Ubiquitous use of mobile social network services

•Investigates what factors influence Chinese mobile users’ intentions to use MSNSs.•The two latent variables in TAM cannot explain the intention to use MSNSs.•Social factors and habitual behaviours influence end-users’ intention to use MSNSs.•Incorporation of other determinants such as critical mass, mobility is needed.•Social influence, habitual behaviour and critical mass impact users’ intentions.

Smartphones are becoming increasingly penetrated among people. Social networking is one of the most popular applications that are being widely used through smartphones. The current research aims to understand Chinese users’ behaviour and identifies factors that impact intentions toward the usage of the social network services via handheld devices. By making use of Structural Equation Modelling technique based on a sample of 297 respondents, the research findings show that, technology acceptance model and its variants can only be used as an instrument to understand users’ adoption behaviour. The research findings reveal that mobility in concert with perceived ease of use, use context, and critical mass in concert with social influence impact users’ behavioural intention and usage significantly. Moreover, habitual behaviour of users plays a particularly important role toward the use of mobile social network services.