Alone or together? Exploring the role of desire for online group gaming in players’ social game addiction
Introduction
Online social games, which are facilitated by social networking sites such as WeChat, Twitter, and Facebook, have rapidly become prevalent digital pastimes for online players [1]. Online social games enable online social interaction among players through competitive, cooperative, and competitive-cooperative activities in social game communities [2]. For example, players can develop interpersonal relationships, exchange virtual gifts or coins, and play as a member of guild with their community friends [3,4]. Given their socialization features, online social games have gained burgeoning popularity. A serious social consequence of such popularity is online social game addiction [5]. Many reports have highlighted the increasing concerns over young players’ obsessive and addictive gaming. For example, Candy Crush, a Facebook-based and social puzzle game, has 93 million active users who play the game at an average of over 10 times per day [1]. Another famous online social game, Honor of Kings, has more than 200 million registered players, with every player spending an average of nearly 6 h per week playing the game [6]. Players’ addictive online gaming is often associated with various detrimental consequences, such as depression, stress, sleep disturbance, and even death [7,8]. As an increasingly prevalent societal challenge, online social game addiction warrants further research in terms of its antecedents and underlying mechanisms.
Technology addiction has received increasing attention in the information systems (IS) research community [[9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16],18,19]. Although previous research has identified a variety of antecedents of user technology addiction, the majority of these antecedents pertain to sociopsychological factors, such as demographics [1], addiction liability [18], perceived enjoyment [12,16], and habit [15,16,19]. The impact of social factors (e.g., socialization and group-referent behavior with other users) on technology addiction has been largely overlooked in the literature. One possible explanation is that most studies examined technology addiction in a context in which the behavior is individual-referent and does not usually involve other users (e.g., using smartphones, surfing the Internet, or watching online videos). A review of prior online game addiction literature also suggests that the concept of socialization is often neglected (see Appendix A). We found that only three online game addiction studies have mentioned the role of socialization in online game addiction [8,20,21]. Despite being an insightful start, prior studies did not examine the antecedents of socialization and their underlying mechanisms shaping online game addiction. There is a lack of systematic and theoretical understanding of the role of socialization in the formation of online game addiction.
Motivated by these issues in the technology addiction research, the primary research objective is to develop a systematic and contextualized understanding of online social game addiction. To achieve this objective, we draw on dual-system theory [22,23] to construct a research model that explains online social game addiction. By doing so, we advance the literature in two ways. First, we focus on socialization, which is particularly relevant in the online social game context. By incorporating socialization in the technology addiction models, we provide a contextualized theoretical explanation of online social game addiction, casting a new light on future investigations of technology addictions to social technologies. Second, we focus on dual-system theory to construct a nomological network explaining online social game addiction. Specifically, we emphasize the role of socialization (i.e., the desire for online group gaming) and examine its antecedents and consequences. This study enhances our theoretical understanding of the psychological mechanisms shaping online social game addiction. We believe that understanding online social game addiction is timely and of practical relevance. The results provide practitioners with insights into intervention and prevention of online social game addiction, which has severe impact to the new generation.
Section snippets
Theoretical background
We first review prior studies on technology addiction and specify key issues tied to behavioral addictions in the context of online social games. We then proceed to introduce the concept of socialization and dual-system theory [22,23], which are the theoretical foundation of this study.
Research model and hypotheses
In this section, we contextualize the relationships between core constructs found in dual-system theory [22,23] to online social game addiction. Specifically, we propose that habit and self-regulation deficiency are positively associated with the online social game addiction. Further, a high level of habit positively moderates the effect of self-regulation deficiency on online social game addiction. Subsequently, we argue that desire for online group gaming enhances players’ habit and
Research methodology
We conducted a longitudinal field survey in China to empirically validate our research model. A longitudinal survey has been proven effective in establishing causality, reducing common method bias, and observing players’ addictive behaviors over time [24,26]. Honor of Kings, a popular multiplayer online social game, was employed as the research context to examine the development of addictive gaming behavior. Details of the research setting, data collection procedures, and measure development
Data analysis and results
We analyzed our research model by using partial least squares (PLS) regression. PLS is more suitable than covariance-based structural equation modeling for our complex research model that handles formative constructs and their interactions [61]. Following the reporting standards of Hair Jr et al. [62], we reported the PLS analysis results for the measurement and structural models.
Discussion and conclusion
This work seeks to understand how desire for online group gaming affects players’ online social game addiction through the reflexive–reflective system. Our empirical results show that strong habit and self-regulation deficiency positively influence online social game addiction. Meanwhile, a strong habit will strengthen the impact of self-regulation deficiency on online social game addiction. Furthermore, desire for online group gaming facilitates habit and self-regulation deficiency, which, in
Acknowledgements
The work described in this study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71671174, No. 71801166) and the Hong Kong Research Grant Council (No. 7004777, 9042584).
Xiang Gong is a PhD candidate in information systems at the joint PhD program between the University of Science and Technology of China and City University of Hong Kong. His research interests include IT addiction, dark side of IT use, and financial IT. His research has been published in international journals and conferences, such as International Journal of Information Management, Computers in Human Behavior, and International Conference on Information Systems.
References (73)
- et al.
Massively multiplayer online game addiction: instrument development and validation
Inf. Manage.
(2015) - et al.
Family and work-related consequences of addiction to organizational pervasive technologies
Inf. Manage.
(2011) - et al.
Weekdays or weekends: exploring the impacts of microblog posting patterns on gratification and addiction
Inf. Manage.
(2017) - et al.
Unveiling the dark side of social networking sites: personal and work-related consequences of social networking site addiction
Inf. Manage.
(2018) - et al.
Cognitive and psychological predictors of the negative outcomes associated with playing MMOGs (massively multiplayer online games)
Comput. Hum. Behav.
(2009) - et al.
A cognitive-behavioral model of problematic online gaming in adolescents aged 12–22years
Comput. Hum. Behav.
(2013) - et al.
A social influence model of consumer participation in network-and small-group-based virtual communities
Int. J. Res. Mark.
(2004) - et al.
Antecedents and purchase consequences of customer participation in small group brand communities
Int. J. Res. Mark.
(2006) - et al.
Intentional social action in virtual communities
J. Interact. Mark.
(2002) - et al.
A theory of social media dependence: evidence from microblog users
Decis. Support Syst.
(2015)
Self-traits and motivations as antecedents of digital media flow and addiction: the Internet, mobile phones, and video games
Comput. Hum. Behav.
The role of regulatory focus in the experience and self-control of desire for temptations
J. Consum. Psychol.
Why do users continue using social networking sites? An exploratory study of members in the United States and Taiwan
Inf. Manage.
Consumer’s decision to shop online: the moderating role of positive informational social influence
Inf. Manage.
Understanding factors affecting users’ social networking site continuance: a gender difference perspective
Inf. Manage.
Positive and negative aspects of online community cultivation: implications for online stores’ relationship management
Inf. Manage.
Social capital and individual motivations on knowledge sharing: participant involvement as a moderator
Inf. Manage.
Exploring the relationship between receiving and offering online social support: a dual social support model
Inf. Manage.
Three ways to resist temptation: the independent contributions of executive attention, inhibitory control, and affect regulation to the impulse control of eating behavior
J. Exp. Soc. Psychol.
Social cognitive theory of self-regulation
Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process.
Excessive dependence on mobile social Apps: a rational addiction perspective
Inf. Syst. Res.
Digital games and beyond: what happens when players compete
MIS Q.
An odyssey into virtual worlds: exploring the impacts of technological and spatial environments on intention to purchase virtual products
MIS Q.
What if your avatar looks like you? Dual-congruity perspectives for avatar use
MIS Q.
Tencent: Gaming App Rations Child Access to Hour Per Day
Technology-mediated Self-Regulation: An Implication for Preventing Online Gaming Addiction
Understanding the Development of Problematic Use of Massively Multiplayer Online Game
Integrating technology addiction and use: an empirical investigation of online auction users
MIS Q.
Children's Internet addiction, family-to-work conflict, and job outcomes: a study of parent-child dyads
MIS Q.
The effect of belongingness on obsessive-compulsive disorder in the use of online social networks
J. Manag. Inf. Syst.
Good habits gone bad: explaining negative consequences associated with the use of mobile phones from a dual-system s perspective: good habits gone bad
Inf. Syst. J.
The benefits and dangers of enjoyment with social networking websites
Eur. J. Inf. Syst.
Online game addiction among adolescents: motivation and prevention factors
Eur. J. Inf. Syst.
A typology of user liability to IT addiction: liability to IT addiction
Inf. Syst. J.
Quitting the use of a habituated hedonic information system: a theoretical model and empirical examination of Facebook users
Eur. J. Inf. Syst.
Impulse and self-control from a dual-system s perspective
Perspect. Psychol. Sci.
Cited by (81)
Health information craving: Conceptualization, scale development and validation
2024, Information Processing and ManagementHow does escapism foster game experience and game use?
2024, Decision Support SystemsA study of a hybrid Fogg-Hook based social media addictive algorithm from the perspective of Kuwait Society
2024, Journal of Engineering Research (Kuwait)External articulation and internal stabilization: Using identification stages to enhance online gamer loyalty
2024, Decision Support SystemsWhy viewers send paid gifts: The role of social influence on massively multiplayer online games live streaming
2023, Information Processing and ManagementUnderstanding donation intention in live streaming: A dedication-constraint approach
2023, Computers in Human Behavior
Xiang Gong is a PhD candidate in information systems at the joint PhD program between the University of Science and Technology of China and City University of Hong Kong. His research interests include IT addiction, dark side of IT use, and financial IT. His research has been published in international journals and conferences, such as International Journal of Information Management, Computers in Human Behavior, and International Conference on Information Systems.
Kem Z.K. Zhang* is associate professor at the Sun Yat-sen University. He received his PhD degree in information systems from the joint PhD program between the University of Science and Technology of China and City University of Hong Kong. His research interests include electronic commerce and consumer behaviors in new social media. He has published papers in international journals, such as Decision Support Systems, Information & Management, Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Information Technology & People, Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, and Computers in Human Behavior. He has served on the editorial board of the Internet Research and as a special issue associate editor for Decision Support Systems.
Christy M. K. Cheung is associate professor in Hong Kong Baptist University. She received her Ph.D. degree from City University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include social media, e-commerce, knowledge management, IT adoption and usage, and societal implications of information technology. She has published more than one hundred refereed articles in international journals, conference proceedings, and research textbooks. Her research articles have been published in MIS Quarterly Journal of Management Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Journal of Information Technology, Information & Management, among others. She has served on the editorial board of the Decision Support Systems, Information & Management, and Internet Research.
Chongyang Chen is assistant professor in Soochow University. She received her PhD degree in information systems at the joint PhD program between the University of Science and Technology of China and City University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include IT usage and addiction. Her research has been published in international journals and conferences, such as International Journal of Information Management, Computers in Human Behavior, and International Conference on Information Systems.
Matthew K.O. Lee is chair professor of Information Systems & E-Commerce at the College of Business, City University of Hong Kong. He is the principal investigator of a number of CERG grants and has published in leading journals in his field, such as MIS Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of International Business Studies, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Decision Support Systems, Information & Management, among others. He has served on the editorial board of the Information Systems Journal and served as a special issue Associate Editor for MIS Quarterly.