DO&IT Seminar Series
http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/doit/events/seminars.aspx
Speaker:
Sang-Pil Han, Arizona State University
Date:
Friday, October 23, 2015
Time:
2:00 – 3:15 PM
Location:
VMH 1206
Economics of Consumption and Addiction on Mobile Apps
Author(s): Sang-Pil Han, Sungho Park (ASU), Wonseok Oh, Eric Kwon, Hyunji So (KAIST)
Abstract:
According to Yahoo’s mobile analytics division, Flurry, of the 1.8 billion total mobile app users
in the world in July 2015, 280 million people or 15% are mobile addicts based on how frequently
they launch mobile apps each day. The number of mobile apps launched in the market has
exponentially grown to more than 2 million, but little is known about how users choose and
consume apps of numerous categories. Through the lens of rational addiction theory, the first
study investigates whether addiction to mobile social apps (e.g., SNS and social games) should
be viewed as a rational behavior rather than an uncontrollable, irrational disorder. Understanding
digital addiction through the rational choice framework provides important insights into whether
addiction-related problems should be addressed through users’ self-regulation or government
regulation. The findings suggest that mobile social app users conduct themselves in a forwardlooking manner and rationally adjust consumption over time horizons to derive optimal utility.
The second study develops a utility theory-based structural model for mobile app analytics. We
use the theoretical concepts of utility and satiation along with the factor analytic approach, as
bases in simultaneously modeling the complex relationships among choice, consumption, and
utility maximization for consumers of various mobile apps. Using a unique panel dataset
detailing individual user-level mobile app time consumption, we quantify the baseline utility and
satiation levels of diverse mobile apps and delineate how app preferences and consumption
patterns vary across demographic groups and affected by persistent use and time trends. Our
modeling approaches and computational methods can unlock new perspectives and opportunities
for handling large-scale, micro-level data, while serving as important resources for big data
analytics and mobile app analytics.
Van Munching Hall
▫
Room 4306
▫
Telephone 301-405-8654
▫
College Park, MD
▫
University of Maryland
Bio:
Prior to joining the Arizona State University, Sang Pil Han was an Assistant Professor of
Information Systems in the College of Business at the City University of Hong Kong. He
received his Ph.D. in Management Engineering from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and
Technology. Han is interested in studying how firms gain useful insights and competitive
advantages from big-data and business analytics. He is especially interested in topics related to
mobile analytics, mobile apps, mobile marketing, and social media. Han's recent research
focuses on addiction to mobile social apps, mobile targeting, mobile engagement time-based
modeling and mobile media planning. In his research, he relies upon empirical research methods
including econometric analyses, hierarchical Bayesian modeling, dynamic structural modeling
and randomized field experiments.
Van Munching Hall
▫
Room 4306
▫
Telephone 301-405-8654
▫
College Park, MD
▫
University of Maryland