The role of software updates in information systems continuance — An experimental study from a user perspective

• We investigate the effect of software updates on users' continuance intentions.
• We find a positive effect of feature updates on users' continuance intentions.
• Update frequency and update type are crucial moderators to this effect.
• This effect operates through positive disconfirmation of expectations.

Although software updates are a ubiquitous phenomenon in professional and private IT usage, they have to date received little attention in the IS post-adoption literature. Drawing on expectation–confirmation theory and the IS continuance literature, we investigate whether, when and how software updates affect users' continuance intentions (CI). Based on a controlled laboratory experiment, we find a positive effect of feature updates on users' CI. According to this effect, software vendors can increase their users' CI by delivering features through updates after a software has been released and is already used by customers. We also find that users prefer frequent feature updates over less frequent update packages that bundle several features in one update. However, the positive effect from updates occurs only with functional feature updates and not with technical non-feature updates, disclosing update frequency and update type as crucial moderators to this effect. Furthermore, we unveil that this beneficial effect of feature updates operates through positive disconfirmation of expectations, resulting in increased perceived usefulness and satisfaction. Implications for research and practice as well as directions for future research are discussed.