Irrational Factors Affecting the Purchase of Online Game Items

Abstract

Recently, a number of studies have drawn attention to purchasing online game items. Most of the studies are based on the assumption that consumers behave rationally. Accordingly, TRA- or value-based approaches have been mainly employed to understand the online purchases of game items. However, the purchasing behavior of consumers involves not only making rational decisions, but also making irrational decisions. Hence, their purchase behavior is affected by propensities for conspicuous consumption, impulsive consumption, and habitual consumption. Playing games can be highly addictive, and players often display such addictive behaviors. Our study explored both the rational and irrational factors in purchase behavior to understand how they are associated with purchasing game items. A total of 366 pieces of data were collected from Korean online game users through a survey. Regression analyses of the collected data showed that the behavior of buying game items was influenced not only by the intention to purchase which is a rational factor in consumption, but also by such irrational factors as habit, impulse, and ostentation which should be further emphasized in future studies.