Understanding the Balanced Effects of Belief and Feeling on Information Systems Continuance

There are innumerable studies on technology adoption as well as continuance of usage. A review of previous research shows that cognitive factors are considered prominently in information technology adoption and continuance while the affective feelings of users are not. Although attitude and user satisfaction are common factors considered in information systems research, these factors only involve partial aspects of feelings. Researchers in the marketing areas, as well as the psychology area, begin to note the importance of feelings in understanding and predicting human and customer behavior. In many modern applications, such as mobile Internet services, user feelings are expected to be important, since users are not just technology users but also service consumers. Drawing upon the support of consumer research, social psychology, and computer science, this study proposes a balanced belief–feeling model of IS continuance. In the process of developing this model, the concepts of attitude, belief, and feelings are further articulated, defined, and distinguished. The balanced model is tested in a survey of mobile Internet users. The results established the validity of the model. A comparison with the IS continuance model shows that the new model can explain significantly more variance in continuance intention, taking into account that the new model has more factors. We offer theoretical reasoning for the balanced effects of belief and feeling on IS continuance and discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this study.