What Makes Consumers’ Intention to Purchase Paid Stickers in Personal Messenger? The Role of Personality and Motivational Factors

Abstract

Many messengers and social networking services (SNSs) use emojis and stickers as a means of communication. Stickers express individual emotions well, allowing long texts to be replaced with small pictures. As the use of stickers increased, stickers were commercialized on a few platforms and showed remarkable growth as people bought and used stickers with their favorite characters, products, or entertainers online. Depending on their personality, individuals have different motivations for using stickers that determine the usefulness and enjoyment of stickers, affecting their purchase decisions. In the present study, participants (n = 302) who were randomly recruited from a university completed an online questionnaire assessing the Big Five personality characteristics, motivations for using stickers, and the technology acceptance model (TAM). Results using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) revealed that each personality trait affected different motivations for using stickers. Moreover, motivations for using stickers also influenced different technology acceptance variables. Finally, perceived usefulness, enjoyment, and ease of use had a positive effect on the intention to purchase stickers. This study has implications in that it is an exploratory approach to the intention to purchase stickers, which has been investigated by few prior studies, and it sheds light on the relationship between personality, motivation, and TAM in purchasing stickers. It also suggests that personality and motivation factors can be considered in personalized recommendation services.

The role of personality traits and engagement factors towards the use of paid stickers in personal communication messages

“…The study variables were developed from a critical literature review and applicable theoretical frameworks. 56 The personal traits used in the study were obtained from the big five personality traits, which include neuroticism, [45][46] extraversion, [38][39] openness to experience, [40][41][42][43][44][45] agreeableness, [40][41] and conscientiousness. [42][43][44][45] The engagement factors were represented by personal engagement and interactive engagement.…”

“…will recommend others to use emoticons while chatting Interactive Engagement I feel psychologically connected to others while using emoticons have pleasurable emotional state while using emoticons during interactions There is a sense of pride to be able to use emoticons during conversation Attitudes and expressions are displayed well using emoticons Personal Engagement I am able to express myself well while using emoticons I expresses my emotions well using emoticons during conversation[54][55] There is a sense of empowerment from engagement resulting from use of emoticons Using emoticons has a fulfilling and positive state of mind Source: Adapted from Kang et al, 56. …”

Customer engagement and intention to purchase attitudes of generation Z consumers toward emojis in digital marketing communications

“…intention to purchase. Kang et al (2022) and Sawmong (2022) indicate that stickers, which consist of emojis and emoticons, can be used as effective marketing communication tools. Both of these studies confirm that purchase or behavioral intentions were positively influenced by perceived ease of use due to the use of emojis and emoticons (in the form of stickers).…”

“…Sawmong (2022) also did not find a significant relationship between perceived usefulness and behavioral intentions due to the use of emojis and emoticons (in the form of paid stickers). However, Al-Maroof et al (2019) and Kang et al (2022) verify that perceived usefulness favorably impacted behavioral or purchase intentions due to stickers (emojis and emoticons). Other studies relating to online purchases and digital usage also suggested positive direct or indirect associations between perceived usefulness and purchase and/or behavioral intentions (Bravo et al, 2021;Al-Gasawneh et al, 2022;Leso and Cortimiglia, 2022), which leads to the following hypothesis:…”

“…The TAM has been adapted to fit a wide variety of technology acceptance studies; additional variables were introduced to help enhance its predictive power (Purwanto et al, 2020;Ngubelanga and Duffett, 2021;Al-Gasawneh et al, 2022;Leso and Cortimiglia, 2022). However, few studies consider the influence of emojis in digital marketing communications on customer engagement and intention to purchase among Gen Z from a TAM perspective (Al-Maroof et al, 2019;Jung et al, 2021;Kang et al, 2022;Sawmong, 2022). Naidu (2022) investigated how emojis used on social media platforms and in other kinds of electronic communication may involve actionable false and misleading content, and together with Hao (2020), they suggest more research on whether the usage of emojis in digital marketing communications yields favorable outcomes.…”