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Perceived aggressive monetization: why some mobile gamers won’t spend any money on in-app purchases

Author

Listed:
  • Imam Salehudin

    (University of Indonesia)

  • Frank Alpert

    (Independent Scholar)

Abstract

What causes mobile gamers to be unwilling to spend money on in-app purchases (IAP)? This paper answers this question in two studies. The first study develops and validates the new construct of perceived aggressive monetization (PAM). The second study tests the proposed model with a total sample of 527 US and 526 Australian mobile gamers. The result shows a separate decision mechanism between conversion (i.e., to spend money or not) and the spending size (i.e., how much money to spend). PAM increases users' likelihood of spending nothing on IAP, while perceived fairness decreases that likelihood. However, neither influences how much money the users spend once they decide to spend money. The users' Willingness to Spend and the Time-spent playing the game explained both the conversion and the spending size. There is also a significant interaction between willingness to spend and self-control in explaining the size of spending.

Suggested Citation

  • Imam Salehudin & Frank Alpert, 2024. "Perceived aggressive monetization: why some mobile gamers won’t spend any money on in-app purchases," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 1997-2019, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:elcore:v:24:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s10660-022-09603-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10660-022-09603-2
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