The Impacts of Social Factors on Perceived Usefulness Constructs in Social Networking Service

Taking into account the characteristics of social networking service (SNS) and the roles of its users, SNS platforms can be considered as multi-purposes interpersonal artifacts. Reflecting this property, this study proposes a set of social factors (i.e., perceived responsiveness, perceived critical mass, social presence, and trust in other users) as the key antecedents of perceived usefulness constructs. Following the previous study on uses and gratification theory, the impacts of four social factors on perceived usefulness for utilitarian purpose (i.e., coordination) and perceived usefulness for hedonic purpose (i.e., affection) were examined. With an empirical analysis using 301 samples, it was confirmed that there are difference in the impacts of each social factors onto each usefulness perceptions according to the specific purposes. In addition, the result of multiple regression analysis showed the significant influences of each perceived usefulness constructs on continuance intention. The results of this study can be helpful for the service providers who should identify how to design and/or update the functional features and operation policies of their own services.