UNDERSTANDING POST ADOPTION SWITCHING BEHAVIOR FOR MOBILE INSTANT MESSAGING APPLICATION IN CHINA: BASED ON MIGRATION THEORY

Post adoptive IT use is a hot research stream in information systems field, including continuance behaviours and switching behaviours. While there are a great number of studies on users’ intentions or behaviors for diversified information systems, previous post adoptive IT studies pay relatively less attention on users’ switching behaviors. Hence, we know little about this phenomenon and triggers on users’ switching behaviors. This research identifies the features of users IT switching behaviors and examines what trigger their switching intentions and actual behaviors in the context of mobile instant messaging (MIM) application in China. A model of MIM switching behaviors is developed based on Curran and Saguy’s (2001) research on how networks of obligation, trust and relative deprivation affect human’s migration decision and process. Besides these three triggers, we also introduce dissatisfaction and curiosity into our model according to prior IS studies on switching behaviors. A survey research method will be adopted to test this model. Overall, our study may theoretically contribute to further understand users’ IT switching behaviors and yield some practical implications for designers and managers in MIM providers and their products propaganda

From Social Simulation to Integrative System Design

As the recent financial crisis showed, today there is a strong need to gain "ecological perspective" of all relevant interactions in socio-economic-techno-environmental systems. For this, we suggested to set-up a network of Centers for integrative systems design, which shall be able to run all potentially relevant scenarios, identify causality chains, explore feedback and cascading effects for a number of model variants, and determine the reliability of their implications (given the validity of the underlying models). They will be able to detect possible negative side effect of policy decisions, before they occur. The Centers belonging to this network of Integrative Systems Design Centers would be focused on a particular field, but they would be part of an attempt to eventually cover all relevant areas of society and economy and integrate them within a "Living Earth Simulator". The results of all research activities of such Centers would be turned into informative input for political Decision Arenas. For example, Crisis Observatories (for financial instabilities, shortages of resources, environmental change, conflict, spreading of diseases, etc.) would be connected with such Decision Arenas for the purpose of visualization, in order to make complex interdependencies understandable to scientists, decision-makers, and the general public.Comment: 34 pages, Visioneer White Paper, see http://www.visioneer.ethz.c

Switching Intention and Intention to Use Personal Cloud Storage Services Among Chinese Undergraduates

Purpose: As one of the emerging Internet technologies, cloud technology may be broadly categorized as cloud computing and cloud storage. Personal Cloud Storage Service (PCSS) is an important part of cloud technology. Thus, this study investigates the factors influencing Hangzhou undergraduates' switching intentions and intention to use personal cloud storage services. Research design, data, and methodology: The data were collected from 515 undergraduates at Zhejiang University, Zhejiang Gongshang University, and Zhejiang University of Technology. The sampling techniques are judgmental sampling, stratified random sampling, and snowball sampling. The item-objective congruence (IOC) and Cronbach's Alpha of the pilot test were approved before the data collection. Afterwards, this study applied confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: The findings indicate that perceived ease of use has a significant impact on perceived usefulness. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and attitude significantly affect intention to use. Perceived risk significantly affected the switching intention. Finally, switching cost and perceived usefulness significantly affect the switching intention. Conclusion: Personal cloud storage service providers should enhance the security and should continue to improve its PCSS products and optimize the membership price model, enabling free users to use the service by sending them advertisements

Sport as real life

A new chapter that examines the relationship between sport and European society. It argues that the discourses of modernisation surrounding the sports industry echo broader political and economic discourses that dominate European thinking on the relationship between sports and industry

Why Do Users Switch Mobile Applications? Trialing Behavior as a Predecessor of Switching Behavior

Mobile application providers face high user losses because users can easily and often switch to an alternative application. Researchers have recently started to study information technology (IT) switching. However, no studies have concentrated on the unique context of mobile applications. Mobile application switching differs from the switching behavior related to many other IT products and services because of the highlighted role of alternatives, beta versions, updates, reviews, and users’ spontaneous behavior. To address this gap, we develop a mobile-specific model by using a qualitative research approach. As a theoretical contribution, we introduce trialing behavior as a predecessor of switching behavior and present six new behavioral antecedents for them. As practical implications, we suggest ways for mobile application providers and developers to reduce user churn. Mobile application providers face high user losses because users can easily and often switch to an alternative application. Researchers have recently started to study information technology (IT) switching. However, no studies have concentrated on the unique context of mobile applications. Mobile application switching differs from the switching behavior related to many other IT products and services because of the highlighted role of alternatives, beta versions, updates, reviews, and users’ spontaneous behavior. To address this gap, we develop a mobile-specific model by using a qualitative research approach. As a theoretical contribution, we introduce trialing behavior as a predecessor of switching behavior and present six new behavioral antecedents for them. As practical implications, we suggest ways for mobile application providers and developers to reduce user churn

A Theoretical Model and Empirical Investigation of Social Networking Site Users’ Switching Intention

Customers’ post-adoption switching behavior among competing service providers, particularly among different online Social Network Sites (SNSs), is gaining increasing attention from both information system researchers and practitioners, as the size of user base is both a selling point and a source of revenue of SNS service providers. In this study, we draw on the uses and gratification theory to identify factors motivating an individual to switch SNSs. In addition, informed by social identity theory, we explore how individuals’ social identities on their current SNSs moderate the effects of the motivating factors on their intention to switch to a more attractive SNS. The results of our survey study reveal that the perceived relative values of a competing SNS (when compared with the user’s current SNS) positively influence his/her intention to switch to the competing SNS. However, the positive impact of perceived relative values on switching intention is mitigated by the user’s perception of his/her salient social identity on his/her current SNS. This study has significant implications for both academics and practitioners

The Role of Habit in Post-Adoption Switching of Personal Information Technologies: An Empirical Investigation

Unlike technology users in business organizations, users of personal information technologies are usually not bound to specific products and have the freedom to switch from one product to a substitute. As a unique and widespread product level post-adoption behavior, IT user switching has not garnered sufficient attention in the current literature. Prior research has suggested that a consumer’s decision to switch follows careful reasoning on three distinct groups of factors: push, pull, and mooring. Given the highly routinized nature of post-adoption IT use, we draw from research on habit in social psychology and post-adoption user behavior literatures, and argue that users’ habit plays a critical role in post-adoption IT switching. Specifically, we posit that the habit of using the incumbent product both contributes to the mooring effects during the formation of intention to switch, and moderates the relationship between intention and switching. We tested our hypotheses on a sample of 414 users presented with a choice of switching their Web browsers. Our findings confirm the direct influence of potential switchers’ habit on switching intention, and the interaction between habit and switching intention on switching. Our overall model explains 55 percent of total variance in users’ intention to switch and 23 percent of total variance in user switching. This study advances the theoretical and empirical understanding of post-adoption technology switching, valuable to both researchers and practitioners

Modeling consumer switching behavior in social network games by exploring consumer cognitive dissonance and change experience

The rapid proliferation of e-service innovations has resulted in a rich availability of similar e- services from different developers or brands. This rich availability of alternative e-service providers as well as the rapid technological development has prompted users to switch from one e-service provider to an alternative more frequently (c.f. Bhattacherjee et al., 2012). Users can freely switch between different e-service products, and "switching to a competing e-service is almost as easy as downloading and installing it, or completing an online registration form to sign up for a different service" (Bhattacherjee et al., 2012, pp. 327). Therefore, Yang and Peterson (2004) warned that competition in the Internet environment is just a click away because customers appear to face only minimal barriers to switch to alternative products or services

The Implications of Parental and Child Smartphone Use on Parent-Child and Family Relationships: a Case-Study of the Turkish-Speaking Community in London

This qualitative research study explores the implications of parental and child smartphone use on parent-child and family relationships. It also explores the role of smartphones in children’s contact with distant family members and the implications of smartphones for children’s learning, health and entertainment. In exploring all these, this thesis aims to contribute to the literature on digital device use and its various implications for immigrant ethnic minority children and families. The theoretical framework of this study draws on different strands of literature at the intersection of parent-child relationship and media. By focusing on this intersection, the study explores how the experiences and perceptions of parent-child and family relationships are influenced by smartphone use. The study data are based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 14 families, 19 interviews with children and 15 interviews with parents. The study concluded that with the wide integration of smartphones into family life, there are interferences with the everyday experiences of parent-child and family time. It also concluded that immersion into and/or distraction by smartphones weakens the quality of parent-child communication, parent-child relationship and parenting. The study further concluded that smartphones play a positive role in children’s connection with their extended family members in Turkey, which was valued both by the children and their parents. In terms of the role of smartphones for children’s entertainment, for all of the interviewed children smartphones were found to be playing a significant role in this respect. As for smartphones’ role in children’s learning, most of the interviewed children seemed to value smartphones as a tool that helps them with their learning and feeding their interests. Children and parents associated positive feelings with children's smartphone use for learning whilst describing their non-educational smartphone use as a “waste of time” or “useless”. With respect to the impact of smartphone use on children's health, both parents and children reported concerns in this respect. The findings of this study highlight that the way smartphones are used can either lead them to be perceived as facilitating and connecting devices that lead to improved connection and satisfaction whilst meeting various needs or separating devices that fracture/interfere with parent-child and family relationships, which can in turn be a source of conflict and dissatisfaction. This thesis is a first step in illustrating the implications of smartphone use on parent-child and family relationships in the Turkish-speaking community in London. Further diverse research on this subject on immigrant ethnic minority communities will help to gain a broader understanding of the implications of digital device use on parent-child and family relationships within immigrant ethnic minority communities