Exploring askers’ switching from free to paid social Q&A services: A perspective on the push-pull-mooring framework

The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that prompt askers to switch from free to paid social question-and-answer (SQA) services. Prior studies have investigated users’ motivations and participation in free and paid SQA services; however, little attention has been paid to askers’ switching behavior. We empirically analyzed the content of qualitative interviews from 64 askers on a well-known SQA platform in China. Based on the push-pull-mooring framework, we identified and classified factors that influenced askers’ to switch from free to paid Q&A services, using the critical incident technique, after which we calculated the entropy weights of the 16 subcategories before and after the switch, using the entropy weight method. The findings suggest that askers’ switching behavior was influenced by push factors (i.e., dissatisfaction with the free SQA service), pull factors (i.e., satisfaction with the paid SQA service), and mooring factors (i.e., social factors, personal factors, situational factors). Moreover, the findings show that the effects of these factors vary significantly before and after a switch. Dissatisfaction with the quality of information from the free SQA service would influence users before a switch, whereas satisfaction with the quality of information from the paid SQA service would influence them after a switch. In terms of mooring factors, the effects of social and personal factors on askers’ switching behavior, especially subjective norms and cognitive lock-in, turn out to be less significant after a switch, whereas the effect of trust is more significant. Besides, the effects of situational factors are more or less the same before and after a switch. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is one of the first attempts to explore factors that affect askers’ switching behavior and to shed light on the managerial strategies of paid SQA services.