Is Sociability or Interactivity more Effective for Enhancing Performance? Findings from a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
Is Sociability or Interactivity more Effective for Enhancing Performance? Findings from a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
复制标题
社交性或互动性对于提高绩效更有效吗？
DOI：
10.1016/j.intmar.2019.06.002
复制
发表时间：
2019
影响因子：
11.8
通讯作者：
Ding Zhihua
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Wang Dianwen;Yang Zhilin;Ding Zhihua
虚拟世界中的营销经理目前面临的基本问题是：如何设计虚拟世界功能来提升消费者在虚拟世界中对虚拟物品的购买和使用？之前的学者已经对这个问题进行了研究，并发表了他们在个人层面上的预测。然而，他们这样做并没有具体解决用户及其活动的内生性或结转效应。为了缓解这种遗漏和潜在的方法论偏差，我们在平台层面探讨了虚拟世界技术特征对两个性能标准的影响。此外，我们区分了两种类型的用户(新用户和回归用户)，并探讨了它们对虚拟世界中虚拟物品购买和使用模式的不同影响。当使用一个虚拟世界的数据并应用向量自回归模型时，结果表明，虚拟世界管理者可以通过促进两种类型的用户活动来提升绩效。然而，这些活动的影响是不同的。具体而言，对于回流用户来说，互动性对消费者购买虚拟商品的影响比社交更显著，而在虚拟世界中的使用则相反。对于新用户来说，互动比社交更有效地促进用户购买虚拟商品，而在虚拟世界中使用则相反。
The essential issue currently challenging marketing managers in the virtual world is: How can a virtual world feature be designed to elevate consumers’purchaseof virtual items andusage inthe virtual world? Previous scholars have investigated the issue and have published their predictions on the individual level. Yet, they have done so without specifically addressing endogeneity or carryover effect among users and their activities. To alleviate this omission and potential methodological bias, we probe the impact of virtual world technological features on two performance criteria at the platform level. In addition, we differentiate two types of users (new vs returning users) and probe their distinct impact on purchase of virtual items and usage patterns in the virtual world. When using data from one virtual world and applying the vector auto regression model, results show that virtual world managers can elevate performance through promotion of both types of users’ activities. The effects of these activities, however, are varied. Specifically, for returning users, interactivity leads to a more significant impact on consumers’ purchase of virtual goods than sociability, while the opposite effect is applicable to usage in the virtual world. For new users, interactivity is more efficient for promotion of users’ purchase of virtual goods than sociability, while the results are the opposite for usage in the virtual world.