Pressing the Play Button: What Drives the Intention to Play Social Mobile Games?

Due to the penetration of the Internet, social mobile games have become one of the most popular entertaining virtual activities and hence, created a new market for online social networking. In this project, the authors examine the factors that drive consumers' intentions to play social mobile games and spread positive word-of-mouth about the games. Expanding the Uses and Gratifications Theory, a research model is developed to test six factors, including perceived entertainment, social interaction, pass time, game popularity, usability, and trust. The research model was tested with 387 responses from online participants using SmartPLS. The results revealed that four factors-perceived entertainment, game popularity, usability and trust-significantly influenced both intentions to play social mobile games and spread positive word-of-mouth. Social interaction was found to influence intention to spread word-of-mouth only. Practical implications and theoretical contributions of the study findings are discussed in the context of social mobile networking.

[1]  R. Engels,et al.  The benefits of playing video games. , 2014, The American psychologist.

[2]  Dong-Hong Zhu,et al.  The Influence of Service Quality on Gamer Loyalty in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games , 2011 .

[3]  Shu-Chuan Chu,et al.  Determinants of consumer engagement in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in social networking sites , 2011 .

[4]  Christian Fernando Libaque Saenz,et al.  Use and gratifications of mobile SNSs: Facebook and KakaoTalk in Korea , 2015, Telematics Informatics.

[5]  Chin-Lung Hsu,et al.  Why do people play on-line games? An extended TAM with social influences and flow experience , 2004, Inf. Manag..

[6]  I-Cheng Chang,et al.  The effects of hedonic/utilitarian expectations and social influence on continuance intention to play online games , 2014, Internet Res..

[7]  S. O'Donohoe,et al.  Why young consumers are not open to mobile marketing communication , 2007 .

[8]  Scott A. Neslin,et al.  The Development and Impact of Consumer Word of Mouth in New Product Diffusion , 2009 .

[9]  De Liu,et al.  The Effects of Trust and Enjoyment on Intention to Play Online Games , 2007 .

[10]  Myeong-Cheol Park,et al.  Why Do People Like to Play Social Network Games with Their Friends? A Focus on Sociability and Playability , 2013, PACIS.

[11]  Susan J. Winter,et al.  Electronic Word-of-Mouth in Online Environments , 2006 .

[12]  A. Rubin,et al.  Predictors of Internet Use , 2000 .

[13]  Juho Hamari,et al.  Why Do People Play Games? A Review of Studies on Adoption and Use , 2015, 2015 48th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[14]  Jin Kyun Lee,et al.  What Drives Consumers to Pass Along Marketer-Generated eWOM in Social Network Games? Social and Game Factors in Play , 2013, J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res..

[15]  D. Straub,et al.  Editor's comments: a critical look at the use of PLS-SEM in MIS quarterly , 2012 .

[16]  Larissa Hjorth,et al.  Playing the waiting game: Complicating notions of (tele)presence and gendered distraction in casual mobile gaming , 2009 .

[17]  K. Gwinner,et al.  WHAT MAKES MAVENS TICK? EXPLORING THE MOTIVES OF MARKET MAVENS INITIATION OF INFORMATION DIFFUSION , 2004 .

[18]  Hsi-Peng Lu,et al.  Why do people play mobile social games? An examination of network externalities and of uses and gratifications , 2014, Internet Res..

[19]  Jing Zhang,et al.  What's Around Me?: Applying the Theory of Consumption Values to Understanding the Use of Location-Based Services (LBS) on Smart Phones , 2012, Int. J. E Bus. Res..

[20]  Chei Sian Lee,et al.  "I played games as there was nothing else to do": Understanding motivations for using mobile content sharing games , 2012, Online Inf. Rev..

[21]  Anita Whiting,et al.  Why people use social media: a uses and gratifications approach , 2013 .

[22]  Michèle Paulin,et al.  Customer sociability and the total service experience , 2010 .

[23]  Veronica Liljander,et al.  Customer engagement in a Facebook brand community , 2012 .

[24]  E. Katz,et al.  On the use of the mass media for important things. , 1973 .

[25]  Mònica García Hernández,et al.  Incremental digital product innovation in social mobile games : A case study of King Digital Entertainment , 2014 .

[26]  Ian Grant,et al.  Young Peoples' Relationships with Online Marketing Practices: An Intrusion Too Far? , 2005 .

[27]  Denis McQuail,et al.  Media Performance: Mass Communication and the Public Interest , 1992 .

[28]  Mira Lee,et al.  Social Network Games Uncovered: Motivations and Their Attitudinal and Behavioral Outcomes , 2012, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[29]  Hsi-Peng Lu,et al.  The role of Internet addiction in online game loyalty: an exploratory study , 2008, Internet Res..

[30]  Ting-Peng Liang,et al.  Effect of use contexts on the continuous use of mobile services: the case of mobile games , 2011, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing.

[31]  Kai-shuan Shen,et al.  Measuring the sociocultural appeal of SNS games in Taiwan , 2013, Internet Res..

[32]  Rudolf R. Sinkovics,et al.  The Use of Partial Least Squares Path Modeling in International Marketing , 2009 .

[33]  R. Ferguson,et al.  Word of mouth and viral marketing: taking the temperature of the hottest trends in marketing , 2008 .

[34]  R. Shachar,et al.  On Brands and Word of Mouth , 2013 .

[35]  D. McQuail.  Mass Communication Theory: An Introduction , 1983 .

[36]  Shintaro Okazaki,et al.  Capturing Global Youth: Mobile Gaming in the U.S., Spain, and the Czech Republic , 2008, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..