Title: Understanding consumers' creating behaviour in social media: an application of uses and gratifications and the theory of reasoned action

Authors: Chang-Dae Ham; Joonghwa Lee; Hyung-Seok Lee

Addresses: Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising, College of Media, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 810 South Wright Street, 330 Gregory Hall, Urbana, IL 61801, USA ' School of Journalism, Middle Tennessee State University, P.O. Box 64, 1301 East Main Street, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA ' Division of Advertising and Public Relations, Hanyang University, 55 Hanyangdaehak-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, 426791, Korea

Abstract: Employing the theory of uses and gratifications in conjunction with the theory of reasoned action, this study examines why consumers create social media content and how their motivational beliefs and subjective norms influence attitudes toward, intention to, and behaviour of creating social media content. By combining qualitative and quantitative analyses, the results identified five significant motivations to create social media content, including social-cognition, entertainment, self-expression, social-belonging, and communication. Structural equation modelling revealed that some motivations were positively related to attitudes toward creating behaviour, which in turn affected intentions and real behaviours involved in creating social media content. However, subjective norms did not prove to be directly influential. The implications of these results are discussed.

Keywords: motivation; uses; gratification; creating behaviour; theory of reasoned action; TRA; expectancy-value model; behavioural intention; subjective norm; attitudes; content creation; behavioural intention determinants; social media content; motivational beliefs; social cognition; entertainment; self-expression; social belonging; communication; structural equation modelling; SEM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMA.2014.067652

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 2014 Vol.8 No.4, pp.241 - 263

Received: 19 Jan 2013
Accepted: 15 Jan 2014
Published online: 07 Mar 2015 *

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