How Quality of Life Affects Intention to Use Social Networking Sites: Moderating Role of Self-disclosure

This research investigates how loneliness and life dissatisfaction affect consumers’ acceptance of social networking services and the moderating role of perceived self-disclosure to intervene so that users seek social support online. Drawing from theoretical foundations of quality of life theory, social exchange theory and the technology acceptance model (TAM), the research model utilizes the constructs of psychological well-being and social relationships to test their impact on users’ intentions to use social networking sites. It explicitly incorporates the moderating role of perceived self-disclosure to determine social support seeking, which is set as a key mediator in the model. The results from survey data of 407 consumers show that loneliness and life dissatisfaction are positively related to social support seeking and the relationships are strengthened by perceived self-disclosure, which in turn affects the intention to continually use social networking services. The findings suggest that companies must provide services to increase users’ well-being to influence customers’ use intention toward social networking services. The study advances the technology acceptance literature, explaining users’ new service adoption behavior by adding quality of life and social relationships that motivate people to pursue the social exchange.