Last digit tendency: Lucky numbers and psychological rounding in mobile transactions
The distribution of digits in numbers obtained from different sources reveals interesting patterns. The well-known Benford’s law states that the first digits in many real-life numerical data sets have an asymmetric, logarithmic distribution in which small digits are more common; this asymmetry dimin...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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KeAi Communications Co. Ltd.
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Fundamental Research |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667325823003503 |
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| author | Hai Wang Tian Lu Yingjie Zhang Yue Wu Yiheng Sun Jingran Dong Wen Huang |
| author_facet | Hai Wang Tian Lu Yingjie Zhang Yue Wu Yiheng Sun Jingran Dong Wen Huang |
| author_sort | Hai Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The distribution of digits in numbers obtained from different sources reveals interesting patterns. The well-known Benford’s law states that the first digits in many real-life numerical data sets have an asymmetric, logarithmic distribution in which small digits are more common; this asymmetry diminishes for subsequent digits, and the last digit tends to be uniformly distributed. In this paper, we investigate the digit distribution of numbers in a large mobile transaction data set with 835 million mobile transactions and payments made by approximately 460,000 users in more than 300 cities. Although the first digits of the numbers in these mobile transactions follow Benford’s law, the last digit has a strong tendency to be a lucky number or be influenced by psychological rounding. This lucky number tendency is more significant in transactions that are more strongly connected to social interactions, such as money sent as gifts or as “red envelopes” (a traditional method of gift-giving during Chinese holidays), and in transactions by individuals with potentially greater emotional needs, such as during COVID-19 outbreaks and natural disasters. This psychological rounding tendency is more common in online e-commerce payments, in-store purchases, and money transfers between individuals. These findings are key for understanding the last digit tendency and its psychological and emotional mechanisms, which could be used as an indicator of public sentiment or in methods of detecting fraudulent business activity. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b821c137c2254c2fa748b79447249523 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2667-3258 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Fundamental Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-b821c137c2254c2fa748b794472495232025-01-29T05:02:33ZengKeAi Communications Co. Ltd.Fundamental Research2667-32582025-01-0151370378Last digit tendency: Lucky numbers and psychological rounding in mobile transactionsHai Wang0Tian Lu1Yingjie Zhang2Yue Wu3Yiheng Sun4Jingran Dong5Wen Huang6School of Computing and Information Systems, Singapore Management University, Singapore 178902, SingaporeW. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USACorresponding author.; Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, Beijing 100871, ChinaTencent Weixin Group, Shenzhen 518054, ChinaTencent Weixin Group, Shenzhen 518054, ChinaTencent Weixin Group, Shenzhen 518054, ChinaTencent Weixin Group, Shenzhen 518054, ChinaThe distribution of digits in numbers obtained from different sources reveals interesting patterns. The well-known Benford’s law states that the first digits in many real-life numerical data sets have an asymmetric, logarithmic distribution in which small digits are more common; this asymmetry diminishes for subsequent digits, and the last digit tends to be uniformly distributed. In this paper, we investigate the digit distribution of numbers in a large mobile transaction data set with 835 million mobile transactions and payments made by approximately 460,000 users in more than 300 cities. Although the first digits of the numbers in these mobile transactions follow Benford’s law, the last digit has a strong tendency to be a lucky number or be influenced by psychological rounding. This lucky number tendency is more significant in transactions that are more strongly connected to social interactions, such as money sent as gifts or as “red envelopes” (a traditional method of gift-giving during Chinese holidays), and in transactions by individuals with potentially greater emotional needs, such as during COVID-19 outbreaks and natural disasters. This psychological rounding tendency is more common in online e-commerce payments, in-store purchases, and money transfers between individuals. These findings are key for understanding the last digit tendency and its psychological and emotional mechanisms, which could be used as an indicator of public sentiment or in methods of detecting fraudulent business activity.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667325823003503Last digitLucky numberPsychological roundingMobile transactionDifference-in-differences |
| spellingShingle | Hai Wang Tian Lu Yingjie Zhang Yue Wu Yiheng Sun Jingran Dong Wen Huang Last digit tendency: Lucky numbers and psychological rounding in mobile transactions Fundamental Research Last digit Lucky number Psychological rounding Mobile transaction Difference-in-differences |
| title | Last digit tendency: Lucky numbers and psychological rounding in mobile transactions |
| title_full | Last digit tendency: Lucky numbers and psychological rounding in mobile transactions |
| title_fullStr | Last digit tendency: Lucky numbers and psychological rounding in mobile transactions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Last digit tendency: Lucky numbers and psychological rounding in mobile transactions |
| title_short | Last digit tendency: Lucky numbers and psychological rounding in mobile transactions |
| title_sort | last digit tendency lucky numbers and psychological rounding in mobile transactions |
| topic | Last digit Lucky number Psychological rounding Mobile transaction Difference-in-differences |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667325823003503 |
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