Determining influence of service quality on user identification, belongingness, and satisfaction on mobile social media: Insight from emotional attachment perspective

Abstract

WeChat has burgeoned into a predominant mobile communication platform that facilitates instantaneous text and voice-mediated dialogues. Currently, it stands out as a quintessential mobile social media platform in mainland China. The primary objective of this study is to meticulously dissect the ramifications of entire service quality on user assessments of WeChat, encompassing facets such as user satisfaction, identification, belongingness, and perceived benefit, whilst unraveling the correlation between user assessments and their proclivity towards emotional and service attachment. This scholarly endeavor is amongst the scant researches that empirically scrutinize the intricate interplay between entire service quality, user evaluations, emotional attachment specific to WeChat, and overarching service attachment within the mobile social media milieu. The research paradigm was rigorously evaluated through the harnessing of data collected from the Sojump database, which contains 598 valid observational data points. Employing the robust methodology of structural equation modeling, the research model was subsequently corroborated and authenticated. Obtained results validate the path effects, demonstrating that entire service quality exerts a positive influence on WeChat users’ identification, belongingness, satisfaction and benefit. Furthermore, emotional attachment significantly contributes to service attachment. Based on attachment theory, the revelations from this study shed light on the profound mechanisms through which entire service quality in mobile social media can invigorate and solidify user evaluations, fortifying their predisposition towards sustained product and service affiliations.