The effects of post-adoption beliefs on the expectation-confirmation model for information technology continuance

Abstract

The expectation-confirmation model (ECM) of IT continuance is a model for investigating continued information technology (IT) usage behavior. This paper reports on a study that attempts to expand the set of post-adoption beliefs in the ECM, in order to extend the application of the ECM beyond an instrumental focus. The expanded ECM, incorporating the post-adoption beliefs of perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment and perceived ease of use, was empirically validated with data collected from an on-line survey of 811 existing users of mobile Internet services. The data analysis showed that the expanded ECM has good explanatory power ($R^2=57.6\%$ of continued IT usage intention and $R^2=67.8\%$ of satisfaction), with all paths supported. Hence, the expanded ECM can provide supplementary information that is relevant for understanding continued IT usage. The significant effects of post-adoption perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment signify that the nature of the IT can be an important boundary condition in understanding the continued IT usage behavior. At a practical level, the expanded ECM presents IT product/service providers with deeper insights into how to address IT users’ satisfaction and continued patronage.

Introduction

The discovery of factors leading to individuals’ adoption of information technology (IT) is a perennial research issue in the information systems (IS) literature (Taylor and Todd, 1995) that continues to receive much attention. While the existing studies have tended to investigate individuals’ decisions to initially adopt an IT, there is less attention paid to the post-adoption environment where individuals decide between continuing and discontinuing usage of an IT. Until the post-adoption usage of the IT can be confirmed, it is premature to classify an IT adoption as a success.

The ultimate viability of an IT is dependent on individuals’ continued usage of the IT (Karahanna et al., 1999; Bhattacherjee, 2001b). If the enthusiasm over the initial adoption of an IT diminishes after individuals gain experience from using it, then the IT will suffer from decreased usage and may even fall into disuse subsequently. When this happens, organizations that developed the IT or built their services around the IT would need to write-off their significant investments in developing and implementing the IT. For many business-to-consumer e-commerce organizations, the continued usage decision or user retention is essential for guaranteeing the long-term profitability of these organizations (Parthasarathy and Bhattacherjee, 1998; Reichheld and Schefter, 2000; Bhattacherjee, 2001a, Bhattacherjee, 2001b). The potential benefits from increasing user retention rate can include a substantial reduction in operating costs and possibly a dramatic increase in profits (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990; Crego and Schiffrin, 1995). Owing to the significant influence of continued usage on the long-term viability of an IT, it is important to research the factors that influence individuals’ post-adoption behavior.

More recently, researchers have attempted to develop and empirically test models of continued IT usage behavior (e.g., Karahanna et al., 1999; Bhattacherjee, 2001b; Bhattacherjee and Premkumar, 2004). Our study builds on these efforts by extending the expectation-confirmation model (ECM) in IT domain—a theoretical model by Bhattacherjee (2001b) that was developed specifically to understand users’ continued IT usage behavior. In order to enhance understanding of continued IT usage behavior, we incorporate two additional user perceptions—perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment—into the original ECM. The technology adoption literature has identified these additional user perceptions to play a salient role in user acceptance of technology. As suggested by Taylor and Todd (1995), factors believed to be relevant to the technology usage can be derived from different streams of literature, such as psychology and human–computer interaction (HCI). The current study is motivated by our belief that there may be various user expectations and beliefs that determine users’ continued IT usage behavior other than the one theorized in the original ECM. Extending the original ECM by incorporating additional user beliefs would enable us to broaden the scope of user behavior in the post-adoption stage, and at the same time to improve the applicability of the ECM framework in different IT usage contexts.

Another research focus of our study is on the impact of the technological nature of an IT on continued usage behavior. According to Orlikowski and Iacono (2001), there is no single conceptual snapshot of IT that will capture all usage contexts. Thus, the nature of a target IT being studied—characteristics and usage contexts of the IT artefact—should play an important role in explaining user behavior (Benbasat and Zmud, 2003). Mobile Internet Services, the IT examined in our study, is a new breed of IT innovation which is gradually becoming omnipresent in our daily life. Its usage encompasses a broad range of activities—both work-related activities and fun activities. While the usage of typical IT innovations in prior IS research are well defined, simple and of limited function (e.g., word processor (Davis et al., 1989) and email (Gefen and Straub, 1997)), the interaction of mobile Internet services with their users is far more complex and varied to support diversified needs and expectations. Nicholas Negroponte, an IT innovation guru, in his recent keynote speech at a mobile technology forum (Chosun Daily, 2005) stated that the use of mobile services through mobile devices is very complex and inconvenient. By studying a technology with a complex nature—mobile Internet services, we attempt to contribute to the IT adoption literature about the role of technological nature as a boundary condition in explaining users’ continued IT usage decision processes.

In summary, this study has four objectives. First, we attempt to develop an expanded model of IT continuance that is applicable to other types of innovation, such as complex innovations that have consumer appeal rather than work-related. Second, the findings of this study are expected to provide empirical validation for the utility of the expanded ECM and the factors affecting continued IT usage. Third, this study is expected to help us better understand the role of the nature of an IT being investigated in the continued IT usage context. Finally, at a more practical level, this study will provide practitioners with insights into how to address customer satisfaction and continued usage behavior with the IT examined here—mobile Internet services.