Understanding users’ intention to switch mobile instant messaging

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.