The choice of digital newspapers: influence of reader goals and user experience

Abstract

PurposeTo analyze press reader behavior in the digital medium: identify the main goals that lead readers to read the press and analyze their influence on the choice of digital newspapers. Moreover, the research analyses the moderator effect of user experience.Design/methodology/approachFirst, qualitative studies were carried out which allow reader objectives to be identified and the hypotheses to be established. Subsequently a survey was applied to a representative sample of users. The scales were validated and refined, after which the hypotheses were tested by way of a structural equation model and a multi‐sample analysis.FindingsThe goals based on the search for specific information and for updated news have a positive effect on reading newspapers on the Internet. In contrast, there is no significant effect when reading is for entertainment. This last relationship has been found to be moderated by the user experience variable.Research limitations/implicationsThe main aspects which justify digital newspaper reading should be considered in order to increase its use. Similarly, attention is drawn to the probable evolution of reader behavior, which could depend on the level of user's experience with the Internet press.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies that analyses reader behavior on the part of the Internet press readership. In this sense, it provides a significant contribution in that it sets out to identify patterns of behavior on the part of readers of digital newspapers, as well as to study reader goals from a global perspective.