User behaviours after critical mobile application incidents : the relationship with situational context

Users occasionally have critical incidents with information systems (IS). A critical IS incident is an IS product or service experience that a user considers to be unusually positive or negative. Critical IS incidents are highly influential in terms of users’ overall perceptions and customer relationships; thus, they are crucial for IS product and service providers. Therefore, it is important to study user behaviors after such incidents. Within IS, the relationships between the situational context and user behaviors after critical incidents have not been addressed at all. Prior studies on general mobile use as a related research area have recognized the influence of the situational context, but they have not covered the relationships between specific situational characteristics and different types of user behaviors. To address this gap, we examine 605 critical mobile incidents that were collected from actual mobile application users. Based on our results, we extend current theoretical knowledge by uncovering and explaining the relationships between specific situational characteristics (interaction state, place, sociality, and application type) and user behaviors (use continuance, word-of-mouth, and complaints). We have found, for example, that users are less likely to engage in negative behaviors after negative incidents that take place outdoors or in vehicles than after indoor incidents. This is because users often consider indoor environments to be familiar and treat them with established expectations and low uncertainty: users are accustomed to the notion that the applications function indoors just like before. Further, we present practical implications for mobile application providers by suggesting to them which positive critical incidents are the most beneficial to promote and which negative critical incidents are the most crucial to avoid.