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Purchasing behavior in social virtual worlds: An examination of Habbo Hotel

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  • Mäntymäki, Matti
  • Salo, Jari

Abstract

Spending real money on virtual goods and services has become a popular form of online consumer behavior, particularly among teenagers. This study builds on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to examine the role of motivation, social influence, measured with perceived network size as well as user interface and facilitating conditions in predicting the intention to engage in purchasing in social virtual worlds. The research model is tested with data from 1045 users of Habbo Hotel, world's most popular virtual world for teenagers. The results underscore the role of perceived network size and motivational factors in explaining in-world purchase decisions. The study shows that virtual purchasing behavior is substantially influenced by the factors driving usage behavior. Hence, virtual purchasing can be understood as a means to enhance the user experience. For virtual world operators, reinforcing the sense of presence of user's social network offers a means to promote virtual purchasing.

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  • Mäntymäki, Matti & Salo, Jari, 2013. "Purchasing behavior in social virtual worlds: An examination of Habbo Hotel," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 282-290.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ininma:v:33:y:2013:i:2:p:282-290
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2012.12.002
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    3. Dhir, Amandeep & Kaur, Puneet & Rajala, Risto, 2018. "Why do young people tag photos on social networking sites? Explaining user intentions," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 117-127.
    4. Giang Barrera, Kevin & Shah, Denish, 2023. "Marketing in the Metaverse: Conceptual understanding, framework, and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PA).
    5. Mäntymäki, Matti & Salo, Jari, 2015. "Why do teens spend real money in virtual worlds? A consumption values and developmental psychology perspective on virtual consumption," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 124-134.
    6. Hamari, Juho, 2015. "Why do people buy virtual goods? Attitude toward virtual good purchases versus game enjoyment," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 299-308.
    7. Hamari, Juho & Keronen, Lauri, 2017. "Why do people play games? A meta-analysis," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 125-141.
    8. Pacauskas, Darius & Rajala, Risto & Westerlund, Mika & Mäntymäki, Matti, 2018. "Harnessing user innovation for social media marketing: Case study of a crowdsourced hamburger," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 319-327.
    9. Allam, Hesham & Bliemel, Michael & Spiteri, Louise & Blustein, James & Ali-Hassan, Hossam, 2019. "Applying a multi-dimensional hedonic concept of intrinsic motivation on social tagging tools: A theoretical model and empirical validation," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 211-222.
    10. Hamari, Juho & Hanner, Nicolai & Koivisto, Jonna, 2017. "Service quality explains why people use freemium services but not if they go premium: An empirical study in free-to-play games," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 1449-1459.
    11. Xinyi Lu & Runtong Zhang & Xiaomin Zhu, 2019. "An Empirical Study on Patients’ Acceptance of Physician-Patient Interaction in Online Health Communities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-10, December.

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