Post-adoption switching behavior for online service substitutes: A perspective of the push–pull–mooring framework

Abstract

The post-adoption behaviors of online service users are critical performance factors for online service providers. To fill an academic gap that persists regarding bloggers’ switching behavior across online service substitutes, this empirical study investigates which factors affect bloggers who switch social network sites, in an attempt to understand specifically how push, pull, and mooring factors shape their switching intentions. The data to test the hypotheses come from an online survey of 319 bloggers, analyzed using partial least squares techniques. The results confirm positive influences of push and pull effects, a negative influence of mooring effects, and an interactive effect of push and mooring on switching intentions. The push–pull–mooring framework thus is a useful tool for comprehending the competing forces that influence the use of online service substitutes. In particular, perceptions of weak connections and writing anxiety push bloggers away, whereas relative enjoyment and usefulness pull bloggers to social network sites; switching cost and past experience also inhibit a change. These findings offer key insights and implications for the competitive strategy choices of online service providers.

Introduction

The prevalence of the Internet means that information systems are used not only for commercial purposes but also as part of most people’s daily lives. Diversified online services satisfy these users’ various needs. Thus many studies consider online service adoption (e.g., Cheng, Lam, and Yeung (2006)), as well as post-adoption behaviors (e.g., Vatanasombut, Igbaria, Stylianou, and Rodgers (2008)). These latter behaviors are complex and can produce various outcomes. Most studies investigate the continuous usage of an online system, noting the importance of continuous usage for firm survival, especially in settings such as online banking or retailing (Bhattacherjee, 2001). In addition to continuous usage, post-adoption behaviors also might entail switching—an interesting topic that thus far has not been well investigated (Zhang, Lee, Cheung, & Chen, 2009).

From a relationship marketing perspective, maintaining long-term relationships with customers is an important managerial goal, mainly because of the high cost of acquiring new customers. It is also critical for online providers to retain a maximum number of users to keep expanding their profits and enjoy consistent advertising revenues (Zhang et al., 2009). The competitive environment that surrounds online services has prompted some researchers to focus more on user switching behaviors. For example, Kim, Shin, and Lee (2006) investigate factors that influence users’ switching intentions toward e-mail services, and Zhang et al. (2009) consider bloggers who switch among blog service providers. However, the continued rapid growth of Internet technologies and services suggests that online service providers constantly face new challenges from new technologies, as well as from the increasingly blurred business boundaries across companies. In particular, the level of substitution across online services may affect the competitive strategy of online service providers, which suggests the need for more precise explorations of this issue.

A growing field considers the development of blogs. When they emerged in the mid-1990s, blogs became a popular form of social networking that enabled users to present themselves and interact with others (Ip & Wagner, 2008). However, some practical findings indicate that many blogs have been abandoned, because bloggers lose interest or do not update their contributions regularly (Arnold, 2005, Hsu and Lin, 2008, Li and Walejko, 2008, Technorati, 2008). According to the Pew Internet & the American Life Project (PewInternet, 2010a, PewInternet, 2010b), blogging by young adults has decreased, and it appears that young users instead are moving more toward social networking sites (SNS), such as Facebook (Kopytoff, 2011, Quenqua, 2009, Silver, 2010). The prevalence of SNS suggests a potential substitution effect for blogs. Considering the importance of switching behavior across online services for online service providers, we examine the forces that drive increased switching from blogs to SNS.

To do so, we propose a push–pull–mooring (PPM) framework to delineate the determinants of substitution of online services, specifically between blogs and SNS. To begin, we summarize prior literature pertaining to post-adoption behaviors, consumer switching, and the PPM framework. In Section 3, we present our research model, then report the results of our empirical study. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings, as well as some limitations and directions for further research.