Identifying Factors Influencing Users' Continuous Use of E-Reader Applications

In recent years, electronic reading and the use of e-reader applications have expanded. The purpose of this research is to identify the influencing factors on users' continuous use of e-reader applications. For this purpose, the proposed hybrid model based on the Theory of Expectation-Confirmation, Davis's Technology Acceptance Model, and Perceived Playfulness Theory have been used.

The current research is applied in terms of purpose and survey type. The research population includes students who use e- reader applications (Taqcheh, Fidibo, Ketab Rah, and Ketab Sabz). Among them, 300 active users of the mentioned readers were selected as the statistical sample of the research. The data collection tool is a questionnaire. This questionnaire is taken from a research in English, which was translated into Persian by the authors of this article. Therefore, in order to ensure the clarity of the questions and the correctness of the translation, its validity and ending were re-evaluated by the authors. In order to measure the validity of the questionnaire, the opinions of 5 experts and managers of e-reader programs as well as professors of information science who have scientific publications in the field of technology acceptance were obtained and applied. Next, to measure the reliability, a preliminary study was conducted with the participation of 30 people from the research community and the value of Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated, and the value of 0.908 (9.08%) showed that the measurement tool has a suitable and desirable reliability. The collected data were analyzed using the structural equation modeling method. For data analysis, use SPSS Version 25 and Amos version 22 were used.

The research findings showed that the personalization of e-reader applications has a significant effect on the perceived usefulness of users. Also, the personalization of e-reader applications has an effect on the Perceived Playfulness of users. Among other findings of this research, we can mention the significant effect of usefulness and Playfulness of e-reader applications on user satisfaction. The effect of user satisfaction on the use of e-reader applications was also reported to be significant. According to the mentioned cases, all the hypotheses of this research were confirmed.

Although more than a decade has passed since the emergence and use of electronic readers in the world, the use of this technology in Iran has been growing gradually in recent years. According to the results of this research and considering the competition of manufacturing companies, manufacturers are expected to consider aspects of personalization, playfulness, usefulness, and user satisfaction in designing e-reader applications. In this regard, a detailed study of the users of e-reader applications with an emphasis on age, gender, education and occupation, as well as knowing their reading needs, can help managers to know more about the design of user-friendly applications and make users continue to use them.