How social influence and personality affect users’ social network fatigue and discontinuance behavior
Aslib Journal of Information Management
ISSN: 2050-3806
Article publication date: 10 August 2018
Issue publication date: 28 August 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on understanding how social influence and personality of individuals differentiate between users’ social network fatigue and discontinuance behavior. Furthermore, the most common discontinuance behavior among users was investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
The research model was tested with the data from 163 Instagram users based on online and offline surveys. The partial least squares method was used to test the proposed hypotheses of this study.
Findings
The results indicate that social influence affects users’ discontinuance behavior and social network fatigue. Social network fatigue is greater in users with higher reported social influence compared to those with a lower one. Moreover, in response to social network fatigue, users prefer to keep their activities under control instead of switching to alternative social network sites (SNSs) or a short break in social network activities.
Practical implications
By achieving a better understanding of users’ feeling and behaviors, social network providers may codify their strategies more efficiently.
Originality/value
The study is novel in exploring users’ SNS fatigue and their discontinuance behavior by integrating social influence and personality. The authors defined a new concept of effect of social influence on social network fatigue. Additionally, the authors examined which discontinuance behaviors in individuals were more prevalent.
Keywords
Citation
Shokouhyar, S., Siadat, S.H. and Razavi, M.K. (2018), "How social influence and personality affect users’ social network fatigue and discontinuance behavior", Aslib Journal of Information Management, Vol. 70 No. 4, pp. 344-366. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-11-2017-0263
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited