The influence of perceived belonging on social network site usage

Abstract

Research on Social Network Sites (SNSs) indicates that all three popular Technology Acceptance Model constructs, Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Enjoyment, and Perceived Usefulness, influence their Actual System Use. In contrast, little is known about the specific antecedents of Perceived Enjoyment and Perceived Usefulness in an SNS context. We address this gap by studying whether Perceived Belonging, which we describe as the degree to which a person feels connected to and accepted by other individuals, has an influence on these two constructs. After surveying 415 students and applying a structural equation modeling approach, we confirm that Perceived Belonging positively influences both Perceived Enjoyment and Perceived Usefulness and, hence, also indirectly influences overall SNS usage behavior. Overall, our study suggests that SNS service providers have to strongly focus on providing functionalities that enable users to connect and interact with each other in order to achieve an even greater market penetration and maintain a strong growth trajectory.