsimonious theoretical model that lays out primary factors, including
attitudinal beliefs, subjective norms and perceived behavioral controls, for behavior
intentions and actual behaviors. The self-regulation process is more complex and provides a
more fine-grained perspective on relationships among appraisal factors, emotion reaction
and coping responses. The self-regulation framework assists to understand the influential
path from attitudes and subjective norms (appraisal factors) to intentions (coping response),
where user satisfaction was introduced as an emotional variable, mediating the effects from
attitudes and subjective norms to intentions. Based on these two theories, our research
investigation intends to show whether the set of antecedents would take effects differently
in social networking and microblogging, lending support to explicate how and why
individual use of social networking sites and microblogging services are different. More
specifically, the following research question is proposed to address the research motivation:
RQ1. Whether and how factors for individual continued use differ between social
networking sites and microblogging services?
2. Theoretical foundation
This study draws upon the TPB and self-regulation framework to investigate determinants
of continuance behavior in the context of social media usage. The TPB is one of the most
influential theories in explaining and predicting individuals’behaviors, which provide an
enriched understanding of antecedents of continuance behavior (Sheppard et al., 1988). The
self-regulation framework from social cognitive psychology was proposed by Bagozzi
(1992), which states a more complex self-regulation mechanism of relationships from
attitudes and subjective norms to intentions (Bagozzi, 1992). This study uses the Bagozzi’s
self-regulation framework to complement with the TPB to investigate the critical
determinants of social media continuance behaviors.
2.1 Theory of planned behavior
According to TPB, the primary determinant of an individual’s behavior is his or her
behavioral intention, which is influenced by attitude toward behavior, subjective norms and
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