Gratifications and social network service usage the mediating role of online experience

Information & Management 51 (2014) 774–782 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Information & Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/im Gratifications and social network service usage: The mediating role of online experience Lan-Ying Huang a, Ying-Jiun Hsieh b, Yen-Chun Jim Wu c,* a Department of Business Administration, National Changhua University of Education, Changhua 500, Taiwan, ROC Institute of Technology Management, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan, ROC c Graduate Institute of Global Business and Strategy, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei 106, Taiwan, ROC b A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Article history: Received 25 February 2011 Received in revised form 22 April 2014 Accepted May 2014 Available online 12 May 2014 This paper incorporates dual theories from communication research (uses and gratifications) and psychology research (online flow) to examine consumer behavior in the use of social network services In particular, the study proposes that consumers’ online experience of interaction and arousal serves as the mediator of the relationship between social motivations and use behaviors The empirical results indicate that arousal fully mediates the relationship between social gratifications and problematic social network service use Furthermore, both interaction and arousal are partial mediators of the relationship between social gratifications and the intention to revisit social networking websites ß 2014 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved Keywords: Social network services Uses and gratifications Flow theory Introduction A social network service (SNS) is an online service that aims to build social relations among people who share interests and activities Web-based SNSs allow users to interact with others over the Internet via e-mail, instant messaging, digital audio, and other platforms Popular SNS websites include Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Friendster, and Wretch, among others Estimates suggest that Facebook, for example, currently has more than one billion users worldwide [19] Although these websites vary in their specific features, each SNS website essentially consists of a brief description of the user—that is, their profile, the individual’s social links, and various accompanying services SNS websites connect people who share interests and activities across geographic borders and have become a social commerce platform for businesses in recent years [33,65] This emergent phenomenon has drawn research attention to examining SNS users’ behavior, generating fruitful research results in areas such as communication [47], information management [84], and cultural studies [50] In particular, understanding a user’s motivation is essential to explaining the user’s various behaviors when participating in online communities [71] One frequently endorsed approach to explore those motivational factors for SNS users is based on uses and gratifications (U&G) theory [68] As such, * Corresponding author Tel.: +886 5251005 E-mail address: wuyenchun@gmail.com (Y.-C Wu) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2014.05.004 0378-7206/ß 2014 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved scholars commonly agree that fulfilling users’ social needs is crucial for SNS adoption and often presume a direct effect Nonetheless, there is still much to learn about the influence of social gratifications on SNS users’ experiential states and behaviors [10] Two research gaps are notable First, research addressing important issues, such as why SNS users continue to use the service and whether they misuse the service, remains scarce [38,46,79] This issue merits research attention for several reasons For example, Facebook observed a continuous decline in active usage between 2011 and 2013 Specifically, fewer than 45% of Facebook subscribers were active users in 2012, down from 50% in 2011 [19] Many SNS sites (e.g., MySpace) have also experienced a decline in active usage [22] Namely, although the base of SNS subscribers is constantly expanding, the number of active users does not increase accordingly, highlighting the urgency for SNS providers to promote users’ continuous participation In contrast, active SNS users are spending more time on SNS websites, suggesting a rise in potential online social network addiction, which causes mental health problems [36,41,45] Second, research is needed to examine the mediating effects of SNS users’ online experiential states on the relationship between social gratifications and the behaviors noted above It seems ambitious to attribute SNS users’ behaviors, such as revisits and misuse, directly to sociality in that existing SNS research reveals inconsistent findings, signifying possible mediators in the relationship between sociality and SNS use behaviors [37] When mediators are found to significantly affect these behaviors, the significant relationship between sociality and such behaviors may L.-Y Huang et al / Information & Management 51 (2014) 774–782 Motivations Online flow elements Uses and gratifications Flow theory l Social gratifications l Interaction Behavioral outcomes l Intention to revisit SNS websites Arousal l Problematic SNS use Fig Conceptual framework weaken to the extent that it becomes insignificant Furthermore, research indicates that fulfilling Internet users’ needs is a distal necessary cause of behaviors; however, users’ experiential state is a catalyst for the developmental process of behaviors, such as problematic Internet use [15] Aiming to close the two gaps in SNS research noted above, the current study posits that fulfilling SNS users’ social needs is conducive to the aforementioned behaviors because SNS users are deeply engrossed in the process of using such services Namely, the degree to which SNS users may revisit or misuse a service depends largely on how they experience the process of engaging in the online social activity This study adopts flow theory to examine the potential mediators in the present context for two reasons First, the behavioral outcomes considered in the study (i.e., revisit intentions and problematic use) strongly relate to the hedonic or experiential aspect of SNS by their very nature [52], indicating that flow theory is appropriate for investigating the mediators Second, this postulation concurs with flow researchers’ suggestion that consumers’ online experiences affect and facilitate the use of online services [58,75] and U&G researchers’ speculation that there exists an immediate theoretical correspondence between online flow and the U&G gratification constructs [77] Collectively, Fig demonstrates the conceptual framework, proposing that particular online flow elements serve as mediators in the relationship between social motivations to use SNSs and two behavioral outcomes: revisit intentions and problematic use The contributions of this study are twofold First, SNS providers can benefit from manipulating these online flow elements to achieve various behavioral outcomes among users Second, SNS users can benefit from the results by becoming more conscious of the cognitive and affective factors shaping their use behaviors This paper is organized as follows Section provides the theoretical background for this research, the conceptual foundation of the empirical model, and the corresponding research hypotheses based on an extensive review of the relevant literature Next, Section explains the research method in detail, followed by the results of the statistical analysis in Section Finally, Section summarizes the results, concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications of the research findings, and outlines limitations and future research directions 775 using Facebook and MySpace are to meet friends and to seek information Likewise, Brandtzæg and Heim [8] propose four primary motives for using popular SNSs, such as Underskog, Nettby, HamarUngdom, and Biip in Norway: information, entertainment, social interaction, and personal identity Furthermore, Kim et al [39] posit that the major motives for using social network sites are to seek friends, social support, entertainment, information, and convenience Ku et al [44] identify five motives for using Facebook and MySpace: amusement, relationship maintenance, information gathering, sociality, and style Although gratifications research reveals that SNS users’ motivations are not limited to social factors and should encompass other intrinsically and extrinsically related motives [77], researchers commonly agree that fulfilling users’ social needs (e.g., seeking friends, social interaction, enhancement, presence, support) is fundamental to SNS adoption [21] This study thus builds on this pivotal factor by exploring its role as an antecedent of SNS users’ revisit and problematic behaviors Specifically, social needs in the present context range from developing to maintaining various social relationships with other SNS users 2.2 Mediating conditions As noted previously, understanding an individual’s psychological motivation is essential to explain his/her attitude and behavior [12,39] The use of media, such as SNSs, however, is an intricate process that should merit greater research attention to the mediating conditions [10,53] A shortcoming of using U&G theory alone to explain SNS users’ behaviors is that this theory has been primarily used to explain users’ motives, which is likely to produce incomplete causal models and to generally ignore the effect of third variables, such as mediators Among the few SNS user studies investigating mediators, Lin and Lu [52] consider the mediating role of perceived benefits based on motivation theory (i.e., with usefulness as the extrinsic benefit and enjoyment as the intrinsic benefit) Although the above theory has merits in explaining SNS users’ continued use, this approach is deficient in describing SNS users’ overuse or misuse, which researchers claim are strongly correlated with users’ experiential state when using an online service [9] As a growing number of researchers argue that SNSs emerge as pleasure-oriented information systems that individuals become increasingly willing to use as more friends or peers join [1,49,67,74,78], it is rational to assume that whether and to what extent fulfilling SNS users’ social motives leads to revisit and problematic behaviors is largely determined by how users experience the process of using SNSs (i.e., the experiential state) Hence, this study expects that SNS users’ psychological experience (or online experiential state) plays a facilitating role in shaping the influence of social gratifications on the above behaviors 2.3 Online flow Theory development 2.1 Uses and gratifications U&G theory posits that users seek gratifications from media and technology use based on their individual needs or motivations; if these needs are gratified, then individuals are likely to repeat such an experience [61] U&G theory has helped researchers to understand the various needs of users in media adoption [77] In particular, recent gratifications research extends the scope to explore the psychological motivations that lead individuals to accept SNSs, considering the use of SNSs as an emerging social media For example, Krisanic [43] finds that entertainment and connection represent two pivotal motivations for Facebook use Raacke and Bonds-Raacke [69] reveal that the main reasons for Researchers characterize flow as being facilitated by a type of conscientiousness that causes individuals to enter a specific experiential state that is so desirable that they wish to repeat it as often as possible [14] Early flow research links flow with various types of leisure activities, such as gaming, dancing, and playing chess, in which an individual becomes so engrossed with the activity as to create a pleasurable experience (e.g., [2,13]) The emergence of Internet-based activities, however, leads to the conceptualization of online flow, namely a cognitive state experienced during navigation that is characterized by a seamless sequence of responses that are facilitated by machine interactivity, intrinsically enjoyable, and accompanied by a loss of selfconscientiousness and self-reinforcing [58] Underlying a compelling online experience (e.g., [32,35]), online flow opportunities 776 L.-Y Huang et al / Information & Management 51 (2014) 774–782 build on the following elements: skill, control, interaction, importance, challenge, arousal, time distortion, and telepresence [58] Furthermore, the importance of these flow elements is context dependent and varies across activities As such, control and importance are more correlated with utilitarian activities (e.g., work, information search), whereas skill, challenge, time distortion, and telepresence are primarily associated with hedonic activities (e.g., online gaming, watching TV) Interaction and arousal, however, relate to activities with both utilitarian and hedonic natures, such as chat and news groups Considering the dual nature of SNSs, this study thus concentrates on these two online flow elements (i.e., interaction and arousal) in exploring their association with users’ social gratifications and use behaviors 2.3.1 Social gratifications and interaction Interaction refers to a user’s interactive behavior with an artifact (e.g., an Internet human-computer interface) Specifically, interaction may refer to the mapping of interaction (i.e., how natural and intuitive an interaction is perceived to be by a participant), the range of interaction (i.e., the number of possibilities for action at a particular point in time), the personalization of interaction (i.e., the process of tailoring content to individual users’ characteristics or preferences), or the responsiveness of interaction (i.e., the quality of being responsive, reacting quickly, involving responding with emotion to people and events) [55,83,86] As noted above, SNS users produce and share with others their own content for self-expression and selfactualization over the Internet SNS users also expect prompt feedback from others, thus obtaining mutual benefit or social rewards, such as reputation, expected relationships, and trust Hence, SNS interaction manifests itself primarily in the personalization of content and services, responsiveness from the site owner, navigation cues and signs, and persons in the social network As such, interaction allows SNS users to actively participate in the process through the content as well as through continuous and immediate feedback from others, fulfilling both utilitarian and hedonic purposes SNSs offer users an effective way to communicate with other people Through the process of communication, SNS users engage in a variety of additional social networking activities [11] This peculiar feature makes SNSs quite socially relevant, becoming the locus for extensive social interaction Furthermore, each social relationship has a focus or a shared circumstance around which interaction occurs [60] Lack of awareness of what is occurring in the online world likely implies missing out on a large portion of what is occurring in one’s peer group Thus, SNS users who adopt the service to meet people with similar interests anticipate the sharing of useful things on the SNS website Likewise, SNS users who use such a service to seek relationships or romance expect to receive prompt responses from others or even to engage in live interaction with them Accordingly, SNS users who are motivated by social needs (i.e., gratified by the social benefits of SNSs) are more apt to recognize the value of online interaction with other SNS users [62] H1 SNS users’ social gratifications are positively related to interaction 2.3.2 Social gratifications and arousal By contrast, arousal refers to a physiological and psychological state of being awake or reactive to stimuli These stimuli arise from the use of SNS as a means to fulfill various social needs The present study emphasizes the physiological aspect of arousal and regards this online flow element as a measure of stimulation, for example, in forming a potential relationship with others or meeting people with common interests SNS users may become engrossed in using SNSs to create pleasurable experiences resulting from arousal [62] The state of heightened physiological activity when using SNSs is apparently associated with their utilitarian and hedonic functions Individuals are likely to seek arousal via an SNS, owing to its potential to offer various social stimuli, such as building relationships or sharing ideas, activities, events, and interests within their individual networks [17] Forming social bonds with others generally produces positive emotions [4] Furthermore, gratifications research clearly indicates that media use provides an enjoyable experience [72] As such, users’ affective state, such as feeling stimulated or excited when using such media, reflects their motivation [54] Thus, SNSs have the advantage of cultivating one’s social motive within his/her social group, which is important for an individual to experience positive emotion or enjoyment [48] For example, as users perceive more members with common interests joining an SNS, they expand their connections, and desired arousal levels can be maintained through the fulfillment of this social need [52] Likewise, obtaining a sense of community helps create a greater sense of pleasure [67,78], which is associated with increased arousal (i.e., arousal boosts) [6,48] In particular, individuals who are motivated by relationship seeking will, if their need is gratified, likely experience a heightened physiological state of arousal when using SNSs Hence, SNS users whose social needs are fulfilled are likely to immerse themselves in a heightened state of arousal when engaging in such services H2 SNS users’ social gratifications are positively related to arousal 2.4 Intention to revisit SNS websites As noted previously, the percentage of active users of a particular SNS does not grow as more people subscribe to the service This trend alerts SNS marketers to opportunities for retaining and encouraging users to revisit their websites Flow research indicates that online flow elements (e.g., interaction and arousal) create a compelling online experience (i.e., the state of flow), which in turn generates favorable consumer behavioral outcomes, such as intentions to visit the website and make purchases [42] Additionally, information research demonstrates that social interaction is crucial to the process of knowledge and information exchange [80] In particular, online participants who are central to a network and connected to a large number of other participants are more likely to continue to contribute to the collective activity through interaction with others [7,25] Furthermore, research on the theory of cognitive integration [70] indicates that the valuation and integration of knowledge sharing elicit continuance intentions [29] As such, when SNS users share knowledge via interactions with others, they produce varying levels of informational value or integrate different knowledge to form new knowledge, leading to continuance intentions [29] Emotion research also reveals that human emotions or states of excitement influence an individual’s decision making [87] In particular, an individual’s intense state of arousal (i.e., affective response) leads to focused attention on specific targets and may therefore influence his/her ongoing behavior [63] For example, arousal plays an important role in continued blog usage [73] Likewise, when Facebook users experience arousal, this affective response may induce them to engage in continued behaviors [34] Hence, the study contends that interaction and arousal relate to users’ intentions to revisit SNS websites as follows: H3 Both (a) interaction and (b) arousal are positively related to the intention to revisit SNS websites L.-Y Huang et al / Information & Management 51 (2014) 774–782 777 2.5 Problematic SNS use Method Researchers commonly use such terms as positive affect, fun, playfulness, arousal, heightened involvement, and pleasure to describe the value obtained from compulsive Internet use [9] Considering the Internet’s hedonic value and related compulsions, there is clear potential for misuse of the Internet Indeed, researchers use several terms to refer to misuse of the Internet Some researchers regard such behavior as Internet addiction (e.g., [16]) or pathological Internet use [9,57], whereas others refer to it as problematic Internet use [56] Despite the various terms used to describe the central concept, Internet misuse is generally associated with depression, anxiety, higher impulsivity levels, and other negative consequences [16], largely resulting from the overuse of the Internet Obviously, individuals may also misuse SNSs, as is the case with the Internet This study, however, adopts the term ‘‘problematic SNS use,’’ which is conceptualized as (a) maladaptive preoccupation with SNS use, experienced as irresistible use for periods of time longer than intended and (b) distress or impairment resulting from such behavior Notably, people generally abuse the applications that are available on the Internet (e.g., SNS) rather than the Internet itself Furthermore, problematic SNS use represents moderately disturbed patterns of SNS use and is distinct from severe psychiatric disorders [81,85] Typical symptoms of problematic SNS use include the failure to fulfill major obligations, guilt, cravings, and the fear of missing important social information [82] Research indicates that the state of flow serves as a precursor to compulsive behaviors [18], leading to potential socially negative consequences In particular, users’ experiential states of arousal can influence Internet use, resulting in an uncontrollable desire and preoccupation with the use of the Internet [5] Namely, there exists a connection between problematic Internet use and the perception of a high level of arousal [57] Researchers also find this connection in online shopping [9] and video gaming [23,24,72] The study thus postulates that arousal leads to problematic use of SNSs 3.1 Data collection and sample This study employed personal interviews (Phase 1) and mailed survey (Phase 2) to collect data The focal research topic demands a population of individuals who are fairly comfortable using SNSs Considering the prevalence of Facebook use for social networking and its explosive growth in recent years [19], the authors chose Facebook as an exemplary SNS and targeted Facebook users as the informants for the present study The interviews were conducted in Taiwan during annual Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) shows for two reasons First, one of the main themes for 2012 ICT shows was social media applications and networking technologies As such, the shows were expected to attract many existing SNS users Second, the shows were held in three metropolitan areas (i.e., north, central, and southern Taiwan) over a period of three months Collecting data from three major metropolitan areas ensures that the collected data are representative across geographical regions In particular, the informants were selected randomly during the exhibitions To reduce the effect of common method bias, the data collection process consisted of two phases; this approach is among those suggested for overcoming method bias [66] That is, the participants needed to complete two questionnaires: one for social gratifications, online flow experience, and demographic information in Phase and another for behavioral outcomes in Phase that was completed approximately two weeks after Phase Phase and Phase questionnaires were matched by name, resulting in 405 usable questionnaire packets and representing an overall response rate of 21% Table summarizes the profile of the respondents In particular, the calculated F- and t-statistics for the intention to revisit SNS websites for different ages (F = 1.05, p = 35), genders (t = À.57, Table Demographic profile H4 Arousal is positively related to problematic SNS use Measure Items Frequency Percent Although research generally finds direct effects of various types of gratifications on consumer behavioral outcomes in Web-based services [62,69], the above hypotheses suggest that SNS users who are gratified by an SNS’s social benefits participate in more online interaction with other SNS users and are more apt to be aroused when engaging in SNS use, which in turn engenders different behavioral consequences Namely, these hypotheses suggest that the online flow elements of interaction and arousal serve as mediators in the relationship between social motivations and the intention to revisit SNS websites, whereas arousal serves as a mediator in the relationship between social motivations and problematic SNS use (Fig 2) Gender Male Female 166 239 41 59 Age Under 25 26–35 Over 36 295 99 11 73 24 Education High school or less Bachelor’s degree Graduate degree 30 232 143 57 35 Place of using SNS Home Campus Company Other 299 64 33 74 16 Internet connectivity ADSL Cable Modem LAN Other 287 13 92 13 71 23 Experience of using SNS Less than months 106 26 3–6 months months to year Over year 179 60 60 44 15 15 Less than h 222 55 1–3 h Over h 123 60 30 15 Less than h 211 52 98 96 24 24 H5 (a) Both interaction and arousal mediate the relationship between social gratifications and the intention to revisit SNS websites, whereas (b) arousal mediates the relationship between social gratifications and problematic SNS use Motivations Online flow elements Uses and gratifications Flow theory Interaction Behavioral outcomes Duration of using SNS each time Intention to revisit SNS websites Social gratifications Arousal Fig Theoretical framework Problematic SNS use Duration of using SNS per week 6–10 h Over 10 h L.-Y Huang et al / Information & Management 51 (2014) 774–782 778 p = 57), and education levels (F = 97, p = 41) reveal that the effects of these demographic factors are negligible 3.2 Measures All responses were recorded either on 5-point Likert-type scales anchored by (strongly disagree) and (strongly agree) or on 5point semantic-differential scales, unless otherwise noted To measure social gratifications, a five-item scale was adopted from Stafford [76] For the constructs of interaction and arousal, both five-item measures were drawn from the items developed by Novak et al [58] Regarding the behavioral outcomes, intentions to revisit SNS websites were assessed using four-item scales based on Hausman and Siekpe [28] Finally, the study generated a list of items to assess problematic SNS use based on Widyanto and McMurran [82]: the items measured were academic, work, or personal self-control problems; excess SNS use; and mood-altering behaviors The study used the summed responses to these symptoms to indicate each respondent’s tendency for problematic SNS use All the items were initially prepared in English, translated into Chinese by independent translators, and then back-translated into English to ensure accuracy and to follow appropriate guidelines [27] When necessary, the items were adjusted to make their wording as precise as possible The above measures were pretested in a pilot study with 22 participants and two experts in the research area of information systems Responses from the pretests ensured the relevance and equivalence of the final measures All of the measures are described in the Appendix A, whereas the measurement results are discussed in the section presenting the analysis and results Analysis and results While the study draws the above measurement items from past studies, researchers commonly recommend exploratory factor analysis (EFA) as part of initial efforts for scale development This study thus first performed EFA on all the items and then followed Kline’s [40] two-step approach (i.e., a measurement model and a Table Exploratory factor analysis results for all items Items S1a S2 S3 S4 I1 I2 I3 I4 I5 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 R1 R2 R3 R4 P1 P2 P3 P4 Factors (eigenvalue) Arousal (7.73) Interaction (3.21) Social gratifications (1.99) Problematic SNS use (1.55) Intention to revisit SNS websites (1.08) 12 10 11 16 25 22 13 15 14 75 76 74 74 67 03 19 14 05 19 15 20 25 13 14 10 20 62 62 74 78 76 16 11 17 16 11 28 20 33 28 22 06 11 20 75 87 76 65 16 17 11 13 17 13 06 13 16 09 23 22 25 26 08 01 À.04 À.01 03 03 02 À.01 23 11 16 17 11 25 15 10 14 28 À.13 16 10 01 66 81 88 62 26 17 21 14 36 22 24 17 21 08 02 10 17 07 62 63 57 71 09 À.02 02 05 Note: Items loading at or above are highlighted in bold a Please refer to Appendix A for the detailed measures Table Means, standard deviations, correlations, reliabilities, and confirmatory factor analysis properties Construct Mean (S.D.) S I A R Social gratifications (S) Interaction (I) Arousal (A) Intention to revisit SNS websites (R) Problematic SNS use (P) 3.46 3.11 2.43 3.42 1.00 0.42a 0.33a 0.59a 1.00 0.47a 0.70a 1.00 0.40a 1.00 0.08 0.38a 0.48a 0.23a 1.00 0.65 0.88 0.88 0.63 0.90 0.89 0.61 0.89 0.89 0.56 0.79 0.79 0.62 0.86 0.86 AVE Composite reliability Cronbach’s alpha a (0.81) (0.88) (1.01) (0.84) 1.88 (0.92) P p < 001 subsequent structural mode) and used AMOS (version 7) to analyze the data Employing the principal axis factoring analysis for factor extraction, the initial factor analysis based on Varimax rotation using SPSS 18.0 identified five factors with eigenvalues greater than one for further evaluation Table displays the rotated loading matrix for these factors Items loading at or above are highlighted in bold The total variance explained by the five factors was 62.49% Accordingly, the study conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with maximum likelihood estimation to assess the measurement model As Table depicts, the level of internal consistency in each construct is acceptable, with Cronbach’s alpha estimates ranging from 0.79 to 0.89 [59] All of the composite reliabilities of the constructs surpass the value of 0.79, ensuring adequate internal consistency of multiple items for each construct [20] Furthermore, convergent validity is also satisfied, as all confirmatory factor loadings exceed 0.70 except for one, which is 0.69 [26], and all are significant at the 0.05 level [30] Additionally, the average variance extracted (AVE) for all constructs exceeds the minimum criterion of 0.50, indicating that a large portion of the variance is explained by these constructs [20,26] Furthermore, Table reveals that the correlations between the constructs range from 0.08 to 0.70 and are thus under 0.90 [26] Indeed, the square root of the AVE for each construct is larger than the construct’s correlations with other constructs, which also indicates good convergent and discriminant validity [20] It is noteworthy that the x2 value with 179 degrees of freedom was 401.18 (p < 0.05) Given the known sensitivity of the x2 statistic test to sample size, several widely used goodness-of-fit indices demonstrated that the confirmatory factor model fits the data well (NFI = 0.92, CFI = 0.95, IFI = 0.95, SRMR = 0.05, and RMSEA = 0.06) In the next step, the proposed structural model was estimated (Fig and Table 4) The estimation produced the following statistics: x2 = 517.65, df = 184, p < 0.05, NFI = 0.90, CFI = 0.93, IFI = 0.93, SRMR = 0.06, and RMSEA = 0.07 The model’s fit as indicated by these indices was deemed satisfactory; thus, it provides a good basis for testing the hypothesized paths As Table shows, five paths are significant The model explains 49% of the variance in the intention to revisit SNS websites and 22% of the variance in problematic SNS use In summary, H1–H4 are supported To examine the mediating effects of the online flow elements, the study estimated models consistent with Baron and Kenny [3] and Holmbeck [31] Four conditions for mediation were examined The first condition is satisfied if the independent variable (social gratifications) affects the mediators (interaction and arousal) The second condition checks to determine whether the mediators affect the dependent variables (revisit intention and problematic SNS use) Both of these conditions are met as indicated in the hypothesized model of Table The third condition is satisfied if the independent variable affects the dependent variables Thus, the study estimated a model with only direct paths from social L.-Y Huang et al / Information & Management 51 (2014) 774–782 Table Structural model results Hypothesized paths Standardized path estimates Fit statistics Hypothesized Full Partially mediated H1: Social gratifications ! Interaction H2: Social gratifications ! Arousal H3a: Interaction ! Intention to revisit SNS websites H3b: Arousal ! Intention to revisit SNS websites H4: Arousal ! Problematic SNS use Social gratifications ! Intention to revisit SNS websites Social gratifications ! Problematic SNS use R2—Interaction R —Arousal R2—Intention to revisit SNS websites R2—Problematic SNS use 0.46b 0.35b 0.67b 0.44b 0.35b 0.52b 0.44b 0.34b 0.52b 0.13a 0.05 0.05 0.47b 0.50b 0.47b – 0.36b 0.36b – 0.03 – 0.21 0.12 0.49 0.22 0.19 0.12 0.59 0.23 0.19 0.12 0.59 0.22 779 above behaviors As such, this investigation highlights the criticality of cognitive (i.e., interaction) and affective (i.e., arousal) experiences versus the more general and utilitarian-based technology acceptance factors when examining the adoption of social networking services 5.1 Theoretical implications gratifications to revisit intention and problematic SNS use—a direct model (x2 = 75.64, df = 42, p < 0.05, NFI = 0.97, CFI = 0.98, IFI = 0.98, SRMR = 0.06, and RMSEA = 0.05) Both direct paths (social gratifications ! revisit intention; social gratifications ! problematic SNS use) are significant (p < 0.05) with standardized coefficients of 0.59 and 0.19, respectively, thus satisfying the third mediating condition In particular, the direct model explains 35.2% (0.8%) of the variance in revisit intention (problematic SNS use) The fourth mediating condition checks to determine whether the direct paths become insignificant (i.e., full mediation) or reduced (partial mediation) when they are included in the model (i.e., the full model in Table 4) Indeed, the fit of the full model (x2 = 471.08, df = 182, p < 0.05, NFI = 0.91, CFI = 0.94, IFI = 0.94, SRMR = 0.06, and RMSEA = 0.06) is better than the fit of the hypothesized model (x2diff ¼ 46:58, df = 2, p < 0.01), indicating that the online flow elements not fully mediate all of the effects of social gratifications on revisit intention and problematic SNS use Notably, a closer inspection of these models reveals that the coefficient of the direct path (social gratifications ! problematic SNS use) becomes insignificant, thus supporting full mediation, and the coefficient of the direct path (social gratifications ! revisit intention) is diminished, thus supporting partial mediation Therefore, H5 is partially supported The study then removed the insignificant direct path from the full model and estimated a partially mediated model The partially mediated model (x2 = 473.05, df = 183, p < 0.05, NFI = 0.91, CFI = 0.94, IFI = 0.94, SRMR = 0.05, and RMSEA = 0.06) fits as well as the full model (x2diff ¼ 1:97, df = 1, p > 0.10) and is better fitted than the hypothesized model (x2diff ¼ 44:61, df = 1, p < 0.01) These analyses collectively indicate that arousal fully mediates the relationship between social gratifications and problematic SNS use, whereas both interaction and arousal partially mediate the relationship between social gratifications and the intention to revisit SNS websites The theoretical implications are fourfold First, the present study supports the integration of U&G and flow theories to explain SNS use and reinforces the speculation regarding an immediate theoretical correspondence between online flow and the U&G gratification constructs [77] The empirical results indicate that SNS users build associations between their social gratifications and experiential states Thus, the manner in which SNS users experience the usage process is as important as the gratification of their social needs; together, these factors determine consumers’ intentions to make further visits to an SNS website and their problematic use behavior Second, this study shows that it is possible for both social gratifications and arousal to have a direct effect on problematic SNS use if both effects are examined independently of one another Nonetheless, as the mediating effects reveal, the effect of social gratifications on problematic SNS use becomes insignificant when both the effects of social gratifications and arousal are considered simultaneously; hence, these results suggest that researchers should apply an integrative approach to explain problematic SNS use The study thus extends the work of researchers such as Pempek et al [64] by demonstrating that the effect of social gratifications on problematic SNS use is fully mediated by the presence of arousal in the online experience Third, the study observes both direct and indirect (via interaction and arousal) relationships between SNS users’ social gratifications and revisit intentions As such, fulfilling SNS users’ social needs appears to be fundamental when users consider whether to revisit a particular SNS website Namely, gratifying SNS users’ social needs is essential to an individual’s continued participation Should interaction and/or arousal arise during a visit to an SNS website, these online experiential states are likely to play a role in determining whether a revisit occurs Even if these online experiential states not occur, social gratifications might still affect users’ revisit intention directly Fourth, although the empirical results suggest partial mediating effects of interaction and arousal on users’ intentions to revisit SNS websites, the model built on theoretical parsimony indeed generates favorable predictive power (hypothesized model: 49%; partially mediated model: 59%) over other models that consider intention-based theories (e.g., [51]) Compared with the hypothesized model, the partially mediated model generates a 10% increase in explanatory power in the intention to revisit SNS websites and explains similar amount of the variance (i.e., both 22%) in problematic SNS use Furthermore, the hypothesized model outperforms the direct model in explanatory power by 14% (i.e., 49% versus 35%) and 21% (i.e., 22% versus 0.8%) for revisit intentions and problematic SNS use, respectively, thus emphasizing the importance of the proposed mediators in predicting SNS users’ revisit intentions and problematic behavior Discussion and conclusions 5.2 Managerial implications Although many studies have affirmed that fulfilling SNS users’ social needs is a necessary antecedent to users’ adoption of such services, the current study reveals that social gratification alone is not sufficient to trigger users’ revisit and problematic behaviors Furthermore, SNS users’ online experiential states serve as a key mediator of the relationship between social gratifications and the Understanding the mediating role of users’ experiential states, such as interaction and arousal, can provide SNS developers with a competitive edge in the social media business Although manipulating SNS users’ experiential states can increase the likelihood of revisit to a website, SNS providers should also focus on the key ‘‘flow-building/maintaining lever’’ that they can control, namely, a b p < 05 p < 001 780 L.-Y Huang et al / Information & Management 51 (2014) 774–782 fulfilling users’ social needs As such, SNS providers can enhance several features to help gratify users’ social needs For example, SNS developers can add a new function, such as a ticker box that shows real-time updates or the most recent updates by friends Integration with other social apps can further allow users to listen, watch, or read with friends in a live stream without leaving the SNS website These efforts also lead to the experience of ‘‘serendipity’’ Likewise, SNS designers may incorporate the capability of exporting personal news feeds and fan page links and importing email or exporting SNS messages Building an all-in-one solution fulfills users’ desire to monitor email and makes them accessible from external interfaces These approaches help gratify users’ social needs and thus contribute to users’ experiences of interaction and arousal, which in turn lead to revisit intentions While this study underlines the importance of gratificationexperience concurrence as a fundamental principle of SNS website management and strategy and emphasizes the pivotal role of social gratifications in driving users’ experiential states, there are several other ways to elicit SNS users’ experiences of interaction and arousal One approach for SNS providers to enhance interaction is to ameliorate service mobility, given that more than 680 million active users worldwide currently access Facebook through mobile devices, such as cellular phones [19] As a result, the development of an ‘‘SNS phone’’ as well as its integration with location-based service (LBS) may become a future trend and pave the way for more prompt and live connections between users Likewise, SNS providers may enrich their service content to foster arousal in users, for example, by integrating with other dating or friendmaking services Specifically, SNS providers can better differentiate users and user groups by their use behaviors and browsing records via data mining to tailor their services This approach not only improves content usability but also engenders a sense of excitement and serendipity The findings also explain a mechanism through which SNS users’ problematic behavior is engendered Understanding this mechanism provides valuable information for practitioners to understand the factors driving SNS users’ problematic use to help prevent misuse of the service The full mediating role of arousal indicates that fulfilling customers’ social needs provides a basis for experiencing arousal in SNS use, and it is the level of arousal that eventually determines problematic SNS use, implying that social gratifications are necessary but not sufficient conditions to ensure SNS users’ problematic behavior Namely, an SNS user who has his/ her social needs gratified still might not misuse the service if he/ she does not experience arousal As such, SNS users’ social gratification is a distal necessary cause of symptoms of problematic use As a contributory factor, SNS users’ experience of arousal is a catalyst for the development of problematic behavior such as privacy and security as moderators Finally, this study is also limited by its concentration on the two dependent variables (i.e., intention to revisit SNS websites and problematic SNS use) In fact, the use of an SNS is a complex process that has numerous effects on behavioral outcomes Hence, further research can investigate a broader scope of SNS usage consequences, such as advertising effects and enhanced social and/or commercial activities Evidently, a range of research questions warrant further examination for SNS use from perspectives of changing information technology, consumer expectations, and new business models Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers who provided insightful and constructive comments on the paper This work is jointly supported by Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 102-2410-H-018-021) and by ‘‘Aim for the Top University Plan’’ of the National Sun Yat-Sen University, Taiwan Appendix A Measurement items.a Social gratifications [76] [S1] I use SNS to seek relationships with others [S2] I use SNS to meet people with my interests [S3] I use SNS to chat with others [S4] I use SNS to get a sense of community [S5] I use SNS to keep up with what’s going onc Interaction [58] [I1] Live interaction with friends via SNS websites is great [I2] Communication on SNS websites is prompt [I3] People on SNS websites are responsive [I4] Useful things are shared on SNS websites [I5] I receive timely feedback from others on SNS websites Arousal (I feel .when using SNS) [58] [A1] Relaxed—Stimulated [A2] Excited—Calmb [A3] Sluggish—Frenzied [A4] Inattentive—Alert [A5] Tranquil—Agitated Intention to revisit SNS websites [28] [R1] I will revisit the SNS websites within 30 days [R2] It is worth participating in SNS again [R3] I am likely to return to the SNS websites in the future [R4] I am encouraged to revisit the SNS websites in the future Problematic SNS use [82] [P1] I often think about SNS when I am not using it [P2] I have gotten into trouble with my employer or school because of using SNS [P3] I become anxious when not using SNS [P4] When I use SNS, I tend to lose track of time 5.3 Limitations and future research a Although the findings help broaden the understanding of SNS use, several limitations exist First, perhaps the major limitation of the study is the breadth of the sample Although the sample includes a broad swath of informants, the study focuses solely on Facebook users interviewed at ICT shows Thus, further research is required to establish whether the patterns of effects are globally generalizable across different types of social network services and users Second, SNS users may not be gratified solely by social benefits Indeed, research reveals that a growing number of SNS websites serve marketing or other business purposes [33] Exploring other types of gratifications as antecedents to SNS use is potentially contributive Third, the results highlight interaction and arousal as partial mediators affecting SNS users’ revisit intentions Further studies that examine other mediators would thus be valuable Likewise, further research may consider factors b c Items were 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