Can information and communication overload influence smartphone app users' social network exhaustion, privacy invasion and discontinuance intention? A cognition-affect-conation approach

PurposeBy building and examining an integral model, the principal objectives of this research are to systematically explore how indirect and direct network externalities lead to user loyalty toward WeChat through the mediating effect of perceived gratifications.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected through an online survey of 688 young people in Mainland China. To empirically assess the conceptual model, zero-order correlation analyses and structural equation modeling were carried out utilizing web-based data.FindingsPath analysis results demonstrate that indirect network externalities and direct network externalities exert a significant impact on users' hedonic gratifications and utilitarian gratifications. Moreover, the study discovers the significant mediating influences of utilitarian gratifications on the association between indirect network externalities and user loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsTheoretically, this article may extend the scope of diverse studies on the association between network externalities and perceived gratifications and offer fresh insights into how mobile social media could actually improve user loyalty through enhancing perceived values among younger generation. Practically, this research assists mobile social media practitioners in retaining users and gaining competitive advantages over rival applications.Originality/valueAlthough the extraordinary growth of WeChat has successfully become the dominant media by which individuals develop interpersonal network and contact with others, the roles of perceived gratifications between network externalities and user loyalty toward WeChat have not yet been investigated in depth. These obtained outcomes not only enrich the existing literature regarding the relationship between network externalities and affective response, but also offer fresh insights to mobile social media designers, marketers and users.

Do direct and indirect network externalities matter? Unpacking the causal antecedents of perceived gratifications and user loyalty toward mobile social media

The ramifications of mobile apps’ detrimental aspect on users’ life satisfaction have garnered increased attention from academics. To probe the underlying association between life satisfaction and mobile app fatigue, this article builds a research model based on a stressor–strain–outcome approach. In addition, the study investigates the relationships between different dimensions of network heterogeneity, emotional exhaustion, and mobile app fatigue among users. Furthermore, the study uncovers the moderating influence of upward comparison, self-presentation, and privacy invasion on the association between life satisfaction and emotional exhaustion in the mobile app context. The study collected data in mainland China using a cross-sectional approach and analyzed the data using structural equation modeling. The findings demonstrate that life satisfaction is positively associated with self-presentation and negatively associated with upward comparison. Moreover, privacy invasion and upward comparison are positively correlated with emotional exhaustion, whilst self-presentation exerts no correlation with emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, upward comparison could mediate the association between life satisfaction and emotional exhaustion. The results provide fresh light on the mechanisms through which the life satisfaction of mobile app users and network heterogeneity might lead to emotional exhaustion and mobile app fatigue, highlighting important theoretical and practical implications.

/pdf/unpacking-the-potential-influence-of-life-satisfaction-on-3g4hbxx1.pdf

Unpacking the Potential Influence of Life Satisfaction on Network Heterogeneity, Emotional Exhaustion and Mobile App Fatigue: A Stressor–Strain–Outcome Approach

Identifying the impact of WeChat interaction on college adjustment and academic performance among freshmen: The mediator role school connectedness

Although the swift proliferation of mobile technology has attracted considerable scholarly attention during the past few decades, relatively few studies have been devoted specifically to the potential influence of life satisfaction on mobile social media engagement among sojourning students. To address this research gap, the current study proposed a conceptual model to empirically explore how overall life satisfaction was associated with social comparison, fear of missing out and mobile social networking engagement. In a web-based survey, a total of 335 Chinese international students aged between 18 and 32 years old completed a battery of online questionnaires. Utilizing structural equation modeling, the results demonstrated that overall life satisfaction was negatively associated with users’ mobile social media use intensity. Additionally, overall life satisfaction positively and significantly predicted both fear of missing out and negative social comparison. Furthermore, fear of missing out and negative social comparison could conceivably mediate the relationships between overall life satisfaction and mobile social media engagement. Therefore, the current article study may shed light on new directions for deeper understanding the underlying psychological mechanisms of mobile technology communication among sojourners and also of the comparatively new phenomenon of fear of missing out and negative comparison in contemporary mobile-saturated society.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/21582440231173666

More Happiness or Less Comparison? Unpacking Associations Between Life Satisfaction, Negative Comparison and Mobile Social Networking Use Among Sojourning Students

Yuxin Qiao

Papers

Identifying the impact of WeChat interaction on college adjustment and academic performance among freshmen: The mediator role school connectedness

More Happiness or Less Comparison? Unpacking Associations Between Life Satisfaction, Negative Comparison and Mobile Social Networking Use Among Sojourning Students