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Drawing on the social learning theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents and consequences of users’ excessive online social gaming. Specifically, the authors develop a model to propose that observational learning and reinforcement learning mechanisms together determine excessive online social gaming, which further foster adverse consequences.

The model is empirically validated by a longitudinal survey among users of a popular online social game: Arena of Valor. The empirical data are analyzed using component-based structural equation modeling approach.

The empirical results offer two key findings. First, excessive online social gaming is determined by observational learning factors, i.e. social frequency and social norm, and reinforcement learning factors, i.e. perceived enjoyment and perceived escapism. Second, excessive online social gaming leads to three categories of adverse consequences: technology-family conflict, technology-work conflict and technology-person conflict. Meanwhile, technology-family conflict and technology-work conflict further foster technology-person conflict.

This study contributes to the literature by developing a nomological framework of excessive online social gaming and by extending the social learning theory to excessive technology use.

The advancements of mobile technologies and devices have greatly facilitated the extension of online services from web to mobile environments. Drawing on the categorization theory, the purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of perceived entitativity on users’ web-mobile service extension behavior. The research model considers how perceived entitativity serves as a category cue to link the category- and piecemeal-based processing and shape users’ adoption of extended mobile services.

An online survey (n=552) was conducted to empirically test the model. The data were analyzed by structural equation modeling approach.

The results offer two major findings. First, performance expectancy, perceived controllability and subjective norm are important antecedents of users’ usage intention. Second, perceived entitativity has three types of effects on usage intention: it exerts a direct and positive influence on usage intention; it indirectly facilitates usage intention through increasing PE and perceived controllability; and it moderates the relationship between subjective norm and usage intention.

This study contributes to the literature by taking into account the interplay of category- and piecemeal-based processing to understand consumers’ web-mobile service extension behavior.

Drawing from the spillover effect literature, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the spillover effect in consumers’ web-mobile payment extension behavior. The authors figure out two categories of factors associated with the spillover effect: relevant schema and schematic fit. Cognitive trust and emotional trust in web payment are used to capture relevant schema, while perceived similarity and perceived business tie are proposed to denote schematic fit in the web-mobile payment extension context.

An online survey (n =552) was conducted to empirically test the model. The data were analyzed by structural equation modeling approach.

The results show that relevant schema and schematic fit factors positively influence perceived value of mobile payment (MP), which facilitates consumers’ behavioral intention of MP.

This study contributes to the extant literature by theoretically identifying the key factors of the spillover effect and empirically investigating its role during the web-mobile service extension process.

Drawing on the control agency theory and the network effect theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of privacy assurance approaches, network externality and technology complementarity on consumers’ self-disclosure in mobile payment (MP) applications. The authors identify four types of privacy assurance approaches: perceived effectiveness of privacy setting, perceived effectiveness of privacy policy, perceived effectiveness of industry self-regulation and perceived effectiveness of government legislation. The research model considers how these privacy assurance approaches influence privacy concerns and consumers’ self-disclosure in MP applications under boundary conditions of network externality and technology complementarity.

An online survey with 647 sample users was conducted to empirically validate the model. The target respondents were current consumers of a popular MP application. The empirical data were analyzed by a structural equation modeling approach.

The empirical results reveal several major findings. First, privacy assurance approaches can effectively decrease privacy concerns, which ultimately formulates consumers’ self-disclosure in MP applications. Second, network externality and technology complementarity weaken the effect of perceived effectiveness of privacy setting on privacy concerns. Third, network externality and technology complementarity strengthen the relationship between perceived effectiveness of government legislation and privacy concerns, while they have non-significant interaction effect with perceived effectiveness of privacy policy and industry self-regulation on privacy concerns.

MP providers and stakeholders can harness the efficacy of privacy assurance approaches in alleviating privacy concerns and promoting consumers’ self-disclosure in MP applications.

The authors’ work contributes to the information privacy literature by identifying effective privacy assurance approaches in promoting consumers’ self-disclosure in MP applications, and by highlighting boundary conditions of these privacy assurance approaches.

As digital spaces for team collaboration, virtual worlds bring considerable verisimilitude to technology-mediated social interaction and change the process of traditional team learning. The purpose of this study is to understand how to promote collaborative learning in virtual worlds by leveraging the power of we-intention to participate in virtual worlds. The authors further use the valence–instrumentality–self-efficacy–trust model (VIST) model as a means of understanding the formation of we-intention to participate in virtual worlds, during which behavioral desire serves a bridging role.

The authors tested the research model using the data gathered from 298 users of a prominent form of virtual world, i.e. massively multiplayer online role-playing games. The authors used the structural equation modeling approach and the partial least squares technique for data analysis.

Results show that the four factors of the VIST model (i.e. valence on team goals, instrumentality of contribution, self-efficacy in team tasks and trust in team members) all positively influence we-intention to participate in virtual worlds through behavioral desire for team actions. We-intention to participate in virtual worlds further exerts a stronger positive effect on collaborative learning in virtual worlds, compared with I-intention to participate in virtual worlds.

This work advances the information systems literature by introducing a relevant and important concept, i.e. we-intention, to explain collaborative learning in virtual worlds. This study especially compared the effect of we-intention and I-intention on collaborative learning in virtual worlds. The results of this work also provide practitioners with insights into the role of we-intention in promoting collective actions in virtual worlds.

The purpose of this paper is to integrate broaden theoretical perspectives in the investigation of the key antecedents of consumers’ continuous review contribution behavior on restaurant guide online opinion platforms (OOPs). Integrating both rational and relational theoretical perspectives with an extension of the investment model, a research model was proposed to explain what factors influence consumers’ intention to continuously contribute electronic WOM (eWOM) on OOPs.

The research model was empirically tested with an online survey study of 438 eWOM contributors from a leading Chinese restaurant guide OOP, Dianping.com.

The results indicated that satisfaction, affective commitment, and continuance commitment were key determinants of consumers’ continuance intention to contribute eWOM on the platform. Satisfaction was driven by concern for other consumers, social benefits, platform assistance, and venting negative feelings. Quality of alternatives and investment size significantly affected continuance commitment.

The selection of respondents is bound to the China area within a particular OOP, although the chosen OOP is a leading one in China. In addition, this study focuses on the perspective of commitment, but some social factors are neglected.

This paper provides an integrated theoretical framework to explore the factors determining consumers’ continuance intention to contribute restaurant reviews on OOPs. From both rational and relational theoretical perspectives, the proposed model reveals the factors that encourage consumers to continue contributing eWOM on OOPs.

Widespread concerns about excessive use of mobile instant messaging (MIM) have inspired research in different disciplines. However, the focus thus far tends to be on diagnostics and cognitive predictors. There is little understanding from the socio-technical perspective to capture the drivers of excessive use of MIM. To address this research gap, the authors aim to enrich existing literature by adopting a social structure and social learning model (SSSLM) to understand the excessive use of MIM. The authors argue that excessive MIM use is developed and reinforced in highly interactive online communication, through a social learning process.

The authors conduct a cross-sectional online survey to validate our proposed research model on excessive use of mobile instant messaging (MIM). 368 valid responses are obtained from active MIM users in China.

The results suggest that highly interactive MIM creates a technology-based social structure that facilitates the social learning process of excessive technology use. The influence of perceived interactivity of MIM on excessive MIM use is mediated by a series of contextualized social learning factors. Furthermore, the influences of perceived interactivity on social learning factors are moderated by MIM use experience.

The authors contribute to literature in related fields by highlighting the crucial role of social learning in facilitating excessive technology use. The authors contribute to the social structure and social learning model by contextualizing it into the context of excessive MIM use. Design guidelines are provided with a purpose to inhibit excessive use of MIM.

With the prevailing microblogging phenomenon, many marketers have created their microblog accounts to promote products, advertise brands, and attract consumers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of consumers’ community commitment, information technology (IT) habit, and participation on their brand loyalty in the context of enterprise microblogs.

A total of 364 valid data were collected from fans or followers of enterprise microblogs through a survey on Weibo.com. The data were analyzed with smart partial least squares.

Community commitment and IT habit directly lead to brand loyalty and indirectly affect brand loyalty through the mediating influence of participation. Information quality, perceived expertise, and social interaction are antecedents of community commitment. Satisfaction, importance, and social interaction positively affect IT habit.

To enhance the generalizability of the study, future studies may examine findings in other platforms (e.g. Twitter) with a large sample size.

Practitioners can increase consumers’ brand loyalty through enterprise microblogs. Considerable attention should be directed to facilitating members’ community commitment and IT habit. In addition, the study points out significant antecedents of community commitment and IT habit for researchers, managers, and companies.

To uncover the marketing potential of microblogging technology, the authors highlight the need for investigating how enterprise microblogs generate promising marketing outcomes. The present study examines key determinants of brand loyalty. The model empirically shows the significant effects of community commitment, IT habit, and participation.

Web‐based technologies have created numerous opportunities for electronic word‐of‐mouth (eWOM) communication. This phenomenon impacts online retailers as this easily accessible information could greatly affect the online consumption decision. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which opinion seekers are willing to accept and adopt online consumer reviews and which factors encourage adoption.

Using dual‐process theories, an information adoption model was developed to examine the factors affecting information adoption of online opinion seekers in online customer communities. The model was tested empirically using a sample of 154 users who had experience within the online customer community, Openrice.com. Users were required to complete a survey regarding the online consumer reviews received from the virtual sharing platform.

The paper found comprehensiveness and relevance to be the most effective components of the argument quality construct of the research model, making them key influencers of information adoption.

Only 46 per cent of the variance is explained by the constructs due to its intentional simplicity. This would indicate that there are more actors in motivating information adoption than solely information usefulness. A closer look should be taken at the effectiveness of some of the other motivational factors suggested in the previous research on this topic.

The paper outlines ways to effectively promote one's business or cause through online customer communities, as well as general tips for web site and forum moderators for facilitating such presentation in a manner useful to the members of their online communities.

This paper is one of the first to develop and empirically test a theory‐driven information adoption model for opinion seekers in online customer communities. It also uniquely breaks down and tests the components of argument quality to discern the important motivating factors.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of user engagement in the context of online brand communities. A research model is proposed to explain how brand loyalty is developed through user engagement.

The research model was empirically tested with an online survey study of 185 current Facebook users.

Results revealed that user engagement influenced brand loyalty both directly and indirectly through online community commitment. Users tend to focus on the benefits (rather than the costs) derived from the usage when they engage in an online brand community.

The selection of respondents is bound to the Hong Kong area, while Facebook members are globally distributed. In addition, this study involved a cross-sectional design instead of investigating the development of brand loyalty from a long-term perspective.

The results inform e-marketers the importance of user engagement behaviors for building brand loyalty through online communities. Strategies that encourage members to engage in online brand communities on social networking sites such as Facebook are also provided.

The concept of user engagement in online brand communities is still poorly understood, underscoring the need for theoretically based research of user engagement. This paper enriches the knowledge in the area of brand engagement by presenting a research model that introduces the concept of user engagement in social media research and empirically examines its role in building brand loyalty in online brand communities.