Exploring the Hype: Investigating Technology Acceptance Factors of Pokémon Go

We investigate the technology acceptance factors of the AR smart-phone game Pokémon Go with a PLS-SEM approach based on the UTAUT2 model by Venkatesh et al. [1]. Therefore, we conducted an online study in Germany with 683 users of the game. Many other studies rely on the users' imagination of the application's functionality or laboratory environments. In contrast, we asked a relatively large user base already interacting in the natural environment with the application. Not surprisingly, the strongest predictor of behavioral intention to play Pokémon Go is hedonic motivation, i.e. fun and pleasure due to playing the game. Additionally, we find medium-sized effects of effort expectancy on behavioral intention, and of habit on behavioral intention and use behavior. These results imply that AR applications — besides needing to be easily integrable in the users' daily life — should be designed in an intuitive and easily understandable way. We contribute to the understanding of the phenomenon of Pokémon Go by investigating established acceptance factors that potentially fostered the massive adoption of the game.