Research implications

MIS can increase continued user engagement. Although previous research showed that MIS increase the intention to engage (e.g., Eisingerich et al., 2019; Leclercq et al., 2018), some researchers question if MIS can actually promote continued engagement, or whether the effect is only short-term (Etkin, 2016; Liu et al., 2017; Wemyss et al., 2019). To test this assumption, we employed a field experiment, including a control group (i.e., information system with no game or social network features) and a treatment group (i.e., identical core system with additional game or social network features), matched with actual app use tracking across an extended time. The findings demonstrate a positive effect of MIS on engagement frequency, which could be confirmed by a further field study including 14 apps across five service domains. Thus, our findings reveal the importance to consider the hedonic aspects of information systems to assess their downstream behavior effects. This justifies marketing research’s increased investigation of systems which initially were purely utilitarian and got enriched with hedonic design principles of games and social networks (e.g., Berger et al., 2018; Eisingerich et al., 2019; Leclercq et al., 2018; Müller-Stewens et al., 2017; Wolf, Jahn, et al., 2020; Wolf, Weiger, et al., 2020).

Adopting a more fine-grained perspective is key to understanding the repercussions of MIS.

While the existing MIS literature mostly focuses on the impact of game and social network features (Koivisto & Hamari, 2019), we follow recent developments in the MIS stream and focus on user

experiences which emerge during MIS use (Huotari & Hamari, 2017; Wolf et al., 2018; Wolf, Weiger, et al., 2020). Adopting this experience-centric perspective comes with several advantages.

First, adopting a framework of holistic user experience dimensions enables to identify the strength and weaknesses of MIS. While some experiences (e.g., self-development) are strong drivers of the positive effect of MIS on engagement, others have only a weak effect (e.g., social connectedness).

Second, the differentiation between the experience dimensions allows to identify undesirable MIS experiences. We reveal that facilitating social comparison might increase engagement frequency but reduce engagement intensity. Thus, MIS are no silver bullets for benefiting users and firms, as our results indicate that they can also harm continued user engagement. Third, by considering the different experience dimensions we can explain how the two opposing psychological processes (i.e., autonomous and controlled regulation) emerge during MIS use. Therefore, it is important to adopt a more fine-grained approach and consider the unique dimensions of MIS-facilitated user experiences when investigating the underlying mechanisms of downstream consequences of MIS.

When examining continued user engagement, differentiating between frequency and intensity is imperative. Even though previous marketing literature suggests that in the context of digital services, behavioral engagement should be assessed in terms of frequency of use (e.g., Rutz et al., 2019), our results indicate that this measure is not sufficient to grasp the full effect of MIS on continued user engagement. While all considered MIS-related experiences affect engagement frequency positively, one impairs engagement intensity. This can be explained by the two triggered regulation styles which affect both engagement forms differently. Therefore, we contribute to the engagement research in revealing that behavioral engagement has different facets which are not aroused by the same forces (e.g., Brodie et al., 2011; Hollebeek et al., 2019; Weiger et al., 2017).

Hence, we suggest that future research on digital services and behavioral engagement should

consider both “how frequently” and “how intensively” a system is used. Only then a comprehensive picture of the influence of information systems on continued user engagement can be obtained.

MIS affect a broad motivational spectrum. Previous research has often viewed the adoption of digital services in a more traditional manner in terms of perceived usefulness and ease of use (Chatterjee et al., 2002; Davis et al., 1989; Gilal et al., 2019). However, this does not allow to examine the increasingly important hedonistic aspect of information systems (Hassan et al., 2019).

It is necessary to draw on theories that take into account both utilitarian and hedonistic aspects and can explain their influence on user behavior in more detail (Gilal et al., 2019). Hence, we adopted the SDT to the context of MIS, which enabled us to explain how different MIS-facilitated user experiences influence continued user engagement.

Moreover, by applying SDT to MIS research in terms of considering the internalization of extrinsic motivation, we are able to shed more light on the inconclusive findings on the motivational effects of MIS (Landers et al., 2019; Mekler et al., 2017; Sailer et al., 2017; Xi &

Hamari, 2019). Evidence from a field experiment and a field study show that MIS affect user engagement through two different regulation styles (e.g., autonomous and controlled regulation).

Thus, we encourage researchers to avoid motivational myopia by focusing on enjoyment (i.e., intrinsic motivation) when examining MIS, and instead to also consider less self-regulated psychological processes. More specifically, in contrast to utilitarian information systems, MIS may foster perceptions of autonomous regulation by providing users with feedback on goal accomplishment but on the downside, MIS can also trigger controlled regulation by fueling status concerns among users.

Further, our findings contribute to SDT research in general. MIS as external stimuli have a positive effect on continued user engagement. This can be explained by strong internalization of MIS’ extrinsic motivation which leads to feelings of autonomous regulation. However, this is not

always the case, as engagement intensity can also be harmed by MIS. Our results are in line with previous MIS research, which showed that quantity (e.g., frequency of use) can be increased by MIS, but quality (e.g., intensity of a usage episode) might be negatively affected (e.g., Mekler et al., 2017; Zimmerling et al., 2019). Our findings suggest that this is caused by MIS triggering feelings of controlled regulation in addition to autonomous regulation. Hence, on one side, our findings confirm previous literature stating that extrinsic motivation or controlled regulation are not as lasting as intrinsic motivation or autonomous regulation (Deci & Ryan, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2000b, 2002). But on the other side, our findings show that this is only true for engagement intensity but not engagement frequency, as feelings of controlled regulation also increase continued user engagement in terms of engagement frequency in the MIS context. Therefore, we suggest that when contrasting extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in terms of their behavioral outcomes, future research should differentiate between the “quantity” and “quality” of the behavior to determine differences in motivational strength, especially in the context of digital services.