How attachment affects users' continued use intention of tourism mobile platform: A user experience perspective

Area of Science:

• Tourism Mobile Platforms (TMPs)
• User Experience
• Attachment Theory

Background:

• Continued customer use is vital for tourism mobile platform (TMP) development.
• Existing research often overlooks the "cognition-affect" framework, focusing solely on cognitive satisfaction.
• This study addresses the gap by incorporating psychological attachment frameworks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and test a model explaining how service experience influences continued use intention of TMPs.
• To investigate the mediating role of platform attachment in the relationship between service experience and continued use intention.
• To align TMP research with the "cognition-affect" framework and attachment theory.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework.
• Integrated attachment theory and user experience theory.
• Conducted empirical analysis with 276 participants.

Main Results:

• Functional and social experiences positively impact platform attachment (dependence and identity).
• Platform attachment significantly enhances the intention for continued information exchange via TMPs.
• Service experience directly influences platform attachment, which mediates continued use intention.

Conclusions:

• Expands research on TMP continued use by adopting an attachment perspective.
• Highlights the importance of functional and social experiences in fostering user attachment.
• Provides theoretical and practical insights for enhancing user engagement with TMPs.