Predicting users' continuance intention in virtual communities: The dual intention-formation processes

With the rapid growth of virtual communities (VCs), more and more people access, create, and exchange information online with millions of others worldwide. Given voluntary participation and diversity of user behavior in VCs, this research attempts to explore the determinants of future participation that is critical to the survival of VCs. We investigate two intention-formation processes (non-conscious and conscious) through which previous experiences with a VC guide future behavior (continuance intention). Since those two processes may substitute each other, we also investigate the joint effect between them.To reflect the special features of VCs, we differentiate between two types of continuance intention – to consume and to provide information. Furthermore, for the non-conscious process, we compare two common measures of previous system usage, tenure and extent of usage. This is one of few IS studies that examines past behavior from multiple perspectives and explores its role in a non-traditional IS context. We also investigate four types of perceived benefits while examining the conscious decision making process.For the non-conscious process, we find that tenure and extent of usage play different roles in motivating users' continuance intentions. Tenure is shown to have a direct effect on continuance intention to consume information. Meanwhile, extent of usage is shown to have a direct effect on continuance intention to provide information. For the conscious decision making process, we find that perceived information and altruistic benefits encourage both continued consumption and provision behaviors. However, perceived social benefits do not play a significant role in the continuance intention to provide and perceived visibility benefits have no impact on continuance intention to consume. Based on the results, it is very important to differentiate consumption intention from provision intention, since they are affected by previous usage and perceived benefits differently. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed.