- Title
- Creating a metaverse-me: Exploring the consumer avatar creation process
- Creator
- Taylor, Alex; Hook, Margurite; Carlyle, Tanya; Carlson, Jamie
- Relation
- Journal of Consumer Behaviour Vol. 23, Issue 6, p. 2846-2861
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cb.2378
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2024
- Description
- The metaverse is emerging as a focal point for technological advancement, social interaction, and commerce. Despite brands' enthusiasm for establishing a presence in the metaverse, consumer adoption remains modest, with the initial hurdle being avatar creation. To better understand why consumers are hesitant to engage in the metaverse, this study focuses on avatars as virtual representations of self, particularly during the stage of avatar creation. Drawing on theories of self-presentation and identity formation, this research investigates how users conceptualise and express their virtual avatars. Through a series of in-depth semi-structured interviews, we propose an integrated framework that illustrates how consumers engage in a complex avatar creation process consisting of consolidation, exploration, affirmation, and aspiration. Further, our insights show that avatars serve as extensions of real-world identities, as well as how this impacts consumption behaviour. These insights are valuable for marketers aiming to develop actionable consumer-centric metaverse strategies, and researchers investigating consumer behaviour within immersive consumption environments.
- Subject
- metaverse; consumer; avatars; virtual
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1516087
- Identifier
- uon:56940
- Identifier
- ISSN:1472-0817
- Rights
- © 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Consumer Behaviour published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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