Exploring overprotective parenting in online gaming: outcomes and unintended consequences
(A2025-130282)

AUTHORS

Ambika Prasad Nanda, Jagdish Sheth School of Management

ABSTRACT

Most of the research in online gaming space in marketing is limited to advergames, in-game advertising, motivation to play online games, and issues around violent video games. However, the extant research has paid minimum attention to segmenting the consumers even if the number of online gamers has exceeded a billion mark. We introduce parental style as a deciding factor that influences adolescent’s decision choices. In the first study, adolescents’ perception of their parents' highly protective parental style makes them choose non-persistent world games (games start new in every round and the character changes, i.e., Counter Strike) over persistent world games (games in which achievements in the gaming round can be accumulated so that players can be made stronger to complete more rounds, i.e., Sims 3). The previous effect occurs as adolescents face a reduction in their self-control by overprotective parents, an effect which is moderated by parental perfection focus. Further, the second Study shows the unintended consequences of parental overprotection, i.e., an increase in dependency on excessive online gaming leading to IGD via a reduction in self-control. Built on Problematic Behavior Theory (PBT) and Attachment Theory (AT), with support from Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT), an overarching framework guides the previous hypotheses in the domain of online gaming of adolescents and parental style.