An integrative research framework for the online social network service

Drawn upon appreciative inquiry (AI) and actor-network theory (ANT), this study proposes a new qualitative research framework for the study of the online social network (OSN) service. Integrating and applying AI and ANT will inspire OSN participants’ imagination and creation to a greater extent and thus the maximum benefits of OSN can be explored, and as a consequence OSN itself can further be improved in the service business context. This study gives a detailed discussion on the proposed framework in terms of its advantages and disadvantages, the suggestions for overcoming the disadvantages and the future research agenda in the area of OSN.