Abstract
Social networking sites (SNS) have becoming a mass phenomenon, positioning as one of the most popular online means of communication. So, they have appeared as new communication tools between people and organizations. Due to the growing importance of SNS and the many advantages offered to companies, the main objective of this research is to study the adoption and use of SNS by Italian users, on the basis of a technology acceptance model by adding the trust and perceived risk variables, as they are essential when uncertainty is present. Results support the positive relationships and influences between variables from an extended technology acceptance model. Some practical implications are exposed to explain the importance of the adoption of SNS by users for business sector.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Bentler (1995) suggests values >5.00 in Mardia’s Coefficient normalized estimate, which is a clear indicator of a non-normal distribution.
If the PR5 item were eliminated, the ratio between the value of the Chi square and the number of degrees of freedom would be less than 3, but due to the loss of information, we have decided to keep it.
References
Agarwal R, Prasad J (1999) Are individual differences germane to the acceptance of new information technologies? Decis Sci 30(2):361–391
Alsajjan B, Dennis C (2010) Internet banking acceptance model: cross-market examination. J Bus Res 63(9/10):957–963
Anderson E, Gerbing DW (1988) Structural equation modelling in practice: a review and recommended two-step approach. Psychol Bull 103:411–423
Baggozzi RP (1982) A field investigation of causal relations among cognition, affect, intentions and behaviour. J Mark Res 19:562–584
Bagozzi RP, Yi Y (1988) On the evaluation of structural equations models. J Acad Mark Sci 16(1):74–94
Bandura A (1982) Self-Efficacy mechanism in human agency. Am Psychol 37(2):122–147
Bauer RA (1967) Consumer behaviour as risk taking. In: Cox DF (ed) Risk taking and information handling in consumer behaviour. Boston University Press, Boston, pp 23–33
Bentler PM (1995) EQS structural equations program manual. Multivariate Software, In, CA
Bhattacherjee A, Premkumar G (2004) Understanding changes in beliefs and attitude toward information technology usage: a theoretical model and longitudinal test. MIS Q 28(2):229–254
Bouwman H, Carlsson C, Walden P, Molina-Castillo FJ (2009) Reconsidering the actual and future use of mobile services. Inf Syst e-Bus Manag 7:301–317
Boyd DM (2008) Why youth love social network sites: the role of networked publics in teenage social life. In: Buckingham D (ed) Youth, identity, and digital media. The MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 119–142
Boyd DM, Ellison NB (2007) Social network sites: definition, history, and scholarship. J Comput Mediat Commun 13(1):210–230
Burt RS (1980) Cooptive corporate actor networks: a reconsideration of interlocking directorates involving American manufacturing. Adm Sci Q 25(4):557–582
Casaló L, Flavián C, Guinalíu M (2007) The role of participation in virtual brand communities on consumer trust and loyalty: the case of the free software. Online Inf Rev 31(6):775–792
Cassell J, Bickmore T (2000) External manifestations of trustworthiness of the interface. Commun Assoc Inf Syst 43(12):50–59
Castañeda JA, Muñoz F, Luque T (2007) Web acceptance model (WAM): moderating effects of user experience. Inf Manag 44(4):384–396
Chen L, Gillenson M, Sherrel D (2002) Enticing online consumers: an extended technology acceptance perspective. Inf Manag 39(8):705–719
Chung D (2005) Something for nothing: understanding purchasing behaviors in social virtual environments. CyberPsychol Behav 8(6):538–554
ComScore (2011). The comScore 2010 Europe digital year in review. http://www.comscore.com/layout/set/popup/request/Presentations/2011/2010_European_Digital_Year_in_Review_PDF_Request?req=slides&pre=The+2010+Europe+Digital+Year+in+Review. Accesed 15 Dec 2011
Constantinides E, Fountain S (2008) Web 2.0: conceptual foundations and marketing issues. J Direct Data Digi Mark Prac 9(3):231–244
Constantinides E, Lorenzo C, Gómez-Borja MA (2008) Social media: a new frontier for retailers? Eur Retail Res 22:1–27
Cronbach LJ (1971) Test validation. In: Thorndike RL (ed) Educational measurement. American Council on Education, Washington, pp 443–507
Davis FD (1989) Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Q 13(3):319–340
Davis FD (1993) User acceptance of information technology: system characteristics, user perceptions and behavioral impacts. Int J Man Mach Stud 38:475–487
Davis FD, Bagozzi RP, Warshaw PR (1989) User acceptance of computer technology: a comparison of two theoretical models. Manag Sci 35(8):982–1003
Davis FD, Bagozzi RP, Warsaw PR (1992) Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to use computers in the workplace. J Appl Social Psychol 22(14):1111–1132
Donath JS (1998) Identity and deception in the virtual community. In: Kollock P, Smith M (eds) Communities in cyberspace. Routledge, London
Dowling GR, Staelin R (1994) A model of perceived risk and intended risk-handling activity. J Consum Res 21:119–134
Ellison NB, Steinfield C, Lampe C (2007) The benefits of Facebook “friends”: social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. J Comput Mediat Commun 12:1143–1168
Featherman MS, Pavlou PA (2003) Predicting e-services adoption: a perceived risk facets perspective. Int J Hum Comput Stud 59(4):451–474
Fishbein M, Ajzen I (1975) Belief, attitude, intention and behavior: an introduction to theory and research. Addison-Wesley, Reading
Fornell C, Larcker DF (1981) Evaluating structural equations models with unobservable variables and measurement error. J Mark Res 18:39–50
Ganguly B, Dash SB, Cyr D, Head M (2010) The effects of website design on purchase intention in online shopping: the mediating role of trust and the moderating role of culture. Int J Electron Bus 8(4):302–330
Gefen D, Straub DW (1997) Gender differences in the perception and use of E-mail: an extension to the technology acceptance model. MIS Q 21(4):389–400
Gefen D, Straub DW (2000) The relative importance of perceived ease of use in IS adoption: a study of e-commerce adoption. J Assoc Inf Syst 1(8):1–28
Gefen D, Straub DW (2003) Managing user trust in B2C e-services. E-Serv J 2(2):7–24
Gefen D, Karahanna E, Straub DW (2003a) Inexperience and experience with online stores: the importance of TAM and Trust. IEEE Trans Eng Manag 50(3):307–321
Gefen D, Karahanna E, Straub DW (2003b) Trust and TAM in online shopping: an integrated Model. MIS Q 27(1):51–90
González C, Díaz AM, Trespalacios JA (2006) Antecedents of the difference in perceived risk between store brands and national brands. Eur J Mark 40(1/2):61–82
Hair JF, Black WC, Babin BJ, Anderson RE, Tatham RL (2006) Multivariate data analysis. Prentice-Hall, Nueva York
Harridge-March S (2006) Can the building of trust overcome consumer perceived risk online? Mark Intell Plan 24(7):746–761
Hofstede G (1991) Cultures and organizations. Software of the mind, McGraw-Hill
Hogg T (2010) Inferring preference correlations from social networks. Electron Commer Res Appl 9:29–37
Holsapple CW, Sasidharan S (2005) The dynamics of trust in B2C e-commerce: a research model and agenda. Inf Syst E-Bus Manag 3:377–403
Horst M, Kuttschreuter M, Gutelling JM (2006) Perceived usefulness, personal experiences, risk perception and trust as determinants of adoption of e-government services in The Netherlands. Consum Hum Behav 23:1838–1852
Hsu MH, Chiu CM (2003) Internet self-efficacy and electronic service acceptance. Decis Support Syst 38:369–381
Hu L, Bentler PM, Kano Y (1992) Can test statistics in covariance structure analysis be trusted? Psychol Bull 112:351–362
Igbaria M (1993) User acceptance of microcomputer technology. An empirical test. Int J Manag Sci 21(1):73–90
Im I, Kim Y, Han HJ (2008) The effects of perceived risk and technology type on users’ acceptance of technologies. Inf Manag 45:1–9
James LR, Mulaik SA, Brett JM (1982) Causal analysis. Sage, Beverly Hills
Jarvenpaa SL, Tractinsky N (1999) Consumer trust in a Internet store: a cross-cultural validation. J Comput Mediat Commun 5(2):44–71
Jarvenpaa SL, Tractinsky N, Vitale M (2000) Consumer trust in an Internet store. Inf Technol Manag 1(1–2):45–71
Karahanna E, Straub DW (1999) The psychological origins of perceived usefulness and ease of-use. Inf Manage 35(4):237–250
Kim DJ, Ferrin DL, Rao HR (2008) A trust-based consumer decision-making model in electronic commerce: the role of trust, perceived risk, and their antecedents. Decis Support Syst 44(2):544–564
Know O, Wen Y (2010) An empirical study of the factors affecting social network service use. Comput Hum Behav 26(2):254–263
Kolbitsch J, Maurer H (2006) The transformation of the Web: how emerging communities shape the information we consume. J Univ Comput Sci 2(12):187–213
Kujath C (2011) Facebook and MySpace: complement or substitute for face-to-face interaction? CyberPsychol Behav Soc Netw 14:75–78
Lam SY, Chiang J, Parasuraman A (2008) The effects of the dimensions of technology readiness on technology acceptance: an empirical analysis. J Interact Mark 22(4):19–39
Lau T, Lee H (1999) Consumers’ trust in a brand and the link to brand loyalty. J Mark Focus Manag 4:341–370
Lee YC, Kozar KA, Larsen KRT (2003) The technology acceptance model: past, present, and future. Commun Assoc Inf Syst 12(50):752–780
Lin HF (2006) Understanding behavioral intention to participate in virtual communities. CyberPsychol Behav 9(5):540–547
Lin CC, Lu H (2000) Towards an understanding of the behavioral intention to use a web site. Int J Inf Manag 20:197–208
Lin KY, Lu HP (2011) Why people use social networking sites: an empirical study integrating network externalities and motivation theory. Comput Human Behav 27:1152–1161
Lin F, Fofanah SS, Liang D (2011) Assessing citizen adoption of e-government initiatives in Gambia: a validation of the technology acceptance model in information systems success. Gov Inf Q 28(2):271–279
Liu X, Wei KK (2003) An empirical study of product differences in consumers’ e-commerce adoption behaviour. Electron Commer Res Appl 2(3):229–239
Lorenzo C, Constantinides E, Gómez-Borja MA (2009) Effects of web experience on virtual retail purchase preferences. Int Retail Mark Rev 5(1):1–15
Luhmann N (1979) Trust and power. Wiley, London
Luo X (2002) Trust production and privacy concerns on the Internet: a framework based on relationship marketing and social exchange theory. Ind Mark Manag 31(2):111–118
Marsh HW, Balla JR, McDonald RP (1988) Goodness-of-fit indexes in confirmatory factor analysis: the effect of sample size. Psychol Bull 103:391–410
Mayer RC, Davis JH, Schoorman FD (1995) An integrative model of organizational trust. Acad Manag Rev 20(3):709–734
McKnight DH, Choudhury V, Kacmer C (2002) The impact of initial consumer trust on intentions to transact with a web site: a trust building model. J Strateg Inf Syst 11(3):297–323
McKnight DH, Kacmar CJ, Choudhury V (2004) Dispositional trust and distrust distinctions in predicting high- and low-risk Internet expert advice site perceptions. eServ J 3:35–58
Metzger MJ (2004) Privacy, trust, and disclosure: exploring barriers to electronic commerce. J Comput Mediat Commun 9(4). doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2004.tb00292.x
Moon J, Kim Y (2001) Extending the TAM for a World-Wide-Web context. Inf Manag 38(4):217–230
Moore GC, Benbasat I (1991) Development of an instrument to measure the perceptions of adopting an information technology innovation. Inf Syst Res 2(3):192–222
Nunnally JC, Bernstein IH (1994) Psychometric theory. McGraw-Hill, New York
O’Reilly T (2005) What is Web 2.0? http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html. Accesed 8 Jan 2011
Papadopoulou P (2007) Applying virtual reality for trust-building ecommerce environments. Virtual Real 11(2):107–127
Pavlou PA (2002) What drives electronic commerce? A theory of planned behavior perspective. In: Proceedings of the academy of management conference, Denver, pp 1–6
Pavlou PA (2003) Consumer acceptance of electronic commerce: integrating trust and risk with the Technology Acceptance Model. Int J Electron Commer 7(3):69–103
Pavlou PA, Gefen D (2004) Building effective online marketplaces with institution-based trust. Inf Syst Res 15(1):37–59
Pelling EL, White KM (2009) The theory of planned behavior applied to young people’s use of social networking web sites. CyberPsychol Behav 12(6):755–759
Peres R, Muller E, Mahajan V (2010) Innovation diffusion and new product growth models: a critical review and research directions. Int J Res Mark 27:91–106
Pikkarainen T, Pikkarainen K, Karjaluoto H, Pahnila S (2004) Consumer acceptance of online banking: an extension of the technology acceptance model. Internet Res Electron Netw Appl Policy 14(3):224–235
Polancic G, Hericko M, Rozman I (2010) An empirical examination of application frameworks success based on technology acceptance model. J Syst Softw 83(4):574–584
Preacher KJ, Hayes AF (2008) Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behav Res Methods 4(3):879–889
Ramayah T (2006) Interface characteristics, perceived ease of use and intention to use an online library in Malaysia. Inf Dev 22(2):123–133
Riegner C (2007) Word of mouth on the Web: the impact of Web 2.0 on consumer purchase decisions. J Advert Res 47:436–447
Rifon NJ, LaRose R, Choi SM (2005) Your privacy is sealed: effects of web privacy seals on trust and personal disclosures. J Consum Aff 39(2):339–362
Rodríguez N, Liñares S, De la Llana M (2009) The main determinants of Web 2.0 acceptance: the case of Youtube. 8th international marketing trends congress, Paris, France
Roselius T (1971) Consumer rankings of risk reduction methods. J Mark 35(1):55–61
Satorra A, Bentler PM (1988) Scaling corrections for Chi square statistics in covariance structure analysis. American Statistical Association proceedings of the business and economic sections, American Statistical Association. Alexandria, VA, pp 308–313
Schierz PG, Schilke O, Wirtz BW (2010) Understanding consumer acceptance of mobile payment services: an empirical analysis. Electron Commer Res Appl 9:209–216
Shin DH (2008a) Applying the technology acceptance model and flow theory to Cyworld user behaviour. CyberPsychol Behav 11(4):12–20
Shin DH (2008b) Understanding purchasing behaviors in a virtual economy: consumer behavior involving virtual currency in Web 2.0 communities. Interact Comput 20:433–446
Shin DH (2009) Towards an understanding of the consumer acceptance of mobile wallet. Comput Hum Behav 25:1343–1354
Shin DH (2010) The effects of trust, security and privacy in social networking: a security-based approach to understand the pattern of adoption. Interact Comput 22(5):428–438
Shin DH, Kim WY (2008) Applying the technology acceptance model and flow theory to Cyworld user behavior: implication of the Web2.0 user acceptance. CyberPsychol Behav 11(3):378–382
Shrout PE, Bolger N (2002) Mediation in experimental and nonexperimental studies: new procedures and recommendations. Psychol Methods 7(4):422–445
Spaulding TJ (2010) How can virtual communities create value for business. Electron Commer Res Appl 9:38–49
Suh B, Han I (2002) Effect of trust on customer acceptance of Internet banking. Electron Commer Res Appl 1:247–263
Sumak B, Hericko M, Pusnik M, Polancic G (2011) Factors affecting acceptance and use of Moodle: an empirical study based on TAM. Inform 35:91–100
Szajna B (1996) Empirical evaluation of the revised technology acceptance model. Manag Sci 42(1):85–92
Teo T, Luan WS, Sing CC (2008) A cross-cultural examination of the intention to use technology between Singaporean and Malaysian pre-service teachers: an application of the technology acceptance model (TAM). Educ Technol Soc 11(4):265–280
Thompson RC, Hunt JGJ (1996) In the black box of alpha, beta, and gamma change: using a cognitive-processing model to assess attitude structure. Acad Manag Rev 21(3):655–690
Tikkanen H, Hietanen J, Henttonen T, Rokka J (2009) Exploring virtual worlds: success factors in virtual world marketing. Manag Decis 47(8):1357–1381
Venkatesh V (2000) Determinants of perceived ease of use: integrating control, intrinsic motivation, and emotion into the technology acceptance model. Inf Syst Res 11(4):342–365
Venkatesh V, Davis FD (2000) A theoretical extension of the technology acceptance model: four longitudinal field studies. Manag Sci 46(2):186–204
Waters R, Burnett E, Lamm A, Lucas J (2009) Engaging stakeholders through social networking: how nonprofit organizations are using Facebook. Public Relat Rev 35(2):102–106
Wellman B (2001) Physical place and cyberspace: the rise of personalized networking. Int J Urban Reg Res 25(2):227–252
Withers K (2007) Young people and social networking sites: briefing to guide policy responses. Institute of Public Policy Research, London
Wu JC, Wang SC (2005) What drives mobile commerce? An empirical evaluation of the revised technology acceptance model. Inf Manag 42(5):719–729
Yang HD, Yoo Y (2004) It’s all about attitude: revisiting the technology acceptance model. Decis Support Syst 38:19–31
Yang C, Hsu YC, Tan S (2010) Predicting the determinants of users’ intentions for using YouTube to share video: moderating gender effects. CyberPsychol Behav Soc Netw 13(2):141–152
Zhou T (2011) Understanding online community user participation: a social influence perspective. Internet Res 21(1):67–81
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Alarcón-del-Amo, MdC., Lorenzo-Romero, C. & Del Chiappa, G. Adoption of social networking sites by Italian. Inf Syst E-Bus Manage 12, 165–187 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-013-0215-2
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-013-0215-2