Search results

This paper aims to understand the main challenges connected with accountability issues across multiple layers of the metaverse, to identify whether and how any techwashing is taking place and to discuss implications for accounting research.

To develop the research, the authors refer to a critical dialogic accountability framework, operationalized in the current paper by leveraging the perspectives of accountability as virtues and as mechanisms (Bovens, 2010). The authors discuss who is accountable to whom, for what and in what manner in a relatively unregulated and unaccountable world, through the layers of virtual reality introduced by MacKenzie et al. (2013) and Llewellyn (2007). Methodologically, the study concentrates on 32 start-ups working in the metaverse selected from the Crunchbase database and relies on interviews, direct observation in the field and white paper reports analyzed by means of NVivo coding.

The findings show how metaverse creators deal with accountability as a virtue and accountability as a mechanism. Companies who operate metaverses primarily consider accountability in the virtual-physical domain, which focuses on developing the necessary internal and external architecture to enable a particular metaverse to function. Metaverse companies also emphasize the virtual-agential dimension that concentrates on onboarding, engaging with and incentivizing individuals in virtual worlds. There is an emphasis on outlining the virtues or standards that metaverse companies aspire to, but there is very little detail provided. Similarly, there are uneven and limited discussions of the mechanisms that can support accountability in most layers of a virtual world.

The analysis raises significant questions about the purpose, scope and use of metaverses, which are still a relatively unregulated and unaccountable world. The paper advances the idea that the current creators of metaverses are “techwashing” their projects, providing a utopian ideal of what their universes will look like but obfuscating the realities of their ventures in tech jargon that few people are likely to understand. Therefore, meaning and truth at all levels of the real and virtual worlds remain unaddressed, with implications to be explored in terms of legitimacy and trust of metaverses and the interests that shape them.

This paper is one of the first to address the issue of accountability in metaverses. It advances an analytical framework to guide future accounting and accountability research into virtual worlds.

The rise and popularity of digitalization have made the addictive use in the virtual world more common, which has aroused wide attention from academia and public. Uncovering the underlying mechanism of addictive use is essential to address this serious issue.

By utilizing the context of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), this study developed virtual-domain perfectionism of seeking excellence and avoiding failure from the dual process model of perfectionism and identified four affordances in MMOGs from the perspective of technology affordance. The authors surveyed 302 valid samples in MMOGs to empirically test the research model.

The results demonstrate that two processes of virtual-domain perfectionism influence addictive use positively in MMOGs. Technology affordances perform as the antecedents of virtual-domain perfectionism and conduct distinct impacts in MMOGs. Specifically, affordances of interaction and identity are positively related to virtual-domain perfectionism, while achievement affordance is unrelated to virtual-domain perfectionism. Immersion affordance is positively related to virtual-domain perfectionism of seeking excellence and negatively associated with virtual-domain perfectionism of avoiding failure.

This study identified virtual-domain perfectionism and specific MMOGs affordances. The research model provides insights into addictive use in MMOGs by leveraging context and combining lenses. Research findings help elucidate the role of virtual-domain perfectionism on the addictive use from MMOGs affordances with the corresponding technical features.

As traditional physical spaces grapple with evolving reading habits and information consumption patterns, the notion of libraries within the metaverse poses intriguing questions about accessibility, knowledge dissemination and the evolving role of librarians. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of metaverse in virtual libraries.

This paper analyzes various literature relating to libraries and the metaverse in the virtual worlds through a review of the literature.

In the ever-evolving landscape of information and technology, the emergence of libraries in virtual worlds presents a transformative paradigm that brings forth both tremendous advantages and intricate challenges. These advantages are underscored by enhanced accessibility for a global audience, interactive engagements that cater to diverse learning styles and the unprecedented scalability that digital environments provide. Virtual libraries hold the potential to reshape the way people access, share and engage with knowledge, while also fostering a sense of community that transcends geographical boundaries.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the original idea that highlights the importance of metaverse in virtual libraries.

This paper aims to examine the impact of metaverse experiences on customers’ offline behavioral intentions: How do customers’ visits to a hospitality business’s virtual property in the metaverse affect their intentions to visit the physical property in the real world?

Based on the general learning model and social cognitive theory, this research hypothesizes the positive impact of metaverse experiences on customers’ visit intentions and explores two boundary conditions for positive impact: user–avatar resemblance and servicescape similarity. Two experimental studies were conducted.

Metaverse experience has a significant impact on customers’ visit intentions, and this impact is moderated by user–avatar resemblance and servicescape similarity.

This research addresses the call for empirical studies regarding the effects of metaverse experience on people’s behavioral intentions.

As one of the earliest empirical studies on the marketing effects of the metaverse, this research provides a basis for future metaverse studies in the hospitality field.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize virtual influencer marketing, outlining the opportunities and dangers associated with using virtual influencers in social media marketing communications.

Drawing on the literature addressing influencer marketing and interactions between consumers and technologies, this paper introduces the landscape of virtual influencer marketing.

This paper distinguishes virtual influencers from real-life influencers and related digital characters. It further defines four unique elements attributed to virtual influencers: customization, flexibility, ownership and automation. Finally, it introduces a taxonomy for virtual influencers.

The conceptualization of virtual influencer marketing contributes to advancing the understanding of the (virtual) influencer marketing landscape.

This paper suggests that brands need to carefully evaluate the different characteristics of virtual influencers, when deciding to leverage them in social media marketing communications. It also provides guidelines for working with virtual influencers in marketing campaigns targeted at consumers.

This paper discusses ethical and social implications for brands and consumers that interact with virtual influencers in the encounter between reality and virtuality.

This paper makes three contributions. First, it conceptualizes virtual influencer marketing by defining and critically evaluating the key characteristics attributed to virtual influencers. Second, it offers a 2 × 2 taxonomy of virtual influencers, grounded in research on anthropomorphism and reality–virtuality. Third, this paper reflects on the opportunities and dangers associated with virtual influencer marketing, outlining avenues for future research.

The rise of the metaverse has brought profound changes to the economic and social operation models and injected new vitality into academic research. Although a large number of studies have emerged, there are few quantitative analyses of development frontiers and trends.

From a bibliometric perspective, this paper selects 183 pieces of metaverse-related literature in the WoS core database since 2000 as the object of analysis. This paper sums up the characteristics of the literature using the methods of descriptive statistical analysis, keywords analysis, thematic evolution analysis and summarizes the core themes and the laws of metaverse development in each stage.

The digital economy vision brought by the metaverse has led to an increasing number of researchers and achievements in this field. But the depth and breadth of research are still insufficient and unevenly distributed in the region, and the cross-fertilization fields need to be expanded. From the industry's point of view, VR games represented by Second Life and My World have contributed to the popularity of the metaverse. As technology progresses, the research hotspots in the field of metaverse gradually develop from conceptual research to artificial intelligence, blockchain, NFT and other technical applications. However, academic research has not yet caught up with the industry's pace and stays more in the concept discussion and preliminary application stage.

A systematic overview of the current status, knowledge structure and hot issues of metaverse research is shown, which provides a thematic axis for this field, enriches and improves the quantitative analysis of its literature and provides a clear picture for researchers to continuously promote the development of this field. At the same time, it is necessary to warn that technological development is a double-edged sword. The process of metaverse development should return to rationality, respect the laws of its development and guarantee the healthy development of the metaverse by strengthening legal regulation and the ethical review of science and technology.

In order to encourage customers to try experience virtual tourism, researchers and practitioners pay more attention on how to improve customers' perception of authenticity.

Using the theory of cross-sensory compensation, through 4 experiments, this study examines the impact of social interaction and cross-sensory strategies on the relationship between virtual reality (VR) and improving customers' perception of authenticity and customer experience.

Through experimental research, this paper finds that (1) VR immersion has a significant positive impact on perception of authenticity, which in turn acts on customers' virtual tourism experience. (2) In addition, social interaction strengthens the relationship between VR immersion and customers' perception of authenticity. (3) The cross-sensory compensation has a positive effect on VR immersion to enhance customers' perception of authenticity.

The research conclusion provides a direction for further discussion on how to improve customers' perception of authenticity and provides theoretical guidance and reference for the virtual tourism industry.

Through the lens of self-perception theory, this paper investigates how avatar design (i.e. avatar user similarity) affects users' self-awareness and shapes their task engagement and performance in the Metaverse.

The authors conducted a 2 (avatar user similarity: high vs low) × 2 (task type: procedural vs creative) lab experiment and collected data from questionnaires, the recording of users' behavior during tasks and their actual task performance.

The results show that higher avatar user similarity leads to higher task engagement in general. Furthermore, while a similar avatar promotes users to regulate their behaviors and achieve better performance in a procedural task, high similarity also inhibits users' creativity by invoking habitual thinking, resulting in worse performance in generating original ideas in a creative task.

This study is expected to contribute to the information systems literature by revealing the value of avatar design and providing new perspectives on improving users' experiences in the Metaverse.

This research aims to focus on the impact of the metaverse on services marketing. After reviewing the past, current and anticipated future of the metaverse, the authors offer multiple research opportunities in accordance with theories germane to the services literature.

The current research uses a conceptual approach focused on key service theories and their relevance in the metaverse.

The metaverse presents a new paradigm of the customer experience, thus providing an opportunity for service researchers to advance this developing field. Further, the potential shortcomings of existing theory are explored, both within and external to services, to discover important areas for service scholars to examine. This results in research opportunities and questions for scholars to pursue as the metaverse continues to develop and shape consumer experiences.

Technological advancements have enabled the service sector to grow and thrive in the metaverse. It is evident that despite the metaverse’s growth, there remains a tremendous amount left to examine. Existing theories need to be reexamined and modified, or alternative theories reviewed to inform service research on the metaverse. Thus, the present research seeks to provide insight into opportunities for theory development by service researchers and identifies important areas of future scholarly work on the metaverse.

This paper aims to explore digital fashion products in the metaverse platform contexts and empirically examine the effect of the metaverse platform characteristics on the purchase intention of digital fashion products through users' flow experience and perceived value of the products.

A survey method was used in this study. Answers from 314 metaverse users were analyzed, and the hypotheses were tested using the structural equations modeling and bootstrapping analysis.

The analyses showed that telepresence, social interaction and economic flow had significant effects on users' flow experience among the metaverse platform characteristics, while the continuity and content creation of the metaverse platform did not have significant effects. The flow experience also appeared to have significant effects on multiple consumption values, including pleasure value, self-expression value and economic value. Last, the perceived pleasure value and economic value of digital fashion products had a positive effect on purchase intention.

The main contribution of this research is that it is one of the first empirical attempts to investigate individual consumers' perceptions and experiences of digital fashion products in the context of metaverse platforms.