The role of regulatory focus in decision making of mobile app download: A study of Chinese college students

Abstract This paper aims to map out college consumers’ decision making process in mobile application download. Regulatory focus (RF) is examined as an important factor affecting gratifications sought (GS) and information processing (IP), app selection style and the ultimate mobile app download behavior. Results show that RF has effects on hedonic GS, and heuristic IP and systematic IP. Hedonic GS positively predicts equally both heuristic processing and systematic processing. Both heuristic processing and systematic processing predict selection style. Although selection style does not affect download app type diversity, impulsive style consumers are more likely to download the app. The study also shows college consumers in general have high likelihood in downloading an app after they considered it. Hedonic GS mediates the relation between RF and both heuristic processing and systematic processing. Systematic processing mediates hedonic GS and selection style. Hence mobile app download decision involves both heuristic and systematic processing.

[1]  E. Higgins,et al.  Ideal versus ought predilections for approach and avoidance: distinct self-regulatory systems. , 1994, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[2]  Chunmei Gan,et al.  Gratifications for using social media , 2018 .

[3]  E. Higgins,et al.  Emotional responses to goal attainment: strength of regulatory focus as moderator. , 1997, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[4]  George C. Shen,et al.  Users' adoption of mobile applications: Product type and message framing's moderating effect , 2015 .

[5]  Ali Sunyaev,et al.  Availability and quality of mobile health app privacy policies , 2015, J. Am. Medical Informatics Assoc..

[6]  I. Ajzen,et al.  A Comparison of the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Theory of Reasoned Action , 1992 .

[7]  Oliver B. Büttner,et al.  Shopping Orientation and Mindsets: How Motivation Influences Consumer Information Processing During Shopping , 2013 .

[8]  Amy Summerville,et al.  Self-Report Measures of Individual Differences in Regulatory Focus: A Cautionary Note. , 2008, Journal of research in personality.

[9]  R. Brislin.  Back-Translation for Cross-Cultural Research , 1970 .

[10]  E. Higgins.  Beyond pleasure and pain. , 1997, The American psychologist.

[11]  Jaemin Jung,et al.  Measuring usage concentration of smartphone applications: Selective repertoire in a marketplace of choices , 2014 .

[12]  Lindsay J Della,et al.  Looking to the Future of New Media in Health Marketing: Deriving Propositions Based on Traditional Theories , 2008, Health marketing quarterly.

[13]  Sharon Dunwoody,et al.  Studying Heuristic‐Systematic Processing of Risk Communication , 2003, Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis.

[14]  Yong Liu,et al.  Modeling hedonic is continuance through the uses and gratifications theory: An empirical study in online games , 2015, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[15]  P. Nelson.  Information and Consumer Behavior , 1970, Journal of Political Economy.

[16]  Sungwon Chung,et al.  Motivated Processing of Peripheral Advertising Information in Video Games , 2016, Commun. Res..

[17]  Jie Gu,et al.  Privacy concerns for mobile app download: An elaboration likelihood model perspective , 2017, Decis. Support Syst..

[18]  B. Nijstad,et al.  Motivated information processing and group decision refusal , 2012 .

[19]  Joel Brockner,et al.  Regulatory Focus Theory: Implications for the Study of Emotions at Work , 2001 .

[20]  F. Hodis.  Investigating the structure of regulatory focus: A bifactor analysis , 2017 .

[21]  Xin Li,et al.  Effects of the aesthetic design of icons on app downloads: evidence from an android market , 2017, Electron. Commer. Res..

[22]  Silas Formunyuy Verkijika,et al.  Factors influencing the adoption of mobile commerce applications in Cameroon , 2018, Telematics Informatics.

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

[24]  Ibrahim Alnawas,et al.  The effect of benefits generated from interacting with branded mobile apps on consumer satisfaction and purchase intentions , 2016 .

[25]  S. Chaiken,et al.  Motivated Heuristic and Systematic Processing , 1999 .

[26]  P. Krebs,et al.  Health App Use Among US Mobile Phone Owners: A National Survey , 2015, JMIR mHealth and uHealth.

[27]  Louisa Ha,et al.  Like, Share, Recommend: Smartphones as a Self-Broadcast and Self-Promotion Medium of College Students , 2013, Int. J. Technol. Hum. Interact..

[28]  V. Mahajan,et al.  Delight by Design: The Role of Hedonic versus Utilitarian Benefits , 2008 .

[29]  Shelly Chaiken,et al.  The Heuristic-Systematic Model of Social Information Processing , 2002 .

[30]  R. Lance Holbert,et al.  Clarifying and Expanding the Use of Confirmatory Factor Analysis in Journalism and Mass Communication Research , 2015 .

[31]  Zheng Wang,et al.  A dynamic longitudinal examination of social media use, needs, and gratifications among college students , 2012, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[32]  Trisha T. C. Lin,et al.  Towards an understanding of intention to use mobile videos: Impression management, perceived facilitation, and social norms , 2015 .

[33]  Matthew K. O. Lee,et al.  Examining the influence of online reviews on consumers' decision-making: A heuristic-systematic model , 2014, Decis. Support Syst..

[34]  Shelly Chaiken,et al.  The heuristic-systematic model in its broader context. , 1999 .

[35]  Kristopher J Preacher,et al.  SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models , 2004, Behavior research methods, instruments, & computers : a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc.

[36]  Yan Li,et al.  Why do players purchase in mobile social network games? An examination of customer engagement and of uses and gratifications theory , 2017, Program.

[37]  Yuanyuan Zhang,et al.  Investigating the relationship between price, rating, and popularity in the Blackberry World App Store , 2017, Inf. Softw. Technol..

[38]  Stephanie Tom Tong,et al.  Managing uncertainty in mobile dating applications: Goals, concerns of use, and information seeking in Grindr , 2016 .

[39]  E. Higgins,et al.  Achievement orientations from subjective histories of success: Promotion pride versus prevention pride , 2001 .

[40]  William R. Darden,et al.  Work and/or Fun: Measuring Hedonic and Utilitarian Shopping Value , 1994 .

[41]  Kate Magsamen-Conrad,et al.  Life-span differences in the uses and gratifications of tablets: Implications for older adults , 2015, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[42]  Daniel F. Linder,et al.  A simpler approach for mediation analysis for dichotomous mediators in logistic regression , 2017 .

[43]  The mechanisms of regulatory focus , 2017 .

[44]  Rajat Roy,et al.  Regulatory focus and preference reversal between hedonic and utilitarian consumption , 2012 .

[45]  Nicholas David Bowman,et al.  Choosing the right app: An exploratory perspective on heuristic decision processes for smartphone app selection , 2015 .

[46]  Paul M. Haridakis.  Uses and Gratifications , 2012, An Integrated Approach to Communication Theory and Research.

[47]  R. LaRose,et al.  Getting Hooked on News: Uses and Gratifications and the Formation of News Habits Among College Students in an Internet Environment , 2006 .

[48]  I. Ajzen.  Perceived behavioral control, self-efficacy, locus of control, and the theory of planned behavior. , 2002 .