Empirical Investigation of Digital Collectibles Purchase Intention: The Roles of Value, Risks, Identification, and Scarcity

Abstract

China’s digital collectibles utilize blockchain technology to create unique digital certificates for specific works and artworks that consumers can purchase, collect, and use. Digital collectibles are localized Chinese digital products, similar to non-fungible token (NFT), but with differences. This study explores the influencing factors and mechanisms of consumer purchase in digital collectibles. Our study developed a research model based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) paradigm and the integration of perceived value theory and social identity theory. We used a questionnaire survey method and obtained 333 valid samples. Then, we used PLS-SEM to test the model. The empirical results are as follows: (1) Our study constructs and validates a multidimensional structure of perceived value and perceived risk; (2) consumers’ perceived value influences their purchase intentions through the mediating roles of consumer-digital collectibles cognitive identification and affective identification; (3) both supply-based scarcity and demand-based scarcity have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between cognitive identification and purchase intention. Our study reveals the pathway mechanism of the purchase intention and demonstrates the moderating roles of supply-based and demand-based scarcity. In addition, our study can provide practical suggestions for platforms and industries to conduct marketing activities and avoid risk.