Factors affecting the continuance intention for using social networks; the role of mediators of trust (Case study: Telegram and Soroush messengers)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Economic & Management, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

2 Ph.D. Student of Public Management, Faculty of Management, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran.

Abstract

 
Extended Abstract
Introduction and statement of the problem:
Social networking has attracted a large number of people in Iran in recent years who are willing to share their opinions and feelings. One can say, human life is heavily influenced by modern communication and has penetrated the most personal dimensions of life. Social networks provide an opportunity for Iranian users to share their own interests, thoughts, and activities with others. Virtual social networking is one of the most common and most used social networks in Iran. Such networks are informative, entertaining and sometimes attacking us. Iranian users who have a long history of being pioneering in using social networks are currently the largest users of the telegram messenger. The high number of Iranian Telegram users has created a lot of discussions in the public domain of Iran. The discussions focused on the filtering of this messenger as well as the discussions between Iranian authorities and Telegram owners. In addition, the speed of good messaging and massive propaganda are two factors that have led Soroush's messenger as a prominent Iranian messenger. The present study examines the factors affecting trust in social networks of Telegram and Soroush, taking into account the findings of previous research on security concerns, privacy and perceived risks to social networks.

Theoretical background:
Trusting technology means that users want to be affiliated with their system's performance, users believe that technology has the best features to protect its concerns. Trust is a vital element in the virtual field and can be learned through social interaction. Trust can be considered as a positive predictor of people's interactions and behaviors. Trust structures have a direct impact on users' intentions in social networking services. Therefore, it is suggested that user trust in social networking services may affect the intention to continue using these networks. The degree to which a person believes that using the system is free from mental efforts is called facility of use. The facility of use; the degree of the willingness of the user to use the system in which there is no effort. The facility of use usually refers to the inherent characteristics of information technology. The user's trust in social networking services is influenced by friends, colleagues and family members. Comments, suggestions, and recommendations provided in social communities can affect the trust of users in social networking services. Social influence is defined as the degree to which users believe, important friends, associates, and other related individuals who are called to trust them and use social networking services. Privacy concerns about their profile information depend on their assessment of social networking attempts to protect their privacy. Perceived risk is the perceived person's uncertainty and the inappropriate consequences of pursuing an activity or behavior. The perceived risk significantly affects privacy concerns as well as privacy concerns affecting the willingness to use social networks.

Methodology:
This is an applied and descriptive type of research and we used the survey method to collect the necessary data. The statistical population of this study consists of citizens over the age of 18 in Semnan who use the social networks of Telegram and Soroush. In this research, the available sampling method was used. Accordingly, the questionnaire for telegrams between 285 people and Soroush's questionnaire distributed among 134 people. Finally, 273 telegram questionnaires and 122 Soroush questionnaires were collected and analyzed. The research scales for measuring variables were first extracted from theoretical foundations. Then, according to the experts' opinion, the formal and material validity of the scales was verified and confirmed. Also, to determine the reliability of the scales, Cronbach's alpha was calculated. In order to verify the reliability and validity of the measurement model, SPSS and Smart-PLS software were used.

Results and discussion:
The data analysis in this study was carried out through structural equation modeling. We used a questionnaire to collect the required data. The questionnaire had a total of 26 items and contains the five-level Likert scale. Some of the findings indicate that in terms of gender, men accounted for 65% and 57%, respectively, in the use of telegram and Soroush messages relative to women. In terms of marital status, the marital group is in both groups of users in the majority. In terms of age distribution, the age group of 29-38 years old has the most users in the social networks of Telegraph and Soroush. In terms of education, users with a bachelor's degree have more frequent rates of 37% -38%, among users of telegrams and Soroush correspondents, respectively. Reliability is achieved through Factor Loading, Cronbach's Alpha, AVE and Composite Reliability. Considering that the appropriate value for factor loading is 0.4, Cronbach's alpha is 0.7, Composite reliability is 0.7 and for AVE is 0.5, according to the findings, all of these criteria are about the appropriate variables. Therefore, the appropriateness of the reliability and convergent validity of the present study can be validated. In the tested model, firstly, the significance of the path coefficients and factor loadings at the level of 0.95 was considered. All factor loadings at this level of confidence are significant (the factor loading of all variables in the acceptable range is above 4 tenths). This means that the correlation coefficient of the obvious variables estimates their hidden variables. As a result, the validity of the model structure is acceptable.

Conclusion:
If we associate social networking functions, collaborate and share resources, citizens’ use of online social networking sites in the direction of educational goals leads to the organization of their resources and activities, and they can be economical getting more time in time will do more with less effort. According to the findings of the research, it can be said that the telegram is a safer messenger, due to the media space of the advertising mode formed on the internal messenger on the one hand and the use of powerful telegram encryption on the one hand otherwise, users' information security is maintained at a very high level. On the other hand, the lack of trust in this messenger is due to the lack of reluctance by users to use Soroush. Many people, with the fear or illusion of monitoring their messed up messages in Soroush's messenger, prefer not to use this messenger and do not consider the internal messengers to be a good alternative to telegrams.

Prominent results:
Considering the findings of the research and in order to strengthen the role of internal social networks, it seems appropriate for policymakers and administrators of this field to pay more attention to the following two components; First efforts should be made to improve the technical and internal issues of the internal message or in terms of facility of use such as speed, accuracy, beauty, etc., because according to the results of the present study, facility of use is one of the prominent reasons that users have referred to the intention to continue using social networks. In the second step, it's better to focus public trust on the internal messenger, as the biggest concerns of users in terms of privacy concerns, perceived risk, and distrust are observed, and with no public convincing about these doubts, it would not be possible to expect dramatic changes in users' loyalty to domestic social networks.
Keywords: Social Networks; Trust; Ease of Use; Intention to Go.
 
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