An Antecedent Study of Mobile Social Game Addiction vs. Virtual Goods Purchase

Jason Turner, Nan Jiang, Manmeet Kaur, Mohd Adnan, See Goh

OAI: oai:igi-global.com:300285 • DOI: 10.4018/IJTHI.2022010105

This study aims to investigate how cognitive antecedents impact on social game addiction and virtual properties purchase among Generation Y players in Malaysia. Using a quantitative method with 341 Generation Y gamers and analysed via structural equation modeling through a two-step analysis approach, the results demonstrate that social game addiction is influenced by enjoyment, play intensity and self-control. The purchase intention of virtual goods is affected by flexibility and play intensity. However, social game addiction has no impact on a gamer’s intentional purchase of virtual items. A player’s income level interacts with the relationship between flexibility and likelihood of virtual property purchase, which could be insightful for gaming publishers and vendors.