Understanding the determinants influencing middle-aged and elderly users’ continuous use intention of mobile news apps

Abstract

This study aims to examine the determinants of middle-aged and older users’ continuous use intention toward mobile news apps. Based on the ECM and the UTAUT2, this study developed a theoretical model to explain users’ continuous use intention after adopting mobile news apps, while incorporating two individual characteristic variables closely related to middle-aged and older users: technology anxiety and health condition. A total of 385 valid responses were collected through an online questionnaire, and structural equation modeling was subsequently employed to test the proposed hypotheses. The results indicate that effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, habit, and health condition all have significant positive effects on expectation confirmation. Expectation confirmation further has significant effects on satisfaction and performance expectancy and indirectly influences continuous use intention through both variables, with the indirect effect through satisfaction being stronger than that through performance expectancy. Both satisfaction and performance expectancy have significant positive effects on continuous use intention, but the direct effect of satisfaction is stronger than that of performance expectancy. In contrast, technology anxiety does not have a significant effect on expectation confirmation. The findings indicate that middle-aged and older users’ continued use of mobile news apps depends not only on functional value but also on factors such as physical condition, convenience, social support, entertainment experience, and daily habits. This study provides new evidence for understanding the continued use behavior of mobile news apps among middle-aged and older users and offers practical implications for the age-friendly design and optimization of mobile news apps.