Influence of temperament and character on online gamer loyalty: Perspectives from personality and flow theories

Flow's Core Prerequisites: The Role of Servant Leadership, Mindfulness and Work-Life Balance

Flow is an optimal mental state of being completely involved in one's activities. This correlational study explored an important, but rarely validated performance model in the workplace-flow. Building on the JD-R theory we recognized three key prerequisites of flow-servant leadership, work-life balance, and mindfulness. We analyzed 987 survey responses from two industries (service and manufacturing) in China. The study discovered that servant leadership, mindfulness, and work-life balance correlate with individual flow as key prerequisites. Further we discovered that the relationship between mindfulness and flow is moderated by the industry. Particularly, data from the manufacturing industry showed a positive relationship between mindfulness and flow but a negative relationship among service employees. Implications for performance and applied psychology research, theory, and practice are discussed.

The Impact of the Interactivity of Internet Celebrity Anchors on Consumers' Purchase Intention

The current study focuses on a novel and recently popular internet phenomenon – celebrity livestreaming marketing. As one of the primary advantages of livestreaming marketing by Internet celebrities, we propose that the timely interactivity of Internet celebrities plays an important role in consumers’ purchase intention. Based on stimulus-organism-response theory, this paper further identifies social presence and flow experience as mediators and the consistency of Internet celebrities’ image and product image as a moderator and constructs an influence model of Internet celebrities’ interactivity on consumers’ purchase intention. The responses of a sample of 277 participants were collected by a questionnaire survey. SPSS and Amos were used to analyse the data. The results show that consumers’ social presence and flow experience mediate the positive impact of the interactivity of Internet celebrity anchors on influencing consumers’ purchase intention. However, there is no significant moderating effect of the consistency of Internet celebrities’ image and product image on the relationship between social presence or flow experience and purchase intention. A discussion and implications are offered.

An in-app purchase framework for location-based AR games: the case of Pokémon Go

Purpose

Although location-based augmented reality (AR) games are popular in recent years, the motivation of in-app purchases still needs further investigation. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedents of the intention to make a purchase in location-based AR games.

Design/methodology/approach

This research develops a conceptual model and hypotheses based on the theory of perceived values and satisfaction to investigate the antecedents. An online questionnaire was developed and distributed on popular websites to collect data, and 662 usable responses were collected from the players of Pokémon Go in Taiwan.

Findings

In total, 22 hypotheses were validated by using partial least squares techniques. Among the antecedents of in-app purchases intention in the model, the perceived value and satisfaction were found to have strong direct effects. The antecedents of the perceived value (flow, design aesthetic, social self-expression and good price) have direct influences on the perceived value of all players. Design aesthetic, reward and the perceived value were found to have a direct impact on all players’ satisfaction. Moreover, the differences between paying users and non-paying users were discussed and verified.

Originality/value

The model demonstrated relatively good explanatory power for purchase intention in the context of location-based AR game. The proposed model can provide insights to location-based AR game developers to design their games and marketing strategies.

Identifying Causes for the Decline in International Arrivals to China−Perspective of Sustainable Inbound Tourism Development

Chinese inbound tourism growth peaked in 2012 and in following years, arrivals have exhibited a downward trend. Over the same time Chinese outbound tourism has increased significantly and by 2016 the number of Chinese outbound tourists (52.7 million) was nearly twice that of international arrivals to China (28.1 million) (CTA, 2018). The aim of this paper is to identify the determinants of international tourists visiting China based on destination attributes. For the purposes of this research, Australia was selected as a study site on the grounds that China has been a popular destination for Australian residents. This study examines a range of behavioral factors that may affect intentions to travel to China including: past travel experience to China; perceptions of overseas destination attributes; beliefs in China’s ability to satisfy the needs and constraints that appear to prevent Australian residents from traveling to China; and tourists’ intentions to visit or revisit. Data collected from Australian residents on aspects of travel to China included perceptions, beliefs, constraints, information sources, and past experience. The research shows that past experience was positively associated with intention to visit or revisit. Five constraint factors were identified. Based on these findings, the study discusses practical implications for management and government officials needed to boost Chinese inbound tourism.

How does gender swapping impact online gamer loyalty? The perspective of interdependence theory

Purpose

Gender swapping – when gamers choose avatars of the opposite gender to their own – is a common feature of online gaming behavior, and recent studies have explored the reasons for it. However, no study has yet examined the role gender swapping plays in determining gamers’ continual engagement with communication via online games, i.e., online gamer loyalty. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine this issue and develop hypotheses based on interdependence theory in the online gaming context.

Design/methodology/approach

Responses from a survey of 255 online gamers were used for the analysis.

Findings

Analytical results using structural equation modeling indicate that gender-swapping behavior is negatively related to social intelligence, which in turn is negatively related to network convergence (the extent of sharing a common social circle), thus contributing to relational switching costs and online gamer loyalty.

Originality/value

This study is the first to examine how gender swapping affects online gamer loyalty.