Despite significant global investment in open government data (OGD) initiatives, user engagement often declines after initial adoption. This study aims to address the critical yet underexplored factors influencing the sustained use of OGD among researchers in Qatar, a non-Western context where OGD is still nascent. It fills an important literature gap by empirically validating an integrated theoretical framework to explain user continuance intention, an approach not previously tested in the Middle Eastern region.

A quantitative research method has been applied, and data were collected from 225 researchers based in Qatar. The model was validated through structural equation modeling to investigate the relationships between perceived cost, perceived usefulness, confirmation, system quality, information quality (IQ), trust in government (TOG), trust in OGD portal, satisfaction and continuance intention.

This study highlighted that confirmation, perceived usefulness, perceived cost, IQ and TOG play key roles in influencing the user’s continuance intention. This contradicts the findings that suggest that the OGD portal and system quality influenced continuance intention insignificantly. Satisfaction was found to be a major mediating variable connecting several factors to the continuance intention.

The findings emphasize that system developers and policymakers must implement strategies to enhance long-term user engagement with OGD. To encourage sustained usage, efforts should focus on improving data quality, strengthening TOG and ensuring cost-effectiveness.

This study contributes to the theory of technology continuance by integrating three well-established models into a single framework. It also provides empirical implications for research and practice by determining the factors influencing OGD continuance intention in Qatar.