Presentation desire of digital identity in virtual community

Abstract

Recently digital items have been widely used by people in the online space including virtual communities and online games. Some Internet companies even in the context of virtual community (VC) generate revenue from the sales of digital items to their online members. The sales of digital items provide insights for Internet companies and virtual community providers who are suffering from the lack of a profitable business model. This study examines why people pay for digital items from the self-presentation perspective in the context of VC by introducing a new construct, digital identity, and developing a conceptual framework of presentation of digital identity. The findings of this study show that the presentation desire of digital identity leads to the intention of purchasing digital items. This study identifies the significance of online group norm and online group involvement on the presentation desire from the social digital identity perspective and the significance of personal innovativeness from the personal digital identity perspective. These findings help to advance theory and offer practical insights in the context of Internet business and VC. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.