A Study of the Effect of Information Quality in Content-Based Virtual Community on University Students’ Continuance Usage Intention: A Case Study of Tik Tok

Abstract

Content-based virtual communities such as TikTok have become core venues for information acquisition and social interaction among college students, yet the mechanisms through which information quality shapes users’ intention to continue using these platforms remain underexplored. Building on the Expectation-Confirmation Theory and the information systems continuance model, this study examined how four facets of information quality—information content quality, representational quality, usefulness quality, and carrier quality—affect college students’ expectation confirmation, user satisfaction, and continuance usage intention toward TikTok.
A quantitative research was administered to TikTok users enrolled in universities. In total, 565 valid responses were collected via online distribution. Information content, representational quality, and usefulness quality significantly and positively influenced both expectation confirmation and user satisfaction; carrier quality significantly enhanced expectation confirmation but did not significantly increase satisfaction. All four facets directly and positively predicted continuance usage intention. Expectation confirmation positively affected both satisfaction and continuance usage intention, and satisfaction further promoted continuance usage intention. Mediation tests showed that expectation confirmation mediated the effects of all four quality facets on continuance usage intention, whereas satisfaction but not carrier quality, mediated the effects of content, representational, and usefulness quality on continuance usage intention.

Keywords: information quality, expectation confirmation, user satisfaction, continuance usage intention