Understanding the discontinuance of paid knowledge products: the roles of post-usage attitudes and goal orientations

Purpose – Paid knowledge products have become prevalent on online platforms; however, consumers’ discontinued consumption has plagued paid knowledge platforms, and the factors affecting user discontinuance have not been fully investigated. This study examined how users’ post-usage attitudes toward knowledge products were associated with their discontinuance intention and how the associations were moderated by users’ goal orientations. Design/methodology/approach – In this cross-sectional study, 352 users of paid knowledge products completed online surveys. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to examine the effects of post-usage attitudes and goal orientation on post-purchase discontinuance intention. Findings – The results showed that users’ post-usage attitudes toward self-improvement were negatively associated with discontinuance intention, whereas users’ attitudes toward self-image and conformity to subjective norms were positively associated with discontinuance intention. Simultaneously, learning goal orientation weakened the negative relationship between self-improvement attitudes and discontinuance intention, whereas performance-oriented goal orientation strengthened the positive relationship between self-image attitudes and discontinuance intention. Originality/value – This study advances the literature on paid knowledge consumption by identifying consumer post-usage attitudes driven by their pre-usage expectations, including self-improvement, self-image and conformity with norms. In addition, this study extends the expectation disconfirmation theory (EDT), which postulates a positive relationship between post-usage attitudes and user continuance by highlighting the intrinsic and extrinsic nature of user expectations as a boundary condition. Consistent with EDT, users with positive attitudes toward intrinsically driven self-improvement were less likely to discontinue their use. However, in contrast to EDT, users with positive attitudes about extrinsically driven self-image and conformity to norms are more likely to discontinue use. These findings have important implications for practitioners designing different paid knowledge products and retaining users with distinct expectations.