Mobile Gamification's Impact on Tourism Visit Intention

Aaron Tham; Hiram Ting; June Hwa (Jacky) Cheah; Karen Tan; Quee Ling Leong

doi:10.1002/jtr.70002

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Mobile Gamification's Impact on Tourism Visit Intention

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Mobile Gamification's Impact on Tourism Visit Intention

Aaron Tham, Hiram Ting, June Hwa (Jacky) Cheah, Karen Tan and Quee Ling Leong

International Journal of Tourism Research, Vol.27(1), pp.1-13

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.70002

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Abstract

Tourism

Other commercial services and tourism

destination choice

game design

mobile gamification

PLS-SEM

technology acceptance model

tourist attitudes and motivations

visit intention

The present study aims to determine how tourism-related mobile games generate tourism visit intention. Drawing upon the technology acceptance model (TAM), the study seeks to find out the context-specific considerations that exert a greater influence on the intention to visit destinations associated with the mobile game. Using a quantitative approach, data from 263 respondents were collected in Malaysia via an online survey. Partial least-squares structural equation modelling was used to perform latent variable analysis. The findings show the significant effects of perceived ease of play and motivation to play on attitude and intention towards visiting the game destination. In particular, motivation to play is found to exert a greater effect on visit intention. Contradictory results about perceived enjoyment and the importance of motivation are also highlighted. This study adds to the literature that calls for the expansion of the TAM to include context-specific considerations to articulate tourism gamification behaviour and the (un)intended effect on tourism visit intention. Specifically, the importance of context to TAM is unveiled through the motivation to play games related to tourism on a mobile phone. In contrast, this study points to the negligible influence of perceived enjoyment of games on intention to visit.

Details

Title: Mobile Gamification's Impact on Tourism Visit Intention
Authors: Aaron Tham (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Business and Creative Industries
Hiram Ting - Wakayama University
June Hwa (Jacky) Cheah - University of East Anglia
Karen Tan - Middle Tennessee State University
Quee Ling Leong - UCSI University
Publication details: International Journal of Tourism Research, Vol.27(1), pp.1-13
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Date published: 2025
DOI: 10.1002/jtr.70002
ISSN: 1522-1970; 1099-2340
Copyright note: © 2025 The Author(s). International Journal of Tourism Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Data Availability: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Organisation Unit: School of Business and Creative Industries; Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991097846302621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism

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