Effect of gamification narrative quality on users’ value co-creation behavior in context of B2C sharing economy

• Main Author: WANG, Ziwen
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
• Subjects: gamification narrative quality; value co-creation behavior; sharing economy; flow experience; perceived autonomy; Accounting; Finance and Financial Management
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/396; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/etd_coll/article/1394/viewcontent/GPBA_AY2017_DBA_WANG_Ziwen.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

B2C sharing economy is now a major part of the economic system in China and the essence of it is the value co-creation of the users and platforms. However, the means to effectively stimulate users into value co-creation in B2C sharing economy are not well-understood. While gamification marketing is a low cost means to enhance user participation, empirical research of high granularity is lacking. This dissertation seeks to fill the gap by exploring how gamification narrative quality affects users’ value co-creation behavior in the B2C sharing economy model and the underlying mechanism. Using the bike sharing industry in China as the setting, this dissertation begins with the quality of gamification narratives and explores how gamification marketing may facilitate the continuous user value co-creation in the B2C sharing economy model. First, I build a model of the mechanism through which gamification narrative quality influences users’ value co-creation behavior based on flow theory, the self-determination theory and the self-construal theory. Secondly, I construct gamification narrative quality (GNQ) scale. Finally, I use the questionnaire method to test the model of mechanism. The main research findings are as follows: (1) gamification narrative quality consists of five dimensions: sense of reality, resonation, acceptance, fun, and interaction; (2) the gamification narrative quality has a significant positive effect on users’ value co-creation behavior; (3) the gamification narrative quality has a significant positive effect on the flow experience, which in turn has a significant positive effect on users’ value co-creation behavior; (4) the gamification narrative quality has a significant positive effect on perceived autonomy, which in turn has a significant positive effect on users’ value co-creation behavior; (5) self-construal moderates the relationships between gamification narrative quality and both flow experience and perceived autonomy, such that the positive relationship is weaker for interdependent self-construal than independent self-construal.