Do I Switch? Understanding Users´ Intention to Switch between Social Network Sites

With the growing popularity of online social network sites (SNSs) and increasing competition among the leading players, users´ switching behavior between different SNSs becomes an issue of great interest to information systems researchers and practitioners, as user retention is the key to the success of SNSs. In this paper, we draw from the push-pull-mooring model and the uses and gratification theory to investigate factors influencing SNS users´ switching behavior. The results of a survey on current Facebook users show that both dissatisfaction with the original SNS and relative attractiveness of the competitive SNS exert strong positive impact on users´ decision to switch to the competitive SNS. Moreover, switching costs not only reduce users´ switching intention directly but also mitigate the impact of dissatisfaction and relative attractiveness on users´ switching intention. This study has important contributions both to research and to practice.