Understanding Continuous Use of Virtual Communities : A Comparison of Technical and Social Perspectives

온라인 커뮤니티의 지속적 사용에 대한 이해 : 기술적 관점과 사회적 관점의 비교

The aim of this study is to find the model that best explains members' continued use intention in virtual communities by comparing technical and social perspectives applied in IS context. With the eight major variables identified from prior studies. four alternative models were formulated : 1) A base model from Information Systems (IS) continuance perspective. 2) IS continuance model with technology-acceptance perspective. 3) IS continuance model with social-capital perspective, and 4) IS continuance model with socio-technical combined perspective. The adequacies of these four models with different perspective highlighted were tested using survey data collected from virtual community users in Korea. The findings indicated that the IS continuance model and social-capital perspective is the most efficient model that best explains the members' continued use intention in virtual communities.