The goal of this study is to enhance the understanding of factors that affect intention to purchase virtual items in mobile games. The effects of gameplay motivation and item experience are evaluated on intention to purchase. An online survey was conducted in a leading mobile game and we used partial least squares modeling for the empirical analysis. The results shows that play frequency and social interaction are positively associated with intention to purchase, while the level of stage is negatively associated with intention to purchase. Moreover, a player’s experience with a virtual item is positively related to intention to purchase the item. Although the level of stage is negatively associated with purchase intention of a user, free-item experience positively meditates the effect of expertise on intention to purchase the item. This implies that offering free items is an effective way for all users, not just novices but also skillful players. Furthermore, purchased-item experience has the largest effect on intention to purchase among suggested factors. This presents that players who purchased in-app items are more likely to purchase again. Thus, game developers need to consider more carefully about paying users for continuous purchasing. Drawing on the empirical findings, managerial implications and directions for future research are provided.

本研究的目的是加深对影响手机游戏中虚拟物品购买意愿的因素的理解。游戏动机和物品体验对购买意愿的影响被评估。在领先的手机游戏中进行了一项在线调查，我们使用偏最小二乘模型进行实证分析。结果表明，游戏频率和社交互动与购买意愿呈正相关，而阶段水平与购买意愿呈负相关。此外，玩家对虚拟物品的体验与购买该物品的意愿呈正相关。尽管阶段水平与用户的购买意愿呈负相关，但免费物品体验正向思考专业知识对购买意愿的影响。这意味着提供免费物品对于所有用户都是一种有效的方式，不仅是新手，而且是熟练的玩家。此外，在建议因素中，购买物品的体验对购买意愿的影响最大。这表明购买了应用内商品的玩家更有可能再次购买。因此，游戏开发商需要更仔细地考虑付费用户的持续购买。借鉴实证结果，提供了未来研究的管理意义和方向。游戏开发者需要更仔细地考虑付费用户的持续购买。借鉴实证结果，提供了未来研究的管理意义和方向。游戏开发者需要更仔细地考虑付费用户的持续购买。借鉴实证结果，提供了未来研究的管理意义和方向。