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Purpose An increasing number of restaurants are building mobile instant messaging-based online restaurant communities to enhance connections with customers, but the mechanisms of customers’ behavioral intentions toward these communities remain unclear. To address this gap, this study aims to investigate the factors affecting customers’ acceptance of mobile instant messaging-based online restaurant communities from the perspectives of social support theory and technology acceptance model. Design/methodology/approach Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze data collected from 360 customers. Findings The results indicate that informational support and social presence influence perceived ease of use and usefulness. By contrast, emotional support significantly affects only perceived usefulness. Additionally, perceived ease of use and usefulness can positively predict customer attitudes and foster behavioral intentions. Originality/value This research broadens existing research on online restaurant communities by constructing an integrated model that considers social support-related and technology use-related factors to understand consumers’ participation in a new type of restaurant community, namely, the mobile instant messaging-based online restaurant community. The findings also offer guidance on how restaurants can encourage customers to embrace mobile instant messaging-based online restaurant communities.
Xu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.