When
Talk Title:
“A Network Autocorrelation Model to Predict Repeat Purchases in Multi-Relational Social Networks: Evidence from Online Games”
Abstract:
It is well established in the literature that customer retention is at least as important as customer acquisition, especially in the freemium-based virtual economy, in which individuals are connected by multi-relational social networks, such as the “friendships” and “guilds” (virtual teams) functions in the context of online games. In this study, we seek to examine the interdependent nature of repeat purchases of online game players embedded in multi-relational social networks. We examine two types of social network effects in the “friendship” function: a reinforcement (positive) effect and an attenuation (negative) effect. We also examine the herding effect (behavioral conformity within a virtual team) in the “guild” function. We develop a new hierarchical Bayesian model that supports a response variable for repeat purchases and that follows a Poisson distribution, and we simultaneously include both the two social network effects (reinforcement and attenuation) from the “friendship” function and also the moderating role of the herding effect from the “guild” function. Our study shows that both the reinforcement and attenuation social network effects have a significant effect on repeat purchases; however, the direction of the behavioral correlation of these two social network effects is starkly different. Moreover, we find that herding effect also exists.
The Sociology Brownbag will be held online via Zoom at the link below from 12:00-1:15PM:
Zoom link: https://arizona.zoom.us/j/81872904154
Zoom password: economy