Mobile applications’ stickiness: a review and future research program

This paper presents a review of existing conceptualisations and operationalisations of mobile app stickiness to identify discrepancies and ambiguities within the marketing literature. It highlights the overlap between mobile app stickiness and two other concepts: mobile app loyalty and mobile app engagement. Subsequently, the paper outlines a future research program and clarifies the most pressing conceptual and empirical work required to advance this body of knowledge. The resulting contribution of the paper is twofold. So far, mobile app stickiness has been theorised and appraised in disparate ways, often used interchangeably with other notions with a level of confusion, hindering knowledge development. At the same time, this review’s practical benefits arise from: i) a concise synthesis of academic work on stickiness, facilitating comparisons with industry practices and the translation of past findings into marketing strategies; and ii) a rationalisation of the research opportunities that lie ahead, fostering potential knowledge exchange between academia and practice.