Investigating the influences of social overload and task complexity on user engagement decrease

Abstract

Based on cognitive load theory, social overload and task complexity could decrease users’ participation and interaction in social networking sites (SNSs), which might place a psychological burden on them and further influence user engagement. However, study of user engagement decrease in SNSs is lacking. Investigating the mechanism of user engagement decrease is the main purpose of this study, as user engagement is very important for the development of SNSs. Besides, the roles of social network fatigue and perceived risk are also taken into consideration, in order to analyse user engagement decrease more comprehensively. The results show that social overload and task complexity can significantly influence user engagement decrease; perceived risk also has a moderating role in these relationships. This study could help SNS providers to understand social network fatigue and user engagement decrease better, in order to help increase user engagement and create an excellent experience for SNS users.

Keywords:

• social overload
• task complexity
• social network fatigue
• user engagement
• perceived risk

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by National Social Science Foundation of China under project number 16AJY003 and National Social Science Foundation of China under project number 18BGL263.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by National Social Science Foundation of China [grant number 16AJY003] and National Social Science Foundation of China [grant number 18BGL263].