Exploring the Gamification Affordances in Online Shopping with the Heterogeneity Examination through REBUS-PLS

Abstract

This study investigates, from the perspective of affordance theory, how the implementation of gamification features and mechanisms in online-shopping platforms enable consumers to enjoy immersive shopping experiences and make subsequent shopping decisions. Importantly, the technique of REBUS-PLS is applied to unveil the nature of heterogeneity in perceived affordances and ensure the robustness of structural-model results. The research model is tested using cross-sectional data. Our results not only confirm the effects of different types of gamification affordances on immersive experience and subsequent behavior but also reveal the existence of different consumer groups within the overall sample with respect to their behavior patterns. Apart from social connectiveness, rewardability, playfulness, and novelty all exert significant effects on the immersive experience. In addition, this study identified three distinct groups, namely, “no novelty” users, “no playfulness” users, and “no connective” users.

Keywords

• gamification
• online shopping
• affordance theory
• heterogeneity