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Purpose: During the past few years, social media has faced the challenge of maintaining its user base. Reports show that the social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter experienced a decline in their users. Taking WhatsApp's recent change of its terms of use as the case of this study and using the push-pull-mooring model and a configurational perspective, this study aims to identify pathways for switching intentions. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 624 WhatsApp users recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk and analyzed using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Findings: The findings identify seven configurations for high switching intentions and four configurations for low intentions to switch. Firm reputation and critical mass increase intention to switch, while low firm reputation and absence of attractive alternatives hinder switching. Research limitations/implications: This study extends extant literature on social media migration by identifying configurations that result in high and low switching intention among messaging applications. Practical implications: The study identifies factors the technology service providers should consider to attract new users and retain existing users. Originality/value: This study complements the extant literature on switching intention that explains the phenomenon based on a net-effect approach by offering an alternative view that focuses on the existence of multiple pathways to social media switching. It further advances the authors' understanding of the relevant importance of switching factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on WhatsApp, a mobile messaging service for smartphones that began in 2009. The study uses attachment theory, a social support perspective and one personality characteristic derived from the Big Five theory of personality (“openness to experience”) and attempts to predict how these variables influence the importance of the WhatsApp family group. Design/methodology/approach – Research was conducted in Israel during the first semester of the 2015 academic year and encompassed 191 undergraduate communication students. Researchers used six questionnaires to gather personal details, WhatsApp use, WhatsApp importance, attachment, openness to experience, and social support. Findings – The findings confirm that the personality characteristic of openness to experience and social support significantly predict the importance of WhatsApp family group. Findings present a complex and ambiguous relationship between the attachment variables and the importance of WhatsApp family group. Originality/value – The literature has not yet dealt with the issue of WhatsApp groups. Hence, the current study highlights associations between WhatsApp family group and attachment theory, the personality characteristic of openness to experience, social support, and family frequency use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]