Continuance Usage of Localized Social Networking Services: A Conceptual Model and Lessons from China

Social networking services (SNS) providers around the world, and those localized SNS in particular, face imminent challenges of maintaining user base, sustaining active usage, and achieving long-term viability. In order to understand users' continuance intention of using SNS, a conceptual model is proposed, which is adapted from the expectation-confirmation theory of IS continuance and integrates SNS-relevant constructs. The model is tested by a survey dataset collected from the users of a major Chinese SNS website. Findings show that the users' continuance intention is directly motivated by 1) users' satisfaction with their usage, 2) usefulness of the SNS perceived by users after their usage, and 3) users' structural embeddedness in the SNS site. Also found are the indirect effects of users' confirmation of initial expectation of the SNS and perceived enjoyment on continuance intention. This is one of the first studies that extend the expectation-confirmation theory into the context of SNS. It offers researchers and practitioners empirical insights into cognitive and affective factors of users' continuance intention from the Chinese user perspective.