Abstract

With the growth in social networking and the highly competitive nature of the social networking market, it is important for companies, entrepreneurs and investors to understand the factors that influence member retention. This paper utilizes a variation of expectation confirmation theory that incorporates both perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment to better understand continuation intention among members of social networking sites. In addition, the impact of the member’s self-identification with their particular social networking site (SNS) and the emotional attachment between individuals in the virtual community are considered. The proposed model provides insight into how community factors influence customer retention thus providing value to researchers, companies, entrepreneurs and investors.

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Member Retention in Social Networking Sites

With the growth in social networking and the highly competitive nature of the social networking market, it is important for companies, entrepreneurs and investors to understand the factors that influence member retention. This paper utilizes a variation of expectation confirmation theory that incorporates both perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment to better understand continuation intention among members of social networking sites. In addition, the impact of the member’s self-identification with their particular social networking site (SNS) and the emotional attachment between individuals in the virtual community are considered. The proposed model provides insight into how community factors influence customer retention thus providing value to researchers, companies, entrepreneurs and investors.