Examining social influence factors affecting consumer continuous usage intention for mobile social networking applications

Due to the rapid increase in the use of mobile devices, mobile social-networking applications (MSNAs) have proliferated during recent years. MSNAs can provide social groups with a means to communicate among group members. Although studies have shown that social influence is relevant to individual and group collective behaviour, few studies have investigated the predictive relationships between multiple integrated social influence factors and the behavioural intention for the use of MSNAs. Therefore, we examined the effects of social influence factors (injunctive norms, descriptive norms, social identity, and group norms) on the continued intentions to use MSNAs. Data collected though the website of an online survey company yielded 830 usable questionnaires. We used structural equation modelling (SEM) to test the hypothesised relationships. The results indicate that injunctive norms, descriptive norms, and social identity were positively related to continued usage intention, whereas group norms were unrelated to continued usage intention. Understanding consumer decisions regarding the repeated use of an MSNA is necessary for mobile application (M-app) developers to design programs that ensure user retention.