Alleviating the impact of SNS fatigue on user discontinuance

Abstract

Purpose

Social networking services (SNSs) have become deeply ingrained into our daily life. However, it has often been reported that users experience negative feelings regarding SNS usage. This phenomenon presents challenges for SNS providers in retaining or increasing their customer base. This study focuses on SNS fatigue, a negative psychological state that can lead to discontinuance intention among SNS users. This study proposes two distinctive SNS-specific contexts and investigates how they alleviate the negative effect of SNS fatigue on user behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing upon the context-specific theorization perspective, a model involving moderation effects of the SNS-specific contexts on the relationship between user's SNS fatigue and discontinuance intention was proposed. The model was tested using survey data of active SNS users.

Findings

The results indicate that SNS fatigue leads to user discontinuance intention. However, the SNS-specific contexts, such as social interaction context and platform service context, negatively moderate the relationship between SNS fatigue and user discontinuance intention.

Originality/value

The findings of this study are expected to help SNS providers develop strategies to improve their services for effective user retention.

Citation

Lee, O.-K.D., Lee, S., Suh, W. and Chang, Y. (2022), "Alleviating the impact of SNS fatigue on user discontinuance", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 122 No. 1, pp. 292-321. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-08-2020-0497