Mobile gamer's epistemic curiosity affecting continuous play intention. Focused on players' switching costs and epistemic curiosity

Thanks to the proliferation of smartphones, most people can access mobile game easily. But they play it very differently. This research focus on the gamer's attributes, not the game attributes as the cause of the behavioral difference. Authors suggested a research model in which perceptual game switching costs precede the continuous play intention, and personal attributes affect also the switching costs and the intention at the same time. To test the model and the research hypotheses, authors used the structural equation modeling method and multiple linear regression analysis. As results, the personal I-typed, and D-typed epistemic curiosity could account for gamers' perceptual switching costs and the play intent well. The continuity cost and the sunk cost positively affected the retention intent, but there was no significant effect from learning cost. Focusing the gamer into as the male gamer, the learning cost was significant but negatively to the intent. Gamer group in high I-typed and low D-typed curiosity showed the highest retention intent, and the lowest retention intent took place in the group of low I-typed and high D-typed. The combinations of epistemic curiosity gave new insights on the playing intent for mobile game. The personal epistemic curiosity is an effective instrument for building a consumer clustering framework for mobile gamer.