Abstract
Several theories stress the importance of interpersonal influence on an individual's adoption of a product or service. However, there has been little research that empirically examined how online friends influence an individual's online product choices. This study examines the effect of a game player's online friends who adopted a game earlier than the player on the likelihood that the player adopts the game. Two main factors considered in this study are: (1) the number of online friends who adopted a game earlier and (2) the strength of ties between the player and the player's online friends who adopted the game earlier. Using a hazard model with data on 1,668 game players' gaming activities and relational connections, we find (1) the likelihood that a player adopts a particular game increases the more her online friends adopted the game earlier, and (2) the influence of the prior adopter friends on the likelihood that a player adopts the game varies with the strength of ties between the player and her prior adopter friends. But the p-values of the coefficients for the corresponding independent variables are larger than the conventional cutoff point, 0.05. Possible causes for this statistical insignificance are discussed in the text.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 129-136 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Computers in Human Behavior |
Volume | 45 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2015 Apr |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Psychology(all)