Internal and External Beliefs as the Determinants of Use Continuance for an Internet Search Engine

The antecedents of IS use continuance is gaining research focus recently. The traditional beliefs based on TRA have been adopted as the main drivers of IS use continuance. They are based on the assumptions that continuance is a simple repetition of initial adoption because those belief constructs are the same with those for TAM. However, continued usage is a matter of continuous decision making in the competitive alternative systems. Furthermore, control factors such as habit, self efficacy, and self identity have been suggested to extend TRA. This study introduced self-identity, self-efficacy and perceived switching cost as a new driver for IS use continuance. 395 samples were collected from the users of a Korean internet search engine portal site. Data analysis using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) shows that while the effect of habit overwhelms the effect of intention on continuance, it is also mediated by self identity and self efficacy. These can be considered as the internal beliefs formed by the internalization of habit. On the contrary, external beliefs such as switching cost and perceived usefulness showed no significant effect on continuance.