Grundy, David

English

Northumbria Research Link

Citation:  Grundy,  David  (2011) The drivers  of re-subscription  in  massively  multiplayer  online  computer  game relationships  : a commitment- trust  approach.  In:  Northumbria  Research Conference, 5-6 May 2011, Northumbria  University,  Newcastle-upon-Tyne.Published by: Northumbria  UniversityURL: This  version  was  downloaded  from  Northumbria  Research  Link:  http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/2217/Northumbria  University  has  developed Northumbria  Research  Link  (NRL)  to  enable users to access the University’s research output.  Copyright  © and moral  rights  for  items on NRL  are retained by the individual  author(s) and/or other  copyright  owners.  Single  copies of full  items can be reproduced, displayed or performed, and given to third  parties  in  any  format  or  medium  for  personal  research or  study,  educational,  or  not-for-profit  purposes without  prior  permission  or  charge,  provided  the  authors,  tit le  and  full  bibliographic  details  are  given,  as  well  as  a  hyperlink  and/or  URL  to  the  original  metadata  page. The content  must  not  be changed in  any way.  Full  items must  not  be sold commercially  in  any format  or medium  without  formal  permission of the copyright  holder.  The full  policy is available online: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/policies.htmlThis document  may differ  from the final,  published version of the research and has been made available online in  accordance with  publisher  policies. To read and/or cite from the  published  version  of the  research,  please visit  the  publisher’s  website  (a subscription  may be required.)AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION INTO THE DRIVERS OF RE-SUBSCRIPTION IN MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ONLINE GAMES: A COMMITMENT TRUST THEORY APPROACHDr David GrundyResearch: Overview• Relationship Marketing PhD which is examining, using Commitment-Trust Theory (Morgan & Hunt, 1994), the customer decision to maintain subscribing to a massively multiplayer online game in a business environment contaminated with grey market activity.  • This PhD is not an examination of initial purchase decision, but of ongoing, post-purchase, customer retention.Three major objectives• Firstly, which of the relationship marketing customer service constructs identified from the literature are important in the re-subscription decision made by customers? • Secondly, are there relevant factors in the context which affect these customer service constructs? • And finally, how do the key constructs interact to influence the re-subscription decision? Computer Games as a Creative Industry: Overview• Worldwide the computer games industry is worth around $30bn a year.• In the UK the computer games industry is around £3bn a year in size (Economist, 2009)• The UK is has the 4th largest games industry in the World (Economist, 2009).• The North-East of the UK has five major games studios alone, with around 280 firms based in the UK. (HM UKT&I, 2009) • Around 1,000 people work in computer games in North East of England. With around 10,000 people working in the computer gaming sector in the UK (Skills Council for Creative Media, 2009) Computer Games as a Creative Industry: MMO’s• Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO’s) computer games estimated at a $9bn worldwide segment of the market.• Persistent online worlds, open ended, benefits regarding copying and piracy, based on controlled servers. • Many different business models including; subscription based, free to play, micro-transactions, one-off fees. • The largest subscription based game is Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft with 12m subscribers paying an average of $10 a month, with 62% of the subscription market (in perspective, the next biggest is Runescape at 7%)Monthly Entertainment Share of Wallet (%) Category All US Homes Video Game Buying Homes Participating in Activities such as dining out, shopping, going to a museum 24.8% 20.4% Regular TV packages (such as basic cable) 17.9% 13% Participating in non-media activities at home, such as hobbies 6.9% 7.7% Attending live events (such as concerts or sporting events) 5.9% 6.3% Seeing movies at a theatre 5.4% 5.9% Cellular phone-related entertainment (all but calling plan) 5.3% 5.3% Video game content (new and used games, downloadable content, rentals and peripherals) 4.9% 9.3% 2009 Average US Monthly Entertainment Expenditures (Nielson, 2010a) Morgan and Hunt (1994a) Original Framework The Nature of the Relational Channel: OverviewThe relational channels in mass market business to customer relationships which have communities or consumptive tribes A Model of Commitment and Trust in the MMO game setting Methods: Overview• Literature Review (Construct Validity, Content Validity)• Two prior studies into area ( Published as Grundy, 2008a; Grundy 2008b) examining gold selling and methodological issues. (Construct Validity, Content Validity)• Based on wide Literature Review and conclusions of Grundy (2008a), web-based Survey chosen. Surveys extensively used in Commitment-trust theory research. Web Based survey used in Li, Browne & Wetherbe (2006) (Instrument Validation)• Pilot Survey (April/May 2009) (Construct Validity, Content Validity)• Web-based Survey; Methodological sampling issues (Representativeness)• Engaged with MMO “Community Leaders” in promoting survey. Survey also made use of social networking sites. (Representativeness)• Main Data Collection Period beginning first three weeks of June 2009 (1st till 19th)• 2,226 started survey; 1,528 completed survey. Statistical Analysis tests of Internal Reliability (Cronbach's α, correlations) and Structural Equation Modelling (using AMOS in SPSS)Comparison of this study’s data collected with other large scale research projectsSurvey Descriptive StatisticsGender Divide 90% Male, 10% FemaleAverage Age 28.35 years oldRespondent Location 30% USA, 20% UK, 4% Canada, 3% Sweden, many countries represented at less than 3%Employment 52% in Full time employment, 22% StudentsCurrent marital status 57% Single/Divorced/Widower, 39% Married/Engaged/Living with a PartnerAverage hours spent 23.77 hours a weekplaying per weekMethod of Payment 50% pay monthly, 7% Bi-Monthly, 18% three monthly, and 13% every 6 monthsRenewal 75% of respondents subscriptions automatically renewed Seventeen Path Modelling with Standardised Regression Estimates Goodness of Fit Test Thresholds and Interpretation Seventeen Path Model Relative Chi Squared ... different researchers have recommended using ratios as low as 2 or as high as 5 to indicate a reasonable fit. (Marsh and Hocevar, 1985, p.567) Relative Chi Squared= 4.636 Comparative Fit Index (CFI) In our experience, models with overall fit indices of less than .9 can usually be improved substantially. These indices, and the general hierarchical comparisons described previously, are best understood by examples. (Bentler and Bonett, CFI= 0.899 Normed fit index (NFI) NFI= 0.875 1980, p.600) Incremental Fit Index (IFI) IFI= 0.900 Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) Practical experience has made us feel that a value of the RMSEA of about .05 or less would indicate a close fit of the model in relation to the degrees of freedom. (Browne and Cudeck, 1993, p.239) RMSEA= 0.04 Goodness-of-Fit Statistics for Seventeen Path Model  Five Path Modelling with Standardised Regression Estimates Goodness of Fit Test Thresholds and Interpretation Seventeen Path Relationship model Five Path Relationship model Relative Chi Squared ... different researchers have recommended using ratios as low as 2 or as high as 5 to indicate a reasonable fit. (Marsh and Hocevar, 1985, p.567) Relative Chi Squared= 4.636 Relative Chi Squared= 4.878 Comparative Fit Index (CFI) In our experience, models with overall fit indices of less than .9 can usually be improved substantially. These indices, and the general hierarchical comparisons described previously, are best understood CFI= 0.899 CFI= 0.918  Normed fit index (NFI) NFI= 0.875 NFI= 0.909 Incremental Fit by examples. (Bentler and Bonett, 1980, p.600) Index (IFI) IFI= 0.900 IFI= 0.918 Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) Practical experience has made us feel that a value of the RMSEA of about .05 or less would indicate a close fit of the model in relation to the degrees of freedom. (Browne and Cudeck, 1993, p.239) RMSEA= 0.04 RMSEA= 0.06 Goodness of Fit Statistics for Five Path Model 

The drivers of re-subscription in massively multiplayer online computer game relationships : a commitment-trust approach

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Northumbria Research Link