The Study of Consumers’ Purchasing Decision to Smartphone Games

• Main Authors: Lee,Meng Lung, 李孟龍
• Other Authors: Sheng-Chieh Wu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/11088465941287471726

碩士 === 美和科技大學 === 企業管理系經營管理碩士班 === 103 === With the developing smartphone industry, the smartphone gaming market has also expanded rapidly. To investigate the intense competition, this study employed the Engel-Kollat-Blackwell (EKB) model, a consumer decision-making model, to examine consumer decision-making processes regarding smartphone game (SG) purchases. First, this study conducted an exploratory investigation by interviewing two experienced smartphone gaming consumers and one senior manager of a smartphone gaming company, thereby performing a preliminary analysis of consumer decisions in purchasing smartphone games as well as problems and future trends in the smartphone gaming industry in Taiwan. Subsequently, an online questionnaire survey was employed as a sampling method for exploring behaviors of consumers, mainly Facebook users, regarding smartphone gaming platforms and purchase behaviors. The survey received 444 valid responses. The following findings, which were derived from the research results, may serve as a reference for the smartphone gaming industry: (1) The main problems encountered by the smartphone gaming industry in Taiwan are competition from China and talent losses. (2) The future trends of the smartphone gaming industry entail small companies merging with medium and large companies and game developers producing massive SGs that feature superb sound and visual effects. (3) On the basis of the EKB model, a consumer decision-making process was proposed regarding SG purchases that comprised the following stages and influencing factors: (a) Consumer need recognition. The factors driving consumers to purchase SGs include that consumers are looking for fun or want to fill their leisure time. (b) Game information searches. When selecting SGs for purchase, consumers may emphasize personal experiences or friends’ recommendations. (c) Evaluation of SGs. Consumer evaluations of SGs typically include game type, visual effects, operational mode, and whether the game is free. (d) Purchase behaviors. The factors affecting consumer purchase behaviors are limited-time free gaming, game price, and user reviews. (e) Postpurchase behaviors. Consumers recommend purchased SGs to other people when they are satisfied with the games; conversely, they express their dissatisfaction by deleting unwanted SGs. (4) According to the survey data, the SG purchase decisions of consumers with distinct backgrounds varied in relation to the discussed stages: (a) Regarding consumer need recognition, some consumers were likely to be affected by the aforementioned factors. These people were male gamers, young people, students, experienced SG consumers, people who spend extended periods playing SGs daily, people who typically play SGs daily, people who download a substantial number of SGs, and people who purchase game-related products while playing SGs. (b) Regarding game information searches, male gamers, people who typically play SGs daily, people who purchase game-related products while playing SGs, and people who averaged high monthly SG consumption typically emphasized game information searches. (c) Purchase behavior was highly regarded by experienced SG consumers. (d) The discussed postpurchase behaviors frequently occurred in experienced SG consumers, people who typically play SGs daily, people who purchase game-related products while playing SGs, and people who averaged high monthly SG consumption.