Investigating the lurking mechanism of SNS users: a comprehensive examination of context-specific cues and role stresses

Purpose Social networking services (SNS) empower users with a robust capability to connect with others and manage their social relationships. However, as the size of users’ social networks increases, coupled with the inherent boundary-spanning technical features of SNS, users are faced with unprecedented role stresses. This, in turn, leads to maladaptive lurking decisions. This study delves into the mechanism of this technology-induced decision-making process among SNS users. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were collected from 491 Chinese WeChat Moment users. The model and hypotheses testing were conducted using SmartPLS 4.0. Findings Our findings indicate that both social network size and boundary spanning have a positive influence on role conflict and role overload. Both role conflict and role overload significantly contribute to SNS fatigue, which further intensifies users’ lurking intention. Furthermore, SNS fatigue fully mediated the relationship between role conflict and lurking intention, and partially mediated the relationship between role overload and lurking intention. Originality/value Our study offers a fresh viewpoint for comprehending lurking behaviors on SNS, furnishing practical insights for platform providers. Additionally, it paves the way for future research into the deeper mechanisms driving SNS lurking behaviors, by providing a novel construct (i.e. boundary spanning) to distinguish and measure the unique social environment of SNS.