Understanding UX Better

Literature review

Stimulus-organism-response model

The stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model was first proposed by Mehrabian and Russell to describe the process of individual behavioral response caused by external environmental stimuli. The framework indicates that when individuals are aware of the existence of stimulus sources, they will form cognitive and emotional reactions, which then lead to approaching or avoiding behavioral responses. Prior studies have applied SOR framework in the field of e-commerce live streaming and health care, and rarely in the field of TMP. This study applies creatively the tenet of the SOR framework to the context of tourists' use of TMPs. A TMP is an operator that combines the internet and tourism resources and provides comprehensive services for tourists, promoting the transfer of user groups to intelligent terminals. It is the "stimulus" factor of the external environment that causes changes in users' consumption behaviors. Drawing upon the user experience theory, we propose user experience is response of an individual that short-term stimulation or long-term experience, thus it essentially related to external environmental stimuli. This study uses the concept of user experience to capture TMP as an external environmental stimulus. In the SOR framework, O (organism) refers to the cognition and emotion of the organism, such as emotional and cognitive state of an individual. TMP attachment in this study refers to the user's perceived cognitive and emotional connectedness with the product or service provided by the platform, thus corresponding to the O element of the SOR framework. R (response) refers to individuals' response to the cognitive and emotional changes. As thus, this study considers the users' continued use intention of TMP representing the R element.

In sum, based on the SOR framework, the research model of the study is established by taking user experience as the stimulus (S), platform attachment as the cognitive and emotional consequences (O), and continued use intention as the response (R).

User experience

User experience is an individual's response to stimulation and a subjective psychological emotion generated by people after short-term stimulation or long-term experience. In the field of interaction design, Forlizzi and Battarbee found that experience originates from the interaction process between individuals and products or services, mainly including the functions of products or services, the psychological feelings and usability of the use process. Nambisan and Watt also proposed that online community experience is the all-round experience obtained by users in the process of online community interaction, and indicated that community experience includes practical experience, hedonic experience, and usable experience.

Some prior researches have adopted user experience theory to explore online consumer behavior. For example, Huang et al. explored the impact of consumer experience on brand community loyalty. They found that information experience and entertainment experience significantly affect brand loyalty through the mediating role of community identity. Pang and Yang found the interactive experience of virtual brand community promotes customer citizenship behavior, which in turn recommends more people to join the community, and improves purchase intention. Kim et al. reported the effect of social experience on social network website loyalty, in which user attachment plays a mediating role. Notably, Lei and Zheng argued that the emotional and altruistic dimensions of tourist experience value are pivotal antecedents to customers' continued use intention. Tourists' continued use intention of TMP depends on the possibility and value perception of the potential consequences of the actual use or service experience (assessment) of tourists. Functional experience, social experience, and altruistic experience are important experience or perception components. Thus, in the context of TMP, this paper adopts a three-dimensional frame of user experience (i.e., functional experience, social experience, and altruistic experience) to fuel the investigation of the formation of users' continued use intention of a TMP.

Attachment theory

Previous research has defined attachment as the result of continuous satisfaction of individual needs, which will form a behavior control system and unique behavior pattern dominated by the emotional connectedness developed between the individual and the object. Thus, attachment can generate motivation and behavior. If the object of attachment continues to meet individual needs, individuals will pay extra time, energy, money, and other resources to the object of attachment to maintain a close relationship with it.

Choi considered that the degree of the users' attachment to information system (IS) products or services has an important impact on the users' intention to engage in community behaviors. Indeed, it will take extra time and energy to participate in the community than to recommend to other users. Therefore, attachment is an important parameter regarding users' continuous participation and retention. This study contends that in the context of TMP, attachment is even more effective than loyalty and satisfaction in explaining users' continued use intentions.

In the field of web site attachment research, retail websites become the object of individual attachment. That is, consumers connect the products or services of retail web sites with their own needs. The concept of platform attachment is derived from the concept of website attachment, and refers to the emotional connection of users developed with the platform. In the context of TMP, if a user becomes attached to the platform, he or she will keep using the products or services provided by the platform for their functional needs. For example, users can rely on a TMP's reservation, transaction, and information search services before and during their travel to facilitate quality and efficiency of their travel.These services are associated with external and self-directed values and the users' functional dependence on the TMP. As such, we define this functional attachment as platform dependence. In addition, TMP users can also communicate with each other and share high-quality tourism information with other users on the platform. This would form emotional connections between users and further enhance the users' recognition of the value of the platform. This social and emotional dimension of platform attachment is usually referred to as platform identity.

Attachment has been considered an important driver of users' continued use intention. When users develop dependency on and identity with an object, they are inclined to maintain and strengthen their relationship with the object. As such, the products or services provided by TMP should ensure that they are attractive enough to retain users. This study thus adopts the attachment theory, as discussed above, to explain continued use intention in the context of TMP.

Continued use intention

In previous studies, the discussion of intention to continue using the IS mainly focused on the general IS field, which mainly means that users continue to use the system after the initial acceptance of new technology. With the development of mobile network technology, the meaning of continued use intention has been explored in more detail in different network environments. It not only refers to the uses' intention to continue obtaining information and purchasing products or services, but also highlights the uses' intention to continue providing information about their needs in community or TMP. In the big data context, users can continuously obtain a large amount of useful recommendation information through tourism platforms, websites, and communities to make tourism or purchase decisions. In the field of e-commerce, continued use intention was defined as the customers' intention to revisit the website or consider purchasing goods or services from the website in the future. For users who are willing to use TMP continuously, they are not only willing to search for tourism information during travel, but also willing to spend time on generating content and sharing knowledge after travel. For example, Krishnamurthy proposed that the community's intention to continue to participate include the users' inclination to spend more time and energy to answer other users' questions, provide suggestions related to functions, and develop user-driven marketing activities.

Some researchers have also explored the influential factors of continued use intention. Hsiao et al. explored the influencing factors of the intention to continue using mobile social applications from the perspective of satisfaction, customer value and habits, and verified that users' satisfaction and habits are important antecedents of their continued use of mobile social applications. Pan et al.  indicated that satisfaction, perceived usefulness, and service quality are the critical driving factors of users' intention to continue using tourism APPs. Choi et al. found that satisfaction, trust, and familiarity significantly affect tourists' intention to continue using the tourism APP. Choi showed that attachment is an important antecedent of users' intention to participate in the community in the context of IS. Meanwhile, some researchers found emotional trust and perceived emotional value also affect consumer loyalty in the context of live e-commerce, which ultimately influence the users' purchase intention. For instance, Castañeda et al. explored users' loyalty to tourism APPs and their continued use behavior from the perspective of usefulness and perceived value.

Research model and hypotheses

Based on the SOR framework, we combine attachment theory and user experience to explore the driving factors of TMP users' continued use intention. Following Bhattacherjee, Chen  and Ye et al. , we propose that consumers in social media have strong autonomy. That is, consumers are active content creators rather than merely passive recipients of information, and TMPs are an important platform for obtaining, disseminating, and exchanging tourism-related information. Therefore, we use two constructs to operationalize users' intention to continuing using (continuously obtain tourism information and continuously provide tourism information). The research model is presented in Figure 1.

User experience and platform attachment

Functional experience refers to the perceived usefulness of using a IS to improve its performance level. It is oriented by target behavior, reflecting that an important purpose of people using the IS to obtain valuable information and help. Existing research has shown that IS products and services can induce self-efficacy of the users and eventually lead to attachment. For instance, Park et al. found that brand performance attributes can create a kind of self-efficacy that enables consumers to effectively complete goals and tasks, and they will develop a strong sense of attachment. Similarly, Zhang et al. discovered the recommendation system such as push popular content based on users' browsing history and preferences of short-form video application can enhance users' attachment to short-form video application. Choi et al. also pointed out that when the travel app provides reliable price information and satisfactory transaction functions, the users will develop a sense of attachment and believe that they can rely on the app when traveling.

Based on the above discussion, we predict that if the products or services of a TMP can timely meet users' travel needs, the users will feel an enhanced self-efficacy by using the TMP, and thereby develop a functional dependence on the TMP. This leads to the following hypothesis:

H1: Functional experience with a TMP positively influences the users' platform dependence.

Social experience refers to the experience that consumers get by communicating with other members in the community. Consumers can interact with community members with similar interests and establish a close relationship with them. This will form emotional attachment between the members. For example, Achen observed that high-quality interactions can establish a solid emotional connection between users, which will enhance their attachment to each other. According to the theory of emotional transfer, emotional attachment developed in interpersonal relationships can be transferred to platform attachment. In view of this, this paper proposes that the interactions between users with similar value claims on TMP can enhance their perceived connectedness with each other, which will translate into their recognition and identity with the platform per se. Based on the above discussion, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H2: Social experience with a TMP positively influences the users' platform identity.

Altruistic experience refers to the users' perception that their information provision or sharing behavior has contributed to other users' convenience and benefits. In this respect, Yun et al.  reported the positive impact of users' perceived altruistic value on community identity in the context of online encyclopedia. In the context of knowledge sharing virtual community, users provide knowledge contribution through the community platform to help others solve problems, and gain a sense of pleasure. This will naturally promote the users' recognition of the platform and develop a sense of identity with it. We believe that the information of the real travel and consumption experience of consumer is published in TMP, which meets his or her altruistic needs and strengthens their self-concept connection with platform enterprises. It is not only the embodiment of self-worth, but also the recognition of the platform value concept. Therefore, we put forward the following hypothesis:

H3: Altruistic experience with a TMP positively influences the users' platform identity.

Platform dependence and platform identity

Platform dependence and platform identity have different psychological properties. The attribute of platform dependence reflects the utilitarian value of the platform and is an external benefit. By contrast, the platform identity attribute reflects the emotional connection between users and recognition of platform values. When users perceive the benefits and values provided by the platform, they will recognize the platform. The maintenance of emotional connection is actually built upon external effective value. Thus, we propose the following hypothesis:

H4: Platform dependence positively influences platform identity.

Platform attachment and continued use intention

Platform attachment refers to the emotional bond developed between the users and the platform. As have discussed earlier, we maintain that platform attachment can be deconstructed into two dimensions, namely platform dependence and platform identity. Platform attachment is an important parameter as to the connection between users and platforms. Functional dependency has been defined as how well a setting and condition support the user's goal achievement, which will in turn influence the user's emotional states and behavior. For example, existing research has observed that users who rely on a TMP will continuously search for tourism services and information through the platform during their travel or at the destination. Chen et al. and Beck et al. found that the technical support provided by social media promotes the users to share knowledge on the platforms. Similarly, Wan et al.  stressed that users' functional dependence on a social media affects their intention of content creation therein.

In the field of online virtual community, some researchers have explored a series of behaviors caused by website attachment or community identity. For example, Jiang and Dong  found that consumers' attachment to retail websites positively affects their browsing and shopping loyalty to the websites. Also, Ren et al. indicated that members' attachment to an online community can improve the members' participation as well as retention of members on the website. In the context of knowledge sharing, Ma and Agarwal indicated that recognition of an online community implies the users' efforts to express and show to others, which thereby promotes their knowledge contribution behavior. Yun et al. also found that community identity promotes the intention of online encyclopedia users to contribute continuously to the free content. Likewise, Yang and Lai found that the sense of community belonging is a critical antecedent of the users' intention to continuously provide information.

Considering that continuously obtaining and providing tourism information is an important behavior to maintain the relationship between users and TMPs, we build upon the existing relevant studies and propose the following hypotheses:

H5: platform dependence positively influence the users' intention to continuously obtain information from the TMP

H6: platform dependence positively influence the users' intention to continuously provide information on the TMP

H7: platform identity positively influence the users' intention to continuously obtain information from the TMP

H8: platform identity positively influence the users' intention to continuously provide information on the TMP