Exploring Virtual Consumption: the Role of Game Addiction, Education, and Income in Online Game Purchase Intention
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The online gaming industry in Indonesia has grown rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the government's policy of staying at home (lockdown), which ultimately encouraged people to play online mobile games, leading to an increase in the number of players and in-game item purchases. This phenomenon has impacts, such as gaming disorder, which increases purchase intentions and can disrupt social and economic balance, especially in Indonesia, where the income level is only 0.5%. This study was conducted in Surabaya, one of Indonesia's major cities, to determine purchase intentions for online mobile games. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of game addiction on purchase intentions in mobile games (PUBG, MLBB, and FF), with education and income serving as moderating variables. This study involved mobile game players aged 17 years or older who had purchased items in online games (PUBG, MLBB, and/or FF) at least once in the past year. The study sample consisted of 273 respondents, distributed online using a Google Form questionnaire. PLS-SEM and SPSS methods were used to analyze the data. This study shows that game addiction influences purchase intentions, while education and income do not moderate these effects. These results indicate that education level and income do not influence the variables of game addiction and purchase intention. The practical implications of this study are also discussed in the results.
Source: Jurnal Manajemen
Institution: Universitas Katolik Widya Mandala Surabaya
Language: English
Topic: Digital Games and Media
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7214980719