Understanding mobile SNS continuance usage in China from the perspectives of social influence and privacy concern

Retaining users and facilitating continuance usage are crucial to the success of mobile social network services (SNS). This research examines the continuance usage of mobile SNS in China by integrating both the perspectives of social influence and privacy concern. Social influence includes three processes: compliance, identification and internalization, which are respectively represented by subjective norm, social identity, and group norm. The results indicate that these three factors and privacy concern have significant effects on continuance usage. The results suggest that service providers should address the issues of social influence and privacy concern to encourage mobile SNS continuance usage.     

The Effects of Social Influence on User Acceptance of Online Social Networks

With the proliferation of online social networks, understanding how and why individuals adopt and use these networks can help managers and marketers to design better methods and approaches toward engaging their users. The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of user acceptance of online social networks, with particular attention given to the effects of social influence. A research model was developed by incorporating two variables of social influence, subjective norm and critical mass, into an enhanced version of the Technology Acceptance Model, specifically to address issues related to online social networks. The model was empirically evaluated using survey data collected from 269 subjects about their perceptions of online social networks. The results reveal that both subjective norm and critical mass significantly affect perceived usefulness, which further affects users' usage intention, and perceived ease of use affects the usage intention indirectly through perceived usefulness. The implications of this study on theory and practice are discussed.     

Drivers and effects of enterprise resource planning post-implementation learning

The use of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems has grown enormously since 1990, but the failure to completely learn how to use them continues to produce disappointing results. Today's rapidly changing business environment and the integrative applications of ERP systems force users to continuously learn new skills after ERP implementation. This study explores the effects of post-implementation learning on ERP usage and ERP impact and identifies the factors that can impact post-implementation learning, such as social capital and post-training self-efficacy. This study employs a survey method to examine the perceptions of ERP users. The theoretical model is tested by using structural equation modelling on a dataset of 812 users. This study finds that post-implementation learning has a significant positive effect on ERP usage and ERP impact, and that social capital and post-training self-efficacy are important antecedent factors of post-implementation learning. Post-training self-efficacy also significantly affects ERP usage and ERP impact. The implications for research, practice and future research directions are discussed.     

Understanding the effect of flow on user adoption of mobile games

Mobile games as an emerging service have not received wide adoption among users; especially, presenting a compelling experience to users may be crucial to their usage. Drawing on the flow theory, this research identified the factors affecting user adoption of mobile games. The results indicated that perceived ease of use, connection quality and content quality affect flow. Among them, content quality has the largest effect. Flow, social influence and usage cost determine usage intention. The results imply that service providers need to improve users’ experience in order to facilitate their adoption and usage of mobile games.     

A structural equation modeling of the Internet acceptance in Korea

The objective of this study is to develop and test an integrated conceptual model of the Internet acceptance. Based on the two dominant theoretical paradigms – the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the technology acceptance model (TAM) – we propose a model of the Internet acceptance to investigate the relationship between external variables such as individual differences, task characteristics and management support, and individual acceptance of the Internet. The model is tested using data gathered from 374 end users of the Internet in Korean firms and data analysis is conducted using a structural equation modeling with LISREL. Significant relationships are found between experience and usefulness, between experience and ease of use, and between ease of use and usefulness. Organizational support is found to influence usefulness, ease of use and subjective norm. We also observe that actual usage is not influenced by subjective norm, but significantly influenced by experience, usefulness and ease of use. This result implies that individual acceptance of the Internet is significantly related to external factors such as experience, task characteristics and organizational characteristics rather than beliefs.     

A structural equation modeling of the Internet acceptance in Korea

The objective of this study is to develop and test an integrated conceptual model of the Internet acceptance. Based on the two dominant theoretical paradigms – the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the technology acceptance model (TAM) – we propose a model of the Internet acceptance to investigate the relationship between external variables such as individual differences, task characteristics and management support, and individual acceptance of the Internet. The model is tested using data gathered from 374 end users of the Internet in Korean firms and data analysis is conducted using a structural equation modeling with LISREL. Significant relationships are found between experience and usefulness, between experience and ease of use, and between ease of use and usefulness. Organizational support is found to influence usefulness, ease of use and subjective norm. We also observe that actual usage is not influenced by subjective norm, but significantly influenced by experience, usefulness and ease of use. This result implies that individual acceptance of the Internet is significantly related to external factors such as experience, task characteristics and organizational characteristics rather than beliefs.     

Exploring sustained participation in firm-hosted communities in China: the effects of social capital and active degree

Firm-hosted online communities are user-centred, and their efficacy depends on the users’ sustained participation. This study investigated the impact of social capital on users’ continued usage intention. Specifically, since very little work has been done to explore the antecedents of social capital, we tested the role of operator-related and individual-related factors in cultivating social capital by proposing an integrated research model to fill this gap. Furthermore, to gain deeper insights into continuance intention, we postulate that active degree moderates the relationship between social capital and users’ continued usage intention. Our model is empirically examined using survey data collected from 373 members of a well-known firm-hosted online community in China. The results reveal that the firm’s reaction, offline activities, interaction support, seeking reputation and perceived enjoyment are the significant antecedents of social capital. Additionally, social tie and shared vision exert a stronger effect on continued usage intention for active users, whereas identification has a higher influence on continued usage intention for inactive users. Finally, this study discusses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings and provides possible directions for future research.     

Understanding the Intention of Using Mobile Social Networking Apps Across Cultures

Understanding the user acceptance of mobile social networking apps in different cultures can provide powerful insights for managers and marketers of social networking apps to develop effective globalized and localized strategies to attract users worldwide. Following the theory of planned behavior, this study develops a research model of privacy concern (PC), privacy risk (PR), and perceived enjoyment (PE) as attitudinal beliefs, subjective norm (SN) as normative belief, and smartphone self-efficacy (SE) as control belief to understand users’ intention to use mobile social networking apps. In particular, the impact of culture was investigated, considering the user base of mobile social networking apps is distributed globally and culturally diversified, and cultural values have direct impact on behavior. The research model was validated by survey data collected from 151 participants in the U.S. and 170 participants in South Korea. The data analysis results show that perceived enjoyment and subjective norm are the most important drivers behind users’ intention to use mobile social networking apps for both countries. No significant difference was found for the effects of privacy risk and subjective norm upon users’ intention to use mobile social networking apps across cultures. Implications of the findings upon theory and practice are discussed.     

Influence of SNS User Innovativeness and Public Individuation on SNS Usage Patterns and Social Capital Development: The Case of Facebook

This paper studies the correlation between users’ psychological traits and their social network sites (SNS) usage patterns, and the correlation between SNS usage patterns and the development of social capital as it relates to Facebook. Individual personality traits, including user innovativeness and public individuation, are proposed to be positively correlated with SNS usage patterns such as usage rate and diversification of use. This study specifically classifies social capital into two types—bridging vs. bonding—based on Social Capital Theory, and examines the correlation between SNS usage patterns and social capital development. To investigate the proposed hypotheses of this study, SNS users in Korea were surveyed and a structural equation model was used to analyze and verify the hypotheses. The results showed that users exhibiting both a high degree of innovativeness and public individuation use SNS more frequently and in more diverse ways than users who exhibited lower degrees of innovativeness and public individuation. It was also found that SNS usage patterns are correlated with social capital. The results of this study contribute to SNS-related research work as this study focuses on the development of social capital—a key concept behind the creation and use of SNS—and allows for a deeper understanding of how the psychological traits of individual users affect SNS usage patterns and the development of social capital. This study also offers insights to the corporate sector by providing practical guidelines on how to utilize SNS more effectively.