Summary of studies about willingness to pay in freemium business models
| Article | Theory | Context | IVs and main results | DVs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pauwels and Weiss (2008) | NA | Online content | Search engine referrals (+) | From free to fee subscription |
| Wang et al. (2011) | Social influence | Freemium social networks | Number of friends who are pay users (+) | Probability of being a pay user |
| Lu and Lin (2012) | Perceived value | Online auction sites | Usefulness (+), social benefits (+), enjoyment (n.s.), searching cost (−), monitoring cost (−), adapting cost (−) | Perceived value, intention to pay |
| Oestreicher-Singer and Zalmanson (2013) | Ladder of participation | Online music radio site | Content consumption (−), content organization (+), friends (−), subscriber friends (+), community participation (+), age (+) | Subscribing decision |
| Wagner et al. (2014) | Dual mediation hypothesis | Freemium music services | Attitude to premium (+) | Intention to pay |
| Dinsmore et al. (2017) | Hierarchical personality model | Mobile apps | Impulsivity on both DVs (n.s.), bargain proneness on both DVs (+), frugality on both DVs (−) | Mobile app payment, in-app purchases |
| Hamari et al. (2017) | Service quality | Free-to-play games | Play intention (+), assurance (n.s.), empathy (n.s.), reliability (+), responsiveness (n.s.) | Purchase intention |
| Yan and Wakefield (2018) | Perceived value | Music streaming services | Willingness to subscribe on actual subscription (+), perceived value on willingness to subscribe (+) | Willingness to subscribe, actual subscription |
| Danckwerts and Kenning (2019) | Psychological ownership | Music streaming services | Music-based psychological ownership (−) | Intention to switch to premium |
| Bordonaba-Juste et al. (2020) | Perceived value | Cloud services | Ubiquity (n.s.), storage space (+), ease of sharing (−), greater online resources (+), data loss protection (n.s.), previous privacy problems (n.s.), previous security problems (+) | Payment |
| Hamari et al. (2020) | Perceived value | Free-to-play games | Enjoyment (−), social value (−), quality (n.s.), economic value (n.s.) | Purchase intention |
| Mäntymäki et al. (2020) | Consumer value theory | Online music streaming services | Enjoyment (+), price value (+) | Intention to upgrade to premium/retain the premium subscription |
| Lopes-Barata and Simoes-Coelho (2021) | Extended UTAUT | Music streaming services | Performance expectancy (+), effort expectancy (+), hedonic motivation (+), price value (+), habit (+), perceived freemium-premium fit (−), attitude toward privacy (+) | Intention to purchase |
| Sarkar et al. (2021) | Consumer-brand relationship theory | Premium brand retail stores | Intransigent brand attitude (+), flexible brand attitude (−), brand love (+) | Willingness to pay premium |
| Syahrivar et al. (2022) | NA | Mobile games | Social interaction (+), utility (n.s.), self-indulgence (n.s.), competition (n.s.), intention to play (+) | Intention to pay |
| Chang et al. (2024) | Expectation-confirmation model | Cloud storage services | Satisfaction (+), dissatisfaction (−) | Intention to pay |
| Tyrväinen and Karjaluoto (2024) | Trust theory | Freemium services | Trust (+), perceived (functional, social, hedonic, price) value (+) | Willingness to pay |
| Martins and Rodrigues (2025) | UGT | Music streaming platforms | Satisfaction (+), perceived value (+), ubiquity (+) | Subscribing to premium service |
| Nguyen et al. (2025) | Social comparison theory | Online game | Perceived enjoyment (+), benign envy (+), malicious envy (n.s.) | In-app purchase intentions |
| Present study | UGT | C2C e-commerce platforms | Efficiency (n.s.), customization (−), platform business support (+), responsiveness (+), payment reception security (+), enjoyment (n.s.), platform communication support (+) | Willingness to pay a membership fee |
| Article | Theory | Context | IVs and main results | DVs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Online content | Search engine referrals (+) | From free to fee subscription | ||
| Social influence | Freemium social networks | Number of friends who are pay users (+) | Probability of being a pay user | |
| Perceived value | Online auction sites | Usefulness (+), social benefits (+), enjoyment (n.s.), searching cost (−), monitoring cost (−), adapting cost (−) | Perceived value, intention to pay | |
| Ladder of participation | Online music radio site | Content consumption (−), content organization (+), friends (−), subscriber friends (+), community participation (+), age (+) | Subscribing decision | |
| Dual mediation hypothesis | Freemium music services | Attitude to premium (+) | Intention to pay | |
| Hierarchical personality model | Mobile apps | Impulsivity on both DVs (n.s.), bargain proneness on both DVs (+), frugality on both DVs (−) | Mobile app payment, in-app purchases | |
| Service quality | Free-to-play games | Play intention (+), assurance (n.s.), empathy (n.s.), reliability (+), responsiveness (n.s.) | Purchase intention | |
| Perceived value | Music streaming services | Willingness to subscribe on actual subscription (+), perceived value on willingness to subscribe (+) | Willingness to subscribe, actual subscription | |
| Psychological ownership | Music streaming services | Music-based psychological ownership (−) | Intention to switch to premium | |
| Perceived value | Cloud services | Ubiquity (n.s.), storage space (+), ease of sharing (−), greater online resources (+), data loss protection (n.s.), previous privacy problems (n.s.), previous security problems (+) | Payment | |
| Perceived value | Free-to-play games | Enjoyment (−), social value (−), quality (n.s.), economic value (n.s.) | Purchase intention | |
| Consumer value theory | Online music streaming services | Enjoyment (+), price value (+) | Intention to upgrade to premium/retain the premium subscription | |
| Extended | Music streaming services | Performance expectancy (+), effort expectancy (+), hedonic motivation (+), price value (+), habit (+), perceived freemium-premium fit (−), attitude toward privacy (+) | Intention to purchase | |
| Consumer-brand relationship theory | Premium brand retail stores | Intransigent brand attitude (+), flexible brand attitude (−), brand love (+) | Willingness to pay premium | |
| Mobile games | Social interaction (+), utility (n.s.), self-indulgence (n.s.), competition (n.s.), intention to play (+) | Intention to pay | ||
| Expectation-confirmation model | Cloud storage services | Satisfaction (+), dissatisfaction (−) | Intention to pay | |
| Trust theory | Freemium services | Trust (+), perceived (functional, social, hedonic, price) value (+) | Willingness to pay | |
| Music streaming platforms | Satisfaction (+), perceived value (+), ubiquity (+) | Subscribing to premium service | ||
| Social comparison theory | Online game | Perceived enjoyment (+), benign envy (+), malicious envy (n.s.) | In-app purchase intentions | |
| Present study | C2C e-commerce platforms | Efficiency (n.s.), customization (−), platform business support (+), responsiveness (+), payment reception security (+), enjoyment (n.s.), platform communication support (+) | Willingness to pay a membership fee |
DV: dependent variable; IV: Independent variable: NA: Not available; (n.s.) non-significant effect; (+) positive effect; (−) negative effect; (∩) inverted U-shaped effect
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