What Affects User Adoption of Instant Messaging in China? An Empirical Study

Instant messaging (IM) is a popular Internet application around the world. In China, the competition in the IM market is very intense and there are over ten IM products available. However, many of these products are not well accepted by Internet users and they only have small market shares. These companies are eager to know what factors determine user´s acceptance of IM. In this paper, we examine the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations that affect Chinese users´ acceptance of IM based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and flow theory. Results demonstrate that users´ perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived playfulness and flow experience significantly influence their attitude towards using IM, which in turn impacts their behavioral intention. Users´ intention determines their actual usage behavior. Moreover, perceived playfulness has a significant impact on the flow experience.