Effects of Social Connection on Dual Attitudes and Continuance Intentions of Using Social Media

Prior studies that specifically investigate the effects of social connections on the continuous adoption of social media applications (SMAs) are scarce. Based on the social contagion theory (SCT) and dual-attitude perspective, this study develops and validates a research model that explains the staged influences of social connection factors (i.e., pre- and post-usage cohesion and structural equivalence) on users’ explicit attitude, intention to use, implicit attitudes and continuance intention regarding the use of the SMAs. Survey data collected from both pre-usage and post-usage stages of 302 SMA users were examined using the technique of partial least squares to validate the research model. The results indicate that pre-usage cohesion and structural equivalence are significant antecedents of SMA users’ explicit attitude and intention to use. Additionally, these factors, along with post-usage cohesion and structural equivalence, significantly influence SMA users’ implicit attitude and continuance intention. In summary, by adopting the SCT and dual-attitude perspective, this study is among the first group of studies that examine whether social connection factors have influences on people’s adoption of SMAs at both pre-usage and post-usage stages. Implications for theory and for practices are discussed subsequently.