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Millions of dollars are being spent by over-the-top platform (OTT) providers to produce content for the Indian market. These circumstances highlight the necessity for a solution that attracts and maintains customers, enabling OTT providers to generate revenues and profits. This study explores the underlying gratifications (e.g. informative; connectivity) obtained from over-the-top platform (OTT) attributes (e.g. global content; regional and cultural content) through consequences (e.g. create awareness; related to reality).

Means-end chain theory uncovered gratifications consumers fulfill through the use of OTT platforms. The laddering technique explores the linkage among attributes, consequences and gratifications that influence OTT platforms' consumers' consumption patterns. In total, 27 interviews were conducted in India, and participants responded to questions regarding attributes of OTT platforms, consequences and gratifications in a one-on-one interview procedure. Hierarchical value maps were built to better understand customer selection of OTT platforms based on the replies.

The results suggested that six attributes of OTT platforms (for ex-global content; regional and rural content; rating before watching) were associated with the four consequences (for ex-create awareness; related to reality; saves time), which were associated with four gratifications, which are informativeness, connectivity, social enhancement and productivity.

The prospective function of OTT services in the entertainment and media business has grabbed consumer attention. However, limited literature focuses on identifying gratifications consumers gain from OTT attributes. Through these findings, managers and practitioners can gain insights regarding strategies to increase OTT adoption and help develop a loyal consumer base.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how various gratifications obtained in the social media context affect customer participation, and its sequential effect on brand trust, brand commitment and word of mouth (WOM) in social media brand communities.

The data were collected from 352 respondents who used social media using a survey method. The data were assessed using AMOS with structural equation modeling.

The findings depicted that among all gratifications obtained in the social media context, information seeking, incentive and brand likeability strongly affect customer participation, which sequentially affect brand trust, commitment and WOM in social media brand communities. In the context of social media brand communities, brand trust partially mediates the relationship between customer participation and its two outcome variables (brand commitment and WOM).

The present paper contributes that theory of uses and gratifications has particular significance and supposed to be provided further importance in the field of social media. It also presents a vivid and rich understanding of why customers use social media and participate in social media brand communities.

As the center of the fourth industrial revolution, artificial intelligence (AI) has marked its presence in various disciplines including the education field in the form of AI-powered learning applications. The purpose of this study is to build a research model capturing the relationships among use contexts, user gratification, attitude, learning performance and continuous intention to use an AI-powered English learning application.

Using the use and gratification theory, use contexts and the belief-attitude-intention theory, this paper uses a quantitative approach based on a survey method for data collection and structural equation modeling for analysis. A total of 478 students from an international university in Guangdong, China, participated in the survey after using Liulishuo for two weeks.

The results showed that perceived use contexts affected all variables associated with gratifications-obtained and gratification-opportunities. With the exception of social integrativeness, all other gratification-based factors significantly affected attitude. The attitude in turn significantly influenced learning performance and continuous use intention.

Mobile AI-powered learning applications are at the center of research on technology-enhanced learning in the age of media and technology convergence. The study is timely and contributes to the discussion of the roles of use context and gratifications on technology users’ attitudes and behavioral intentions.

The purpose of this study is to compare the gratification sought and gratification obtained for cognitive needs from social media among information professionals in the limelight of uses and gratification theory. Cognitive needs are related to knowledge, acquiring information, comprehension etc., and gratification sought and gratification obtained are two distinct components of the uses and gratification theory.

For this quantitative research study, a self-administered survey questionnaire was used to collect data from the participants of the study. Sample of this study was 700 information professionals who are necessarily users of social media.

Finding of this study depicted that gratification obtained and gratification sought from social media for cognitive needs are different from each other, and information professionals need to revisit their social media use for cognitive needs.

The present study is limited to gratification sought and gratification obtained for cognitive needs among information professionals.

This study has determined that information professionals need to revisit their social media use for cognitive needs, as the obtained gratifications are different from gratification sought from social media.

Social media provides versatility of information in different forms and large numbers of information professionals are the users of social media around globe. Perceived use of social media for cognitive needs has been resulted into destructed gratifications. This study has brought the actual outcome of the use of social media to the audience so that they may rectify their social media use.

This study is a significant contribution for information professionals to review the gratifications sought and obtained from social media for cognitive needs. It has been established in this study that gratifications sought are significantly different from gratifications obtained from social media among information professionals.

This study aims to investigate the effects of a prospective traveler’s perception of media exposure on their intention to visit a destination (i.e. South Korea). Cultural exposure to a particular country through media affects people’s preference for that foreign country, and may ultimately be a function of the behavior for consuming that country’s cultural products – e.g. traveling to that country. Media exposure has been recognized as a major underlying reason for the desire to visit a destination.

This study examines the impacts of potential travelers’ media exposure in three different language-use groups (i.e. English, Japanese and Chinese) and their perception of the media exposure on their intention to visit the actual site (i.e. South Korea). To enhance the understanding of the intention to visit the destination, this study proposes a research model based on use and gratification theory and the belief–desire–intention model.

Mass and social media exposure had an effect on the intention to visit a destination as a result of the gratification and desire experienced through the content.

This study suggests the synthesis of the use and gratification theory and the belief–desire–intention model and an examination of theoretical and practical implications.

This study involved a sample of users of destination marketing sites. In addition, this study investigated the users’ intentions to visit a real tourism destination taking into consideration mass media (traditional media) and social media (new media) based on the use of gratification theory and the belief–desire–intention model. Practically, the findings highlight the crucial role of social media in the intention to visit the tourism destination.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of social media and its impact on information search, communication with a company, and purchase and re-purchases of products and services. Using use and gratification theory as a starting point, it also examines the impact of satisfaction of use of social media in the process of purchasing and re-purchasing products and services.

An online survey was conducted with 444 participants, and the data were analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique to observe the effects between the variables of social media use, search information, communication with the company, purchase, re-purchase and satisfaction of use of social media.

The results reflect how the use of social media generates significant rewards that significantly impact the search for information and the communication with the company. The data also show how communication with the company has an impact on the purchase and re-purchase of products and services. Finally, it was empirically confirmed that the gratification received by users through social media use impacts satisfaction with social media use.

The results contribute to how social media impacts alternative evaluations through the gratification of user needs, resulting in motives and behaviors leading to the purchase of goods and services, as established by Use and Gratification Theory. In its contributions to the Academy, Use and Gratification Theory (U&G) explains why individuals use and share information using social media. First, it justifies the purchase and re-purchase of products and services due to user satisfaction according to users’ experience using social media. Second, it presents a vision of how the use of social media is a significantly important result in the gratification of consumer needs.

“Fake news” or misinformation sharing using social media sites into public discourse or politics has increased dramatically, over the last few years, especially in the current COVID-19 pandemic causing concern. However, this phenomenon is inadequately researched. This study examines fake news sharing with the lens of stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory, uses and gratification theory (UGT) and big five personality traits (BFPT) theory to understand the motivations for sharing fake news and the personality traits that do so. The stimuli in the model comprise gratifications (pass time, entertainment, socialization, information sharing and information seeking) and personality traits (agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, openness and neuroticism). The feeling of authenticating or instantly sharing news is the organism leading to sharing fake news, which forms the response in the study.

The conceptual model was tested by the data collected from a sample of 221 social media users in India. The data were analyzed with partial least squares structural equation modeling to determine the effects of UGT and personality traits on fake news sharing. The moderating role of the platform WhatsApp or Facebook was studied.

The results suggest that pass time, information sharing and socialization gratifications lead to instant sharing news on social media platforms. Individuals who exhibit extraversion, neuroticism and openness share news on social media platforms instantly. In contrast, agreeableness and conscientiousness personality traits lead to authentication news before sharing on the social media platform.

This study contributes to social media literature by identifying the user gratifications and personality traits that lead to sharing fake news on social media platforms. Furthermore, the study also sheds light on the moderating influence of the choice of the social media platform for fake news sharing.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the determinants of social network use behaviour using Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and Uses and Gratifications Theory.

A quantitative study was carried out with data gathered by personal interview using a structured questionnaire. Relationships proposed in the theoretical model were estimated through structural equation models. In total, 811 users of social networks over 14 and residents in Spain were part of the sample.

Results indicate that use attitude and the subjective norm, both TPB variables, directly and significantly influence social network loyalty. Thus, network loyalty can be achieved if the individual shows a favourable attitude towards use and receives positive feed-back (comments, opinions, etc.) from friends, acquaintances and other individuals in their environment. Perceived control has no influence on social network loyalty. Finally, this research highlights the importance of socialisation and entertainment as antecedents of social network attitude.

Social network use has been analysed globally and database includes users with very different profiles (e.g. Facebook and Tuenti) what may skew the results.

Individuals access social networks to establish social links with friends/family/acquaintances, seeking entertainment and fun, but they are never used to be fashionable or up-to-date. Given the importance of social relations, companies should motivate participation elements in their social networks profiles.

The paper presents a model that explains the formation of loyal social network customers, integrating TPB and Uses and Gratifications Theory to enable understanding of the role of these networks in individuals’ lives.

Motivating users to revisit a social networking site (SNS) by developing a long-term relationship with them is critical for SNS operators to enhance market control and competitiveness. By conceptualizing loyalty intention as an indicator of the long-term relationship, the present study, based on uses and gratification (U&G) theory, aims to explore the role played by online intimacy development with respect to loyalty intention when individuals have gained gratifications through using the SNS.

The study used a questionnaire measuring six types of Facebook gratifications as well as measuring self-disclosure breadth, self-disclosure depth, intimacy with Facebook, intimacy with Facebook friends and loyalty intention. Data, collected from the University of Economics in Vietnam, were analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) approach.

The results support several findings: (1) the gratifications including entertainment, network extension, recognition and emotional support provided by Facebook may stimulate the users' intimacy with Facebook and/or Facebook users; (2) intimacy with Facebook and intimacy with Facebook friends facilitate users' loyalty intention; (3) having a sense of emotional support influences users to engage in self-disclosure with breadth and meaningful depth, thus leading them to develop a sense of intimacy with Facebook friends.

The study contributes to U&G research, intimacy theory and the SNS literature by offering an understanding of users' online communication self-disclosure and intimacy development, wherein the self-disclosure and intimacy stem from the users' gratifications via using specific SNS services and, in turn, create their loyalty intention toward that SNS.

The purpose of this paper is to deepen the understanding of why text messages are superseded by using stickers, thus driving instant messaging software (IMS) users’ visual communication process.

Drawing on Uses & Gratifications (U&G) theory and using a semantic technique, this research begins by identifying design indices of stickers and user’s perceived gratifications that they describe and evaluate at their first impression of using stickers in Study 1. Study 2 introduces media richness theory and the expectancy model into the framework of U&G theory and further explains several causal linkages from the LINE stickers’ design quality indices to proximal users’ perception of gratifications and distal sticker use intention.

Study 1 explores four variables, playfulness, variety, delicacy and uniqueness, as stickers’ design quality indices and discloses two user perceptions of gratifications, i.e., the needs of self-expression and of flaunting to someone, as main intrinsic motives for users sending stickers. The results of Study 2 further support the finding that self-expression and a mentality that seeks conspicuousness are two important psychological variables mediating the effects of three design quality indices – playfulness, variety and uniqueness – on visual image use intention.

The main contribution of this research is to verify the psychological mechanism of visualized communication between IMS users. Moreover, the finding extends the digital marketing literature by highlighting conspicuous consumption that occurs not only in consuming luxury goods, but also in costless or cheaper digital product such as IMS stickers.