A Theoretic Extension and Empirical investigation of conducting Business Online Social Network: The Continuance Intention Phenomenon

Akwesi Assensoh-Kodua

doi:10.22610/jebs.v6i5.500

Abstract

Online Social Network (OSN) is a web 2.0 enabled technology that permits OSN participants to interact with both old and new friends initially. This model of OSN ventured into conducting business activities on platforms, which resulted in many springing up but not surviving, yet the explosion of business activities on these platforms continuous to grow. It is therefore important that OSN practitioners and researchers understand the key determinants of OSN business transaction and continuance intention propellants. The purpose of this paper is to establish the factors that determine OSN participantâ€™s continuance intention to do business on OSN platform. The research framework is grounded in an extended expectation-confirmation model (ECM). An online survey model was used to collect 300 valid responses from OSN participants who have ever conducted business using OSN. A partial least square version 2.0.M3 (PLS) and Warp PLS 4.0 were deployed to perform CFA analyses and structural equation modelling, respectively. The emerging results provide significant evidence in support of the five out of nine factors tested against the hypotheses proposed, namely: Perceived Behavioural Control (0.01), Satisfaction (0.14), Expected Benefit (0.15), Social Norms (0.24), and Habit (0.31), as the main determinants of OSN continuance intention.

Highlights

Online Social Network (OSN) has become a $1.8 billion industry, with 246 social media networks up and running (Engeldinger, 2011)
According to the 2009 Youth net report (Hulme, 2009), 75% of 16 to 24 year olds claimed they could not live without the Internet; 82% of the young people surveyed said they had used the Internet to look for advice and information for themselves, and 60% stated they had looked for information for someone else
The average variances extracted (AVEs) were 0.60 or higher, exceeding the rule-of-thumb of 0.50, indicating that at least 70% of the variances observed in the items were accounted for by their hypothesised variables (Hair et al, 1995)

Summary

Introduction

OSN has become a $1.8 billion industry, with 246 social media networks up and running (Engeldinger, 2011). According to the 2009 Youth net report (Hulme, 2009), 75% of 16 to 24 year olds claimed they could not live without the Internet; 82% of the young people surveyed said they had used the Internet to look for advice and information for themselves, and 60% stated they had looked for information for someone else This kind of scenario is increasingly becoming common, with studies indicating that since early 2009, Internet users were spending more time on social networking services than email (Nielsen Online, 2009). It goes without saying from the above scenario that OSN platforms have become the new avenue for business opportunities, and a good investment in this regard promises to pay off. While the term ‘‘OSN’’ is used to describe this phenomenon of buying and selling on social networks, the term ‘‘social network(ing) sites-(SNSs)’’ appears in public discourse, and the two terms are often used interchangeably

Objectives

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Discussion

Conclusion