Determinants of continuous usage intention in web analytics services

Web analytics services (WAS) have emerged as a rapidly growing business sector in the context of inter-firm internet transactions. WAS are also, from the client firm’s perspective, considered a form of IT outsourcing. In this paper, we identify factors that may affect the continuous usage intention of a firm that has utilized WAS, and validate empirically the relationships between the identified factors. Using the responses from 152 firms, the results of our regression analysis demonstrated that the client firm’s continuous usage intention was influenced by both satisfaction with the WAS provider and dependence on the WAS provider. In the research model developed and described herein, only information quality among the several quality factors was significantly associated with client firm satisfaction. Relative value, switching cost, service usage period, and satisfaction were all significantly associated with dependence. Furthermore, switching experience moderated the effects of system quality and empathy on satisfaction. A discussion of the study’s implications and some future research directions are also provided.