An investigation of the role of dependency in predicting continuance intention to use ubiquitous media systems: Combining a media system perspective with expectation-confirmation theories

The mobile telecommunications landscape has evolved into a highly competitive and complex ecosystem composed of network operators, mobile device manufacturers as well as software, content and service providers. This major shift has strongly impacted the fundamental nature of mobile devices which have now become complex multi-purpose, multi-context ubiquitous media systems. Such change has engendered an urgent need to revisit our understanding of mobile device usage through the lens of theories that encompass the multifaceted nature of ubiquitous systems. Relying on a media perspective, the paper investigates the role of individual media dependency in predicting continuance intention to use ubiquitous media systems. Data collected from 150 smartphone users were used to test the developed conceptual model. The results confirmed the overall effect of ubiquitous media systems dependency on individuals' reasoned continuance usage decision. The findings suggest that the level of dependency towards a ubiquitous media system inflates the perceived positive attributes about the system: perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, as well as the cognitive appraisal about the discrepancies between initial expectations and post-use performance. Theoretical and practical implications developed from these findings are then discussed.