Li Yiwen, Joo Jaewoo
Department of Marketing, College of Business Administration, Kookmin University, Seoul 02707, Republic of Korea.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2023 Feb 27;13(3):205. doi: 10.3390/bs13030205.
In previous research on in-app purchasing, one of the revenue sources for mobile games focuses on users' unilateral relationships, such as their achievement, loyalty, and perception. However, little has been discussed about the commercial impact of the bilateral relationship. We extend discussions by examining an unprecedented issue, that is, the role of the bilateral relationships between users and mobile game companies in increasing in-app purchasing intention. We borrow from the business literature and psychology to hypothesize that when mobile game users co-create value with a mobile game company, their psychological ownership of the mobile game increases, which in turn increases their in-app purchasing intentions. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a carefully designed study by recruiting eighty-six Chinese game users. Half of the participants were exposed to an imaginary mobile game whose interface allowed them to co-create value with the mobile game company and the other half were exposed to an identical mobile game whose interface did not. We recruited participants from the two online platforms in which Chinese mobile game players gather-Weibo and WeChat Moment. Using SPSS 26, we conducted an independent samples test to test the effect of value co-creation and employed Hayes Model 4 to test whether psychological ownership mediated the relationship between value co-creation and in-app purchasing intention. We found that (1) when participants were allowed to co-create value, their in-app purchasing intentions increased, and (2) the relationship between value co-creation and in-app purchasing intention was mediated by psychological ownership. Our findings provide fresh insights for mobile game designers and marketers.
在以往关于应用内购买的研究中，手机游戏的收入来源之一侧重于用户的单边关系，比如他们的成就、忠诚度和认知。然而，关于双边关系的商业影响却鲜有讨论。我们通过研究一个前所未有的问题来拓展相关讨论，即用户与手机游戏公司之间的双边关系在提高应用内购买意愿方面的作用。我们借鉴商业文献和心理学来提出假设，即当手机游戏用户与手机游戏公司共同创造价值时，他们对手机游戏的心理所有权会增加，进而提高他们的应用内购买意愿。为了验证这一假设，我们精心设计了一项研究，招募了86名中国游戏用户。一半参与者接触一款虚拟手机游戏，其界面允许他们与手机游戏公司共同创造价值，另一半参与者接触一款相同的手机游戏，但其界面不具备此功能。我们从中国手机游戏玩家聚集的两个在线平台——微博和微信朋友圈招募参与者。使用SPSS 26，我们进行了独立样本检验以测试价值共创的效果，并采用海耶斯模型4来测试心理所有权是否在价值共创与应用内购买意愿之间起中介作用。我们发现：（1）当参与者被允许共同创造价值时，他们的应用内购买意愿增加；（2）价值共创与应用内购买意愿之间的关系由心理所有权介导。我们的研究结果为手机游戏设计师和营销人员提供了新的见解。
