The Combinatory Factors Influencing the User’s Willingness to Use Chinese Digital Comic Mobile Applications: A Study Based on the Grounded Theory and the fsQCA Methods

This study investigates the combinatory factors of users’ willingness to use Chinese digital comic mobile applications. Combining grounded theory and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), the research conducts semi-structured interviews with 10 experienced users to identify core dimensions, then analyzes survey data from 331 users to explore causal configurations. Findings reveal five key conditions, which are user experience, content quality, technical architecture, payment models, and platform openness, and that interact in multiple configurations to drive high willingness to use. Social factors are peripheral, and user needs are highly heterogeneous, with distinct configuration for free-focused versus paying users. The study contributes by investigating beyond single-factor models to reveal complex, equifinal configurations that explain user willingness. It offers practical guidance for platform design, which are prioritizing reading experience, content diversity, and flexible monetization, while clarifying how Chinese comic apps differ from social or short-video platforms in user expectations. This approach advances understanding of digital cultural consumption in China’s rapidly evolving mobile entertainment ecosystem.