Explaining OTT continuance and positive word-of-mouth: the roles of content perceptions, ease of use, trust, and engagement

Abstract

Over-the-top (OTT) services must retain users and encourage favorable recommendations in an increasingly competitive digital entertainment market. This study examined how content perceptions and perceived ease of use influence brand trust and customer engagement, and how these constructs relate to OTT continuance intention and positive word-of-mouth intention among users in Chile. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Chile between August and September 2024. Data from 282 OTT users were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), complemented by importance-performance map analysis (IPMA). Drawing on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S–O–R) framework, content perceptions and perceived ease of use were conceptualized as service-related stimuli, brand trust and customer engagement as organism-level states, and OTT continuance intention and positive WOM intention as post-adoption responses. Content perceptions positively influenced brand trust and customer engagement, whereas perceived ease of use positively influenced brand trust but not customer engagement. Brand trust and customer engagement positively influenced OTT continuance intention and positive WOM intention, while OTT continuance intention also positively influenced positive WOM intention. IPMA identified customer engagement as the main improvement priority for both OTT continuance intention and positive WOM intention, combining relatively high importance with comparatively low performance. These results indicate that different service-related stimuli activate distinct organism-level mechanisms: content perceptions are associated with both confidence- and involvement-based pathways, whereas perceived ease of use is associated primarily with a trust-based pathway. Content perceptions emerge as the main upstream driver of favorable post-adoption outcomes, while the IPMA findings highlight customer engagement as a particularly actionable managerial priority for strengthening both retention and advocacy. These findings extend the S–O–R framework to OTT post-adoption behavior in Chile by showing that service-related stimuli and organism-level states play different roles in generating retention and advocacy.