Information System Continuance Intention in the Context of Network Effects and Freemium Business Models: A Replication Study of Cloud Services in Germany

This paper reexamines the reasons for continued usage of information systems (IS), methodologically replicating a study by Bhattacherjee (2001) that investigates IS continuance by means of the expectation-confirmation model. For this purpose, the original research model was adapted and examined in a different context: cloud service usage in Germany, focusing on Dropbox. The conditions in a cloud service context differ fundamentally from those in the original study (online banking), since use is free of charge (freemium business models), customers have a wide choice of providers with low switching costs, and positive network effects are presumably in effect. The empirical analysis of 321 responses from a cross-sectional study based on the research model of Bhattacherjee (2001) confirmed his results for a different sample group and in a different context: confirmation was a predictor of perceived usefulness, satisfaction was significantly influenced by confirmation and perceived usefulness, and satisfaction and perceived usefulness predicted continuance intention. Nevertheless, the path coefficients of satisfaction and perceived usefulness on continuance intention were measurably lower in our results than in the original study. The findings imply that although the model is generally confirmed, additional factors are likely to influence the intention to continue IS usage in this specific context.