The impact of qualities of social network service on the continuance usage intention

Although there are a number of studies on the factors affecting the continuance usage intention for social network services (SNS), the studies on the integrated model encompassing SNS qualities (information, system, and service quality, and hedonic value, which are gratifications for SNS usage), flow, relationship quality (which are trust and satisfaction), and continuance intention are almost non-existent. Based on Bagozzi’s self-regulation framework, the IS success model, uses and gratification theory, and flow theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the qualities and hedonic value of SNS, which have an influence on flow experience and relationship quality which are posited to affect the continuance usage intention.

This study used an e-mail survey method to collect 460 questionnaires for the final sample. The sample of the study includes college students or job workers who have experience in using SNS. Various user categories in terms of gender, school degree, occupation, usage years, and daily time of usage were included.

The study results show that system, service quality, and hedonic value have an impact on flow experience, information and service quality, and hedonic value influence the relationship quality of SNS. The flow experience and relationship quality while using SNS affect the continuance usage intention of SNS. This results show that the consideration of various SNS qualities, hedonic value, flow experience, and relationship quality is necessary to actively explore the factors for continuance usage intention for SNS.

IS managers trying to understand reuse intent can use surveys on information, system, and service quality, and hedonic value. Practitioners should constantly incorporate and develop various activities or useful applications to allow people to reach out to each other, to reinforce users’ attention, interaction, and increase social connections, trust, satisfaction, and further intensify users’ intention to use, increasing SNS value. The findings explain a mechanism through which SNS users’ continuance intention is built. Understanding this mechanism provides valuable information for practitioners to understand the qualities driving SNS users’ intention to revisit SNS.

This study sheds light on the existing literature on website usage that focuses on the design qualities as this paper has combined website quality perspective, i.e., information, system, and service quality, and hedonic value, and the flow and relationship perspective to investigate how these constructs would affect users’ intention to continuously use SNS. On the basis of four theories, Bagozzi’s self-regulation framework, IS success model, users and gratification theory, and flow theory, this study extended the previous studies on SNS by adding information, system, and service quality, hedonic value, flow and relationship quality as second-order constructs affecting continuance intention.