Title: Examining telegram users' motivations, technical characteristics, trust, attitudes, and positive word-of-mouth: evidence from Iran

Authors: Davood Ghorbanzadeh; Hamid Reza Saeednia

Addresses: Faculty of Management and Social Sciences, Islamic Azad University of North Tehran, Shahid Sadoghi St., 1651153311, Tehran, Iran ' Faculty of Management and Social Sciences, Islamic Azad University of North Tehran, Shahid Sadoghi St., 1651153311, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: The objectives of this research are to examine the effects of psychological motivations (entertainment, sociality), technical characteristics (ease of use and convenience), perceived usefulness and trust on telegram user's attitudes and to assess the influence of user's attitudes and their trust on positive word-of-mouth. The research model was tested using data randomly collected from students of Azad University in Tehran City. The numbers of valid observations were 300. Structure equation modelling was used to verify and validate the research model. The results revealed that the psychological motivations entertainment, sociality has a positive and significant impact on telegram user's attitudes. In addition, perceived usefulness and trust has a positive and significant impact on telegram user's attitudes. Convenience as a technical characteristic through perceived usefulness has a positive and significant impact on telegram user's attitudes. Finally, telegram user's attitudes and their trust have a positive and significant impact on positive word of mouth.

Keywords: psychological motivations; technical characteristics; perceived usefulness; trust; attitudes; positive word-of-mouth; PWOM; Iran.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2018.094988

International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 2018 Vol.9 No.4, pp.344 - 365

Received: 24 Feb 2017
Accepted: 03 Jun 2017
Published online: 28 Sep 2018 *

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