The Role of Deficient Self-regulation in Facebook Habit Formation

With the proliferation of new social media technologies (e.g. Facebook), there has been a rising concern over the problem of technology dependency. Recognizing that deficiency in self-regulation is a necessary condition for the dependency to take place, this study aims to examine the role of deficient self-regulation in habit formation in the context of online social networking sites (SNSs). The findings of an empirical study of 406 Facebook users indicate that deficient self-regulation plays a role in augmenting SNS users’ perceptions, which indirectly influences habit. Our theoretical model of habit formation explains 43.7% of the variance. Implications of the findings are discussed.