Understanding the moderating effect of tie on the transfer of ease of use and usefulness from print resources to electronic resources

•A transition has been taking place from print collections to hybrid collections.•There are many challenges in the management of library electronic resources.•It is found that the perceived tie positively moderates the transfer of ease of use.•It is found that the perceived tie negatively moderates the transfer of usefulness.•Librarians are recommended to provide push services and interactive services.

Chinese university libraries are transitioning from traditional print collections to hybrid collections, resulting in collections which may be print-only, electronic-only, or contain both formats. This leads to many challenges in the management of electronic library resources. This study explores the moderating effect of tie (perceived similarity) on the transfer of ease of use (amount of effort required to use library resources) and usefulness (the degree to which using library resources would improve performance) from print resources to electronic resources, with the view in mind of facilitating the effective use of online electronic resources in Chinese university libraries. Drawing upon self-perception theory and the technology acceptance model (TAM), a research model is developed and tested using questionnaires and, partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM). The results suggest that the perceived tie by users between print resources and electronic resources positively moderates the transfer of ease of use from print to electronic, while negatively moderating the transfer of usefulness from print to electronic.