Examining user satisfaction and stickiness in social networking sites from a technology affordance lens: uncovering the moderating effect of user experience
Industrial Management & Data Systems
ISSN: 0263-5577
Article publication date: 16 June 2020
Issue publication date: 18 July 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to explore, identify and understand the impact of technology affordance in the context of social networking sites (SNSs). Moreover, this study incorporates user experience as a moderator, in order to explore behavioral differences between veterans (high-experience users) and newbies (low-experience users).
Design/methodology/approach
A research model was developed to examine the influences of three technology affordances: interactivity, information and navigation on user satisfaction and SNS stickiness. Totally 266 data were collected from a famous college in China using an online survey, and structural equation modeling technique was used to examine the proposed research model.
Findings
The empirical research findings indicated that the three technology affordance attributes exhibited different degrees of influence on user satisfaction, which in turn facilitated SNS stickiness. Particularly, high-experience users were more likely influenced by interactivity and information affordances, while low-experience users are more susceptible to navigation affordance.
Practical implications
This study can provide guidelines to the platform administrators to design SNSs from the aspects of interactivity, information and navigation attributes and pay attention to the preference differences between high-experience users and low-experience users.
Originality/value
This study uncovers the significant antecedents of SNS stickiness from a technology affordance lens and reveals the moderating effect of user experience on the relationship between three technology affordance attributes and satisfaction.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71771064), the Ministry of Education of Humanities and Social Science Project (17YJC630118), and the Postdoctoral Scientific Research Development Fund (LBH-Q17055). We thank the respondents for their participation in the investigations. We also thank the associate editor and the reviewers for their constructive suggestions.
Citation
Shao, Z., Zhang, L., Chen, K. and Zhang, C. (2020), "Examining user satisfaction and stickiness in social networking sites from a technology affordance lens: uncovering the moderating effect of user experience", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 120 No. 7, pp. 1331-1360. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-11-2019-0614
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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