Is it a tool or a toy? How user's conception of a system's purpose affects their experience and use.

•We study the moderating effects of user’s conception about the utilitarian-hedonistic purpose of a system on use continuance.•The independent variables are users’ perceived enjoyment, usefulness and ease of use.•The dependent variables are users’ continued use, discontinued use and contribution intention.•The study was conducted among users of a mobile gamified crowdsourcing service for traffic information.•The results show that the user’s conception is an influential aspect determining use continuance.