Effects of social networking site overloads on discontinuous intentions of users: a moderated mediation analysis

ABSTRACT

Pervasive social networking sites (SNSs) access has forced people to pay continuous attention to the overwhelming volume of information which ultimately increases their usage. The extensive use of SNSs has contributed to the overuse of technology and that can lead to overload which may produce negative behavioural consequences. This study used cognitive load theory as foundation of the model to examine the effect of overloads and discontinuous intentions incorporating SNS addiction, social media self-efficacy and SNS fatigue. To test the proposed model and hypothesis, a total of 371 Chinese university students participated in the study. Findings reveal that information and communication overload exert a direct impact on SNS addiction, and the relationship between SNS addiction and discontinuous intentions amongst users is negatively significant. The moderated mediation analysis result indicates that social media self-efficacy moderates the mediating effect of SNS addiction between overloads (information and communication) and discontinuous intentions. Moreover, the relationship between SNS addiction and discontinuous intentions is partially mediated by SNS fatigue. Implications emphasise that SNS providers should effectively prevent the negative behavioural response of SNS users by providing training on the effective use of SNSs.

KEYWORDS:

• Discontinuous intention
• information overload
• communication overload
• social networking sites
• social media self-efficacy
• SNS fatigue

Acknowledgements

Authors would like to thank Dr. Muhammad Qaisar for his helpful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC No. 71573241) and CAS-TWAS President’s Fellowship Program.