Mobile Game Stickiness, Perceived Playfulness, and Interests of Digital Goods Purchase: An Empirical Study on Mobile Gamers in Indonesia

The purchase of virtual goods during game playing has become a key factor in the market of mobile game. Despite the massive sales potential, more studies are needed to assess what turns e-game players to the digital goods purchase. The objective of the study is to analyze the impact of perceived playfulness and mobile game stickiness on the in-game purchase intention. Data was analyzed using Partial Least Squares with smartPLS software. This study is based on a sample of two hundred mobile gamers in Jakarta. Both outer model and inner model evaluation were conducted to ensure the robustness of the proposed model. The findings showed that playfulness stance does have a direct and significant effect on in-game virtual goods purchase. As expected, we also find that staying longer in a game has a significant mediating role on the relationship between playfulness and virtual goods purchase intention. Hence, greater efforts are needed to improve the ability to get and retain game players by promoting the excitements in playing mobile games. Managerial implications are suggested, and future research directions are also identified.