Exploring the Relationship between Perceived Ease of Use and Continuance Usage of a Mobile Terminal: Mobility as a Moderator

Aoshuang Li, Yongqiang Sun, Xiaodong Yang and Jinyu Guo
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Aoshuang Li: School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Yongqiang Sun: School of Information Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Xiaodong Yang: School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Jinyu Guo: School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: As the number of mobile terminal users has increased worldwide, research on continuance usage of a mobile terminal (CUMT) has received wide attention to facilitate the sustainability of development of mobile application providers. However, different results of the relationship between perceived ease of use (PEU) and continuance usage toward information technology were found in prior studies, and studies that mainly focus on their linear relationship cannot provide an explanation of the different results. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between PEU and CUMT to examine the intriguing possibility that a curvilinear relationship can be found. This study proposed a model with a moderator of mobility based on the environment–behavior relationship theory and expectation disconfirmation theory. The research model was tested with 311 respondents collected in China through hierarchical regressions method. The results empirically indicate that mobility moderates the relationship between PEU and CUMT and show a linear relationship under high levels of mobility and a U-shaped relationship under low levels of mobility. At a low PEU stage, PEU negatively and significantly influences the behavior of CUMT, while, at a high PEU stage, there is a positive relationship between PEU and CUMT. This paper provides a detailed explanation of this behavior in the mobile Internet context. This paper discusses theoretical contributions and practical implications for the sustainable development of mobile application providers as well as the limitations of the study and future research directions.

Keywords: continuance usage of a mobile terminal; curvilinear relationship; expectation disconfirmation; mobility; perceived ease of use; sustainable development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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