Sustainability in Online Video Hosting Services: The Effects of Serendipity and Flow Experience on Prolonged Usage Time

Online video hosting services have been a highly competitive e-commerce application in recent years. The service providers constantly seek viable ways for users to prolong usage time as a model for sustainable business development. In this study, we propose a framework to verify the impact of perceived serendipity on flow experience and prolong usage time. In addition, we verify the factors of online video platforms that affect perceived serendipity, such as enabled connections, introduced unexpected information, and induced curiosity. This study used questionnaires to survey YouTube users and analyzed 405 samples using the Structural Equation Model (SEM) method. The result shows that enabled connections and introduced unexpected information significantly affect perceived serendipity, which significantly impacts on the flow experience. Although induced curiosity does not significantly affect perceived serendipity, it directly affects the flow experience. Moreover, both perceived serendipity and flow experience positively affect intentions to prolong usage time. The results validate that serendipity is another antecedent of flow experience, and support the assumption that increasing the likelihood of perceived serendipity will affect users’ intention to prolong usage time in online video hosting services. The implication of research and discussions provides references for online video hosting service providers in marketing and operations.