Title: Understanding users' intention to switch mobile instant messaging

Authors: Shuang Cheng; Sang-Joon Lee

Addresses: School of Business Administration, Chonnam National University, 77, Yongbong-ro, Buk-gu, Gwangju, 61186, South Korea ' School of Business Administration, Chonnam National University, 77, Yongbong-ro, Buk-gu, Gwangju, 61186, South Korea

Abstract: In recent years, mobile instant messaging (MIM) has become increasingly popular and has integrated in the daily lives of millions of people worldwide. Previous studies on MIM have primarily focused on its initial adoption and continuance usage, while paying less attention to switching behaviour. This study aims to explore the key factors influencing users' switching intention of MIM in China, using the push-pull-mooring (PPM) framework of the migration theory, and empirically examine the three types of predictors for MIM switching intention: push (fatigue), pull (referent network size, future expectation, complementarity, and transfer trust), and mooring (switching cost) factors. Our results indicated that all of these factors have significant effects on switching intention. The results yield both theoretical and practical implications.

Keywords: mobile instant messaging; MIM; fatigue; network externality; transfer trust; switching cost; switching intention; push-pull-mooring framework.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2020.108288

International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2020 Vol.18 No.4, pp.462 - 483

Received: 29 Jan 2018
Accepted: 14 Jan 2019
Published online: 08 Jul 2020 *

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