ABSTRACT. Mobile-device-based social networking services (SNS) have become popular technology mediated communication modalities. Users' actively ...
International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development Volume 7 • Issue 3 • July-September 2016
Examination of Mobile Social Networking Service (SNS) Users’ Loyalty: A Structural Approach
Norazah Mohd Suki, Labuan Faculty of International Finance, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Labuan, Malaysia Norbayah Mohd Suki, Faculty of Computing and Informatics, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Labuan, Malaysia
ABSTRACT Mobile-device-based social networking services (SNS) have become popular technology mediated communication modalities. Users’ actively accesses Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn for social communication and entertainment. This study aims to examine the structural relationships of (i) perceived information quality and perceived system quality on perceived user trust and perceived flow, (ii) perceived user trust on perceived flow, and (iii) perceived user trust and perceived flow on mobile SNS users’ loyalty simultaneously. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis via AMOS 20.0 computer program was used for data analysis as it has the ability to ensure the consistency of the model with the data and to estimate effects among constructs. Empirical results via SEM revealed that perceived information quality and perceived system quality significantly influences perceived users trust and perceived flow. Significant relationship also appears between perceived user trust and perceived flow. Moreover, mobile SNS users’ loyalty significantly affected by both perceived user trust and perceived flow. The paper concludes with direction for future research. Keywords Loyalty, Mobile Social Networking Service, Perceived Flow, Perceived Information Quality, Perceived System Quality, Perceived Trust, Structural Equation Modeling
1. INTRODUCTION Social networking sites allow the individuals to create a profile and connect their profile to others, sharing text, images, and photos for the purpose of forming a personal network by applications and groups provided on the Internet (Boyd & Ellison, 2008). Social networking sites can also be accessed via mobile phones as it integrates the social connections brought about by social networking services and the communication channel and portability of the mobile device. The arrival of social network sites is rapidly changing human interaction (Counts & Fisher, 2010; Zhong, Hardin & Sun, 2011) that millions of people worldwide are living much of their lives on social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn. The number of Facebook users continues increasing globally and is quickly becoming one of the most popular tools for social communication and entertainment. Facebook has 167,431,700 active users in United States and 13,577,760 active users in Malaysia in 2013 (Socialbakers, 2013). More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) are DOI: 10.4018/IJSESD.2016070104 Copyright © 2016, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
59
International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development Volume 7 • Issue 3 • July-September 2016
shared each month. There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages). Facebook introduced features such as wall, pokes, status, photos, news feed, tag, market place, instant messaging and video. This study is helpful to mobile SNS providers as it discusses the effect of perceived user trust and perceived flow experience on users’ loyalty towards their platform. If the mobile SNS provider wishes to retain and increase their customers, special attention will need to be paid towards the information and system quality provided. Apart from that, the variety of SNS management team such as Facebook and Twitter will benefit from this study as well because they are capable of altering and providing the perceived enjoyment to their users. Hence, this study aims to examine the structural relationships of (i) perceived information quality and perceived system quality on perceived user trust and perceived flow, (ii) perceived user trust on perceived flow, and (iii) perceived user trust and perceived flow on mobile SNS users’ loyalty simultaneously via SEM approach. This paper is organized as follows. The next section review literature on perceived flow, perceived system quality, perceived information quality and perceived user trust and users’ loyalty with deriving testable hypotheses. Section 3 describes the research methodology, while section 4 reports the results of the study. The paper rounds off with conclusions and direction for future research. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Perceived Information Quality and Perceived User Trust Continuous exchanges of information, access to and understanding of information are necessary conditions for establishing a learning process. Users care about information quality, content richness and navigation (Ilsever, Cyr, & Parent, 2007). Information quality is found as important trust building mechanism (Fung & Lee, 1999; Keen, Balance, Chan & Schrump, 2000). Reliability, relevance and personalisation of information exchanges encourage the creation of a trust-based relationship (Yvette & Karine, 2001). Therefore, it is hypothesized: H1: Perceived information quality of mobile SNS significantly influences perceived user trust. 2.2. Perceived Information Quality and Perceived Flow Information quality presented on the Internet has a significant impact on the user flow experience (Chau, Au & Tam, 2000) in terms of the pleasure in using mobile SNS when conduct multiple tasks while surfing the Internet to acquire information or entertaining themselves. For instance, users will most likely form negative perceptions about the information quality of mobile SNS platform if the mobile service provider cannot provide accurate, comprehensive and timely information to its users. Accordingly, it is posited that: H2: Perceived information quality of mobile SNS significantly influences perceived flow. 2.3. Perceived System Quality and Perceived User Trust System quality such as navigational structure and visual appeal influences user trust in mobile commerce technologies (Vance, Christophe, & Straub, 2008). Website quality tends to be a stronger predictor of trusting beliefs (McKnight, Choudhury, & Kacmar, 2002). For example, technical aspects of IT artifacts affect users’ willingness to trust (Gefen, Pavlou, Benbasat, McKnight, Steward, & Straub, 2006). Without efficient system quality, provision of quality services is difficult which in turn diminishes flow experiences (Aladwani & Palvia, 2002). Hence, the following hypothesis is proposed: H3: Perceived system quality of mobile SNS significantly influences perceived user trust. 60
13 more pages are available in the full version of this document, which may be purchased using the "Add to Cart" button on the product's webpage: www.igi-global.com/article/examination-of-mobile-socialnetworking-service-sns-users-loyalty/158083?camid=4v1
This title is available in InfoSci-Journals, InfoSci-Journal Disciplines Engineering, Natural, and Physical Science, InfoSci-Civic Engagement, Sustainable Planning, and Crisis Response eJournal Collection. Recommend this product to your librarian: www.igi-global.com/e-resources/libraryrecommendation/?id=2
Related Content Costs as Instruments of Decision Making Process in Competitive Economies Carmen Veronica Zefinescu (2016). International Journal of Sustainable Economies Management (pp. 35-48).
www.igi-global.com/article/costs-as-instruments-of-decision-making-processin-competitive-economies/166555?camid=4v1a Is There Population with Tertiary Education in Romania Still Interested in Research? Radu Serban Zaharia, Marian Zaharia and Alecu Alexandra (2015). International Journal of Sustainable Economies Management (pp. 54-66).
www.igi-global.com/article/is-there-population-with-tertiary-education-inromania-still-interested-in-research/147620?camid=4v1a Quality, Innovation, and Differentiation (QID) and Total Healthcare Relationship Model (THRM) (2018). Technological Tools for Value-Based Sustainable Relationships in Health: Emerging Research and Opportunities (pp. 42-63).
www.igi-global.com/chapter/quality-innovation-and-differentiation-qid-andtotal-healthcare-relationship-model-thrm/192278?camid=4v1a
Overpopulation and Sustainable Waste Management Hossein Farraji, Nastaein Qamaruz Zaman, Mohammadtaghi Vakili and Hamed Faraji (2016). International Journal of Sustainable Economies Management (pp. 13-36).
www.igi-global.com/article/overpopulation-and-sustainable-wastemanagement/174387?camid=4v1a
