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Journal of Global Fashion Marketing ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/rgfm20 Examining self-congruence between user and avatar in purchasing behavior from the metaverse to the real world Jinsu Park & Naeun (Lauren) Kim To cite this article: Jinsu Park & Naeun (Lauren) Kim (2024) Examining self-congruence between user and avatar in purchasing behavior from the metaverse to the real world, Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 15:1, 23-38, DOI: 10.1080/20932685.2023.2180768 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/20932685.2023.2180768 Published online: 03 Apr 2023 Submit your article to this journal Article views: 1953 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rgfm20 JOURNAL OF GLOBAL FASHION MARKETING 2024, VOL 15, NO 1, 23–38 https://doi.org/10.1080/20932685.2023.2180768 Examining self-congruence between user and avatar in purchasing behavior from the metaverse to the real world Jinsu Park and Naeun (Lauren) Kim Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel, College of Design, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Received October 2022 The aim of this study was to examine the role of “avatar” in the Revised January 2023 metaverse, specifically, by exploring how appearance similarity with Accepted February 2023 an avatar affects virtual product purchase intention, which is mediated by self-congruence and flow Further, this study also KEYWORDS attempted to find how human behavior in the virtual world could Metaverse; avatar; affect behavior in the real world An online survey was administered self-congruency; flow; virtual to a total of 164 users of a popular South Korean metaverse plat product purchase intention form ZEPETO The findings indicated that the appearance similarity with the avatar influenced virtual product purchase intention, and this relationship was fully mediated by avatar-self congruence and flow This study also found that virtual product purchase intention could influence real product purchase intention Based on these findings, it is suggested high-quality avatar customization is critical for users, and retail brands can utilize metaverse as a new market ing tool and as a testbed for new products Introduction In the disastrous pandemic of COVID-19, many activities that had traditionally been conducted face-to-face made a major shift to online As a result, the metaverse has gained considerable attention due, in part, to the increased popularity of non-face-to-face activities The “metaverse” is a virtual world extending the physical universe where various activities occur (Papagiannidis et al., 2008) The concept of the metaverse is not new as many video games have taken the form of the metaverse In addition, advances in 3D virtual programs and hardware technology have introduced a more realistic metaverse world For example, the “Animal Crossing” game has recently been described as a representative metaverse platform After Nintendo of Japan developed and released Animal Crossing in March 2020, 32.63 million units of Animal Crossing were sold worldwide as of 31 March 2021 (Bankhurst, 2021) In this game, players can build and decorate their towns through various hunting-gathering activities Animal Crossing is considered a metaverse platform particularly because of its interactive features People can visit other players’ towns, and engage and interact with other users, such as sharing, trading, and communicating (Zhu, 2021) According to the PricewaterhouseCoopers CORRESPONDENCE TO Naeun (Lauren) Kim nlkim@umn.edu Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel, College of Design, University of Minnesota, 240 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Ave St Paul, Minneapolis, MN 55108-61367, USA © 2023 Korean Scholars of Marketing Science 24 J PARK AND N (L.) KIM (PwC) global consulting firm, the size of the metaverse market was valued at $148.5 billion dollars in 2021 and is estimated to grow to $15,423 billion dollars by 2030 (Hwang, 2021) Therefore, retail industries have paid considerable attention to this new media and are trying to utilize the metaverse as a new retail channel (Bourlakis et al., 2009) Virtual channel such as metaverse is also being utilized by traditional high-end companies to promote their products and gain capital, and this trend has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic (Loranger & Roeraas, 2022) A popular metaverse platform, “ZEPETO”, was created by Naver in South Korea in 2018 Two-hundred- million people worldwide have used this platform, and 80% of the users are from generation Z (Lancaster, 2021) The global luxury brand Gucci made a “Gucci Villa” in ZEPETO, allowing users to visit their virtual space Users can try on virtual Gucci products and can buy a virtual Gucci product for their avatar, which is much cheaper than a real (i.e tangible) product (Tamola, 2021) This trend illustrates that entering the metaverse is beneficial for product advertisement and can be quite lucrative What makes the metaverse special compared to other media outlets is the virtual interaction between users All of the interactions are accomplished through a digitalized, psychological being called an avatar, which represents the digital self of the user These avatars are interconnected with each other as they could be in the real world but with fewer physical limitations (e.g time and space) Digital-self avatars have been studied in video game contexts, and video game players are known to feel self-congruence with their avatars, which subsequently affects the players’ perception and behavior in the digital world (Ko & Park, 2020) The role of the avatars in the metaverse is similar to those of video games such as portraying users in the virtual world and helping users to immerse in the virtual world Thus, self-congruence with avatar and flow should be discussed in the metaverse, but these concepts have not been studied extensively The biggest difference between video games and the metaverse comes from the proximity to the real world Unlike video games, the metaverse is highly attached to the real world It is not hard to find a virtual version of the product in the metaverse, which exist in the real world For example, global luxury brands such as Gucci, Polo Ralph Lauren, and Givenchy have launched their digital form of products in the metaverse, and most of them are less expensive than the real world counterparts (Bein, 2022) The affordability of virtual products makes people easy to purchase the products, bringing advantages to both consumers and retailers Virtual products provide consu mers greater access to tangible products by virtually trying on a product on their avatar and, in succession, create the chance of increasing brand recognition and loyalty (Miles, 2022) However, few studies have focused on how consumer behavior in the metaverse impacts the real world (Belk, 2016; Papagiannidis et al., 2014) In addition, while several studies on virtual products have identified consumer behavior in the “virtual reality” realm (Barhorst et al., 2021), few studies have been conducted in the metaverse where the focus is interaction features The purpose of this quantitative study is twofold First, based on the extended-self theory, this study aims to analyze the effect of the appearance similarity between users and their avatars on self-congruence and understand how such congruence between self and avatar increases the flow state of the user while playing in the metaverse The second aim is how these effects, derived from the relationship between the avatar and the user, JOURNAL OF GLOBAL FASHION MARKETING 25 promote purchase behavior intention for their avatar in the metaverse We also examine how virtual interaction and virtual purchase behavior influence purchase behavior intention for the user in the real world The findings of this study provide a deeper understanding of the nature of the metaverse which remains as a nascent field of research for its stakeholders (i.e users, retailers, and scholars) Since the development and commercialization of the metaverse are still in the early stage, studies on the metaverse are largely lacking Our study will fill this gap in the literature and, specifically, will illuminate how the user’s perception of their avatar develops under the extended-self theory, comparing it with the previous studies on video games This study will also reveal how self-congruence with the avatar can affect purchase behavior in both the virtual world and the real world In addition, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the underlying mechanism behind the effect of appearance similarity with an avatar on user behavior Furthermore, the findings will provide implications to the fashion retail brands who are questioning the marketability of the metaverse and suggest ways in which the metaverse can be effectively utilized as an additional retail channel Literature review and hypotheses development 2.1 Metaverse The word “metaverse” was first coined by Neal Stephenson in 1992 and appeared in his novel, “Snow Crash”, stating that the metaverse is a new version of future virtual reality (Stephenson, 1993) Malaby (2006) later described the metaverse as a synthetic world where users can create content by themselves and own the intellectual property rights of the virtual products they make Papagiannidis et al (2008) suggested a broader concept, defining the metaverse as a virtual world extending the physical universe by adding new dimensions and domains for economic, social, and leisure activities Dionisio et al (2013) conceptualized the metaverse as a more technological concept, describing it as a fully immersive 3D digital environment in contrast to cyberspace, which is more inclusive and reflects the totality of shared online space across all dimensions Most recently, Sparkes (2021) took a broader view, defining the metaverse as a shared online space that integrates 3-dimensional graphics on a screen or in virtual reality These changes in the definition indicate that people initially considered the metaverse as simply a “synthetic world” It was then expanded to a broader concept referring to a “shared online space” The definition has become broader rather than concrete because it was believed that unique technologies would be used to implement the metaverse Although the definition of the metaverse has continued to change, several prominent features of the metaverse have been maintained Ubiquity is a central component of the metaverse (Dionisio et al., 2013), which comes from the major criterion that the metaverse must provide an environment for culture and interaction like in the physical world (Dionisio et al., 2013) Gilbert (2011) also maintained that the metaverse should support massive multi-user remote interactivity simultaneously and be immersive, giving a sense of psychological presence Tools and functions should also be provided to generate activities, which share the same goals as an open-ended setting rather than a specific quest (Gilbert, 2011) Based on these perspectives, we infer that an essential 26 J PARK AND N (L.) KIM factor in the metaverse is the interaction among users with their own personas (i.e psychological presence), and this interactivity is accomplished through their extended self, the avatar 2.2 Extended self and avatar-self congruence Traditionally, the extended self can be comprised of a person’s body, mind, physical possession, and close affiliation group, including family and friends (Belk, 1988) However, with the advent of information technology (IT), there have been more ways of representing “self” than ever and, especially, the virtual world has been stimulating the way of expressing oneself with the digital version of myself, an avatar (Belk, 2016) Belk (2016) asserted that the concept of extended self needs to be modified because of digitalization, and one of the changes is re-embodiment, which concretely expresses the concept of an avatar in the digital world In a digital age, people can be emancipated from their physical bodies and be whatever they want to be In addition, the relative freedom of creating an avatar has led people to think that the avatar they made represents themselves, and when people perceive a gap between the self in the real world between that in the virtual world, they tend to modify their self-representation which is called “proteus effects” (Fox et al., 2013; Yee & Bailenson, 2007) Interestingly, this self- discrepancy between virtual and real can have effects on offline behavior as well For example, a person who has an attractive avatar behaves warmly and is more social in real life (Yee et al., 2009) An avatar is a digital representation of the user through which the user interacts with and relates to others in the virtual environment (Hooi & Cho, 2014) In most virtual worlds, users create an avatar or customize their character as they want to express themselves (Sung et al., 2011), and almost every interaction has to with the digital vicarious self, the avatar (Hollebeek et al., 2020) According to Belk (2016), regardless of the level of immersion, users are attached to their avatars, and users become their avatars while playing games, where avatar-self congruence occurs Self-congruence was devel oped to explain the way in which consumers tend to choose a brand that is congruent with their self-concept (Malär et al., 2011) Because of the malleability in describing how people behave in a way to keep the consistence of their self-image, this concept has been used in a wide range of studies, including video game fields According to Davis and Lang (2013), who studied the effect of self-congruence with video game itself on game usage and purchase behavior, they found that people who perceive high self-congruence with the game they play are more likely to play and purchase games Similarly, Ko and Park (2020) who examined the effect of self-congruence with the avatar in video game context, suggested that people choose an avatar that is congruent with their self, as consumers tend to choose a brand or product that accords with their self-image Self-congruence with an avatar begins to develop when the user first creates their avatar Avatar creation is often one of the very first tasks users are given in the metaverse During this process, a user’s main consideration is the physical appearance of the avatar, and one of the most available references would be their own physical traits in shaping the avatar’s appearance This phenomenon has been clearly observed in several studies Nowak and Rauh (2005) noted that people tend to prefer avatars that align with their own gender and choose avatars featuring characteristics that are similar to their own JOURNAL OF GLOBAL FASHION MARKETING 27 Williams (2010) also suggested that users are more likely to identify with avatars that are physically similar to the users Once the avatar creation is done, the next step is to meet and interact with other users’ avatars in the metaverse As users increasingly interact with other avatars and spend time in the metaverse, the importance and attachment to their own avatars grow Avatars help users carry out all activities in the virtual world, including communication, game playing, and transactions When performing these activities, avatars will exhibit the user’s persona such as personality, communication style, and behavioral traits in addition to physical qualities (Procter, 2021) This, in turn, makes the users further reduce the gap between the self and avatar Such a phenomenon can also be explained by self-verification theory Self-verification theory refers to a tendency to maintain a consistent self-concept, avoid ing psychological anarchy (Swann, 1987) Therefore, users may perceive their avatar in a way to lessen the inconsistency between the avatar and the self, and this unconscious effort is inextricably related to interaction with other users Given that the self- congruence effect is often attributed to the underlying motivation of socialness (Davis & Lang, 2013), the more people interact with other users in the metaverse, the greater self-congruence with the avatar could occur Thus, the following hypothesis is developed H1: Appearance similarity with one’s avatar is positively related to avatar-self congruence 2.3 Flow Given the nature of the metaverse that provides users with an immersed experience, it is crucial to understand the flow experience in the metaverse Technology-mediated flow refers to a situation in which people are fully immersed, absorbed, and engaged by mechanical interactions, in the meantime, losing self-consciousness and experiencing enjoyment (Barhorst et al., 2021) Flow provides an experience of holistic immersion for users (Ha et al., 2007) The metaverse can induce a flow state in two ways The first way stems from the equipment Sherry (2004) asserted that the flow occurs when players ignore the real world and increase concentration through visual and auditory stimuli The perfect form of the metaverse requires various equipment including headgear that blocks the environment around the users Users cannot see the real world or hear sounds nearby, but they can see the virtual world and hear the sounds that are digitally created However, few metaverse platforms now need this 3D virtual equipment Many metaverse platforms can be played with a small digital device with a screen such as a mobile phone, tablet, or computer that only allows limited immersion (Wiederhold, 2022) Therefore, this study did not consider the flow induced by 3D equipment Flow can also come from the content that users participate in and enjoy Activities in the metaverse mainly focus on leisure activities such as decorating their avatar, playing with other users in the virtual world, and visiting famous places that are hard to visit in the real world These activities deeply immerse users in the metaverse In addition, according to Barhorst et al (2021) study, the novelty of the metaverse also increases the flow, and users step into a flow state when playing in the metaverse To understand the metaverse, one must examine studies related to games, since the metaverse shows similar characteristics to games in that users are involved in the 28 J PARK AND N (L.) KIM metaverse or the game with their digital representatives: their avatars The similarity with the avatar is highly related to attention and concentration (Liao et al., 2019) In addition, as users identify with a character, their consciousness is transported into the avatar they manipulate, making users lose self-reflection, which is an aspect of flow (Jennett et al., 2008) Furthermore, since the extent of self-congruence affects people’s level of attention (Ding & Hung, 2021), the extent of flow may be determined by the level of congruence with the avatar Therefore, the following hypothesis is developed H2: Self-congruence with the avatar is positively related to flow When people fall into a flow state, it results in specific human behavior or stimulates a certain intention For example, shopping in the virtual environment could induce a state of flow, making people stay in the virtual store and facilitating purchase behavior (Bleize & Antheunis, 2019) Domina et al (2012) found that enjoyment and control, which are major constructs of flow are positively related to purchase intention in the virtual world This effect of a flow state on purchase intention can also be found in the game field Jin et al (2017) asserted that people buy virtual products (i.e items) due to social presence and user engagement, which are some of the main attributes of the flow Specifically, people who are in a flow state are more likely to purchase virtual game items (Liu & Shiue, 2014) Goli and Vemuri (2021) also found that a flow experience in a mobile game has a positive effect on virtual game items Thus, it is plausible to infer that the flow experience can influence the virtual product purchase intention in the metaverse Therefore, the following hypothesis was developed H3: Flow is positively related to virtual product purchase intention Given the fact that the metaverse is a three-dimensional virtual world, avatar and flow must be crucial factors in explaining the purchasing behavior in the metaverse As described earlier, an avatar is considered a digital version of self in a digital world, and the extent of homogeneity with an avatar influences human perception and intention Thus, it can be inferred that the more users perceive their avatars as similar to themselves, the more they are likely to dive into the virtual world and buy virtual products to decorate their avatars, which, in turn, makes users identify their avatars more synchronized with themselves Furthermore, considering the self-verification theory, people attempt to verify and enhance their self-concept, and one of the easiest to this is to purchase items that could help achieve these goals (Stuppy et al., 2020) In video games, people buy virtual products which make their virtual characters more powerful (Domina et al., 2012) However, compared to video games, buying virtual products does not directly enhance the ability of their avatar in the metaverse In the metaverse, where virtual characters’ ability to compete with other users and villains is not necessary, the role of virtual products is to decorate the avatar to express their identity, which is closely associated with social motivation As Davis and Lang (2013) asserted, underlying self-motives of socialness is one of the JOURNAL OF GLOBAL FASHION MARKETING 29 functions of self-congruence In other words, in the metaverse, where the trait of “interactivity” is stressed, the virtual item is a tool for maintaining self- congruence, which, in turn, makes users buy virtual products As Belk (1988) asserted, the concept of “self” can be defined by what they possess, and this also can be applied to the virtual world The behavior of possessing virtual products is a way of representing and defining their avatar, implying the user’s self-concept Therefore, this study hypothesizes that appearance similarity with the avatar has a positive effect on virtual product purchase intention through self-congruence with avatar and flow successively H4: Self-congruence with avatar and flow serially mediate the relationship between appearance similarity and virtual product purchase intention 2.4 Purchase intention (virtual product and real product) One of the distinct features of the metaverse from video games is that the metaverse is highly related to the real world The metaverse is a virtual world that is extended from the real world (Papagiannidis et al., 2008) In other words, users’ behavior in the metaverse can affect their real life and vice versa For instance, Papagiannidis et al (2014), who identified the impact of virtual driving experience on automobiles in the real world, revealed that people who experienced a simulated product were willing to buy the real-world product Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, studies that have found a direct connection between the virtual and the real worlds are scarce However, several industry cases have indicated a strong relevance between the two worlds Louis Vuitton’s limited edition (physical) products worn by virtual characters in the League of Legends game were all sold out in less than an hour after launch (Phelps, 2021) After Balenciaga released a brand showcase in the virtual game Afterworld, the number of searches for the brand rose by 41% within 48 hours (Tashjian, 2021) Given this, we can infer that consumer behavior in the virtual world is somewhat related to the real world Therefore, the following hypothesis is developed Figure shows the conceptual framework of the study H5: Virtual product purchase intention is positively related to real product pur chase intention Self-congruence H2 with Avatar Flow H1 H3 H4 Appearance Virtual product H5 Real product Similarity with Purchase Intention Purchase Intention Avatar Figure Conceptual framework for the study 30 J PARK AND N (L.) KIM Methodology 3.1 Samples To capture the experience of actual metaverse users, this study recruited people who had prior experience in the popular metaverse platform, ZEPETO ZEPETO is one of the most famous metaverse platforms with 200 million users worldwide (Lancaster, 2021) Since ZEPETO was developed and is operated by a Korean company, Naver, we recruited participants from South Korea A total of 164 participants were recruited through a survey panel of a market research company, and participants were given a voucher for USD $2.00 as compensation for their participation All of the participants were in their 20s and 30s, representing generation Z and millennials, who are the major users of the metaverse (Locke, 2021) Among the 162 participants, 132 were female, and 32 were male, and the age range was 15 to 39 years (M = 27.97, SD = 6.36) (see Table 1) 3.2 Procedures and measurements An online survey questionnaire was used, and all survey questions were translated and checked by two bilingual researchers In the initial stage of the survey, participants were asked whether they had used ZEPETO and had created their own avatars Then, several survey items related to ZEPETO were presented to stimulate their memories of using ZEPETO, such as the date of their first use, the number of their avatars, the amount of time they spent creating their avatars, and their experience of participating in the virtual event in ZEPETO Participants then proceeded to the main survey items The main survey measurement items were borrowed from previously validated scales The survey items were modified from existing measures to fit the context of this study Table Demographic profiles n % Gender 131 19.1 Female Male 31 80.9 Age 19 11.7 10s 20s 71 44.1 30s 72 44.2 Annual income Less than $10,000 49 30.2 $10,000–$30,000 $30,000 - $50,000 39 24.1 $50,000 - $70,000 $70,000 - $90,000 53 32.7 Over $90,000 15 9.3 ZEPETO usage Once a week 1.9 Twice a week Three times a week 1.9 Frequently used but not using it anymore 37 22.8 Experience in buying a virtual item in ZEPETO Never 15 9.3 Have experience 12 7.4 Total 98 60.5 89 54.9 73 45.1 162 100.0 JOURNAL OF GLOBAL FASHION MARKETING 31 Table Measurement items and exploratory factor analysis results Items FL CA CR AVE Appearance similarity .870 912 723 My avatar in ZEPETO is as close to my real self as can be made 915 My avatar’s body is similar to that of my real self .896 My avatar in ZEPETO is generally recognizable as my real self 815 My avatar’s style of clothes is similar to that of my real self .767 Self-congruence with avatar 823 894 739 The avatar in ZEPETO is consistent with how I see myself .888 The avatar in ZEPETO is a mirror image of me .865 The avatar in ZEPETO is close to my own personality .824 Flow .828 897 744 I was deeply engrossed when I played ZEPETO .910 I was absorbed in the experience when I played ZEPETO 907 My attention was not focused on the experience (Reversed) .763 Virtual product purchase intention 907 907 764 I am likely to consider purchasing virtual items to decorate my avatar in ZEPETO .902 I am likely to consider purchasing virtual items (e.g clothes, accessories) for my avatar in 889 ZEPETO I would like to recommend the virtual items I bought for my avatar to my friends who know 830 ZEPETO Real product purchase intention 857 874 698 If the virtual products I have purchased for my avatar are available in the real world The experience in ZEPETO would increase my intention to buy the real items I used in the 864 virtual world I would consider buying real products for myself .825 The experience in ZEPETO would help me make a purchase decision about real products .817 FL = Factor loadings, CA = Cronbach’s alpha, CR = Composite reliability, and AVE = Average variance extracted (see Table 2) Four items related to appearance similarity with their avatar, including body, style of clothing, and overall look (Hooi & Cho, 2013) The scales for self- congruence with the avatar included three items (Ko & Park, 2020; V Kumar & Kaushik, 2022) Three items were used to measure virtual product purchase intention by modifying items from Huang (2012) and Cha (2011) Three items were used to gauge their flow state when using ZEPETO (Barhorst et al., 2021) For real product purchase intention, three items were used from N Kumar et al (2022) and Papagiannidis et al (2014) All items were rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from (strongly disagree) to (strongly agree) Results 4.1 Reliability and validity Before the main analysis, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted using SPSS 28 All values of factor loadings exceeded the recommended threshold of 0.7 (Hair et al., 2010), confirming indicator validity Internal consistency was checked with Cronbach’s alphas of the constructs, and the values exceeded the recommended threshold of 0.7 In addition, convergent validity was confirmed with average variance extracted (AVE), and the values exceeded the threshold of 0.5 (see Table 2) Discriminant validity was also established by comparing the square roots of the AVE values with the correlation values (Fornell & Larcker, 1981) (see Table 3) 32 J PARK AND N (L.) KIM Table Correlation matrix Variables Mean SD Appearance similarity 3.81 1.33 850 Self-congruence with avatar 3.64 1.35 747** 860 Virtual product purchase intention 3.93 1.54 404** 508** 863 Real product purchase intention 4.16 1.38 371** 534** 592** 874 Flow 3.72 1.38 389** 521** 698** 578** 835 The values of the lower triangles of the matrix are the correlation coefficients between the constructs The diagonal values (italics values) represent the square root of the average variance extracted of each construct 4.2 Measurement model Partial least square (PLS) modeling through the SmartPLS 3.0 software was used for the data analysis as this study is exploratory in nature (Hair et al., 2011) A total of 164 responses were collected and two insincere responses were discarded from the data The minimum number of participants is 20 for PLS-SEM with ten times the largest number of structural paths directed from a particular construct (Hair et al., 2011) Therefore, 162 samples were enough for PLS-SEM analysis The significance of the path coefficients was tested using a nonparametric bootstrapping procedure, and the entire model fit was tested with the indices of SRMR and R2 The recommended SRMR should be lower than 0.08 (Hu & Bentler, 1998), and this model showed a value of 0.067, being considered a good model fit In addition, all the R2 values of each endogenous construct are greater than the recommended threshold of 0.1 (Falk & Miller, 1992) The analysis revealed that appearance similarity with the avatar significantly influ enced self-congruence with the avatar (β = 760, p < 001), supporting H1, and self- congruence with the avatar significantly influenced the flow (β = 521, p < 001), support ing H2 Sequentially, flow significantly influenced virtual product purchase intention (β = 645, p < 001), hence, H3 was supported Virtual product purchase intention signifi cantly influenced real product purchase intention (β = 595, p < 001), supporting H5 (see Figure 2) The analysis results also revealed that self-congruence with the avatar and flow fully mediated the relationship between appearance similarity with the avatar and virtual product purchase intention Besides self-congruence with the avatar and flow, appear ance similarity with the avatar also significantly influenced virtual product pur chase intention (β = 255, p < 001); however, the indirect effect of appearance similarity on virtual product purchase intention was not significant (β = 149, p = 087), when including self-congruence with the avatar and flow in the model, supporting H4 (see Figure 2) H1 Self-congruence H2 Flow H3 760*** with Avatar .521*** R2 = 266 645*** Appearance R2 = 575 H4 Virtual product Similarity with Purchase Intention H5 Real product Avatar 595*** Purchase Intention 149n.s R2 = 350 R2 = 510 Figure PLS results of the conceptual model n.s means not significant JOURNAL OF GLOBAL FASHION MARKETING 33 Discussions This study aimed to understand the role of avatars in the metaverse, and how self- congruence with the avatar and flow can be a bridge to virtual product purchase intention This study also examined the possibility of an extension of purchase intention from the metaverse to the real world To so, this study conducted a survey to gauge the perceptions of a famous metaverse platform, ZEPETO users First, this study found a positive effect of avatar similarity on self-congruence with the avatar The more people perceive that their avatar is identical to their own appearance, the more they perceive self-congruence with their avatar As Jin (2010) suggested that people feel more connected when their avatar is their ideal instead of their real image, our findings imply that appearance similarity can also enhance such connection Second, users are more likely to be immersed in the metaverse when they perceive that their avatar’s self-concept accords with that of the real self This study supports previous studies showing significant causality between self-congruence with the avatar and flow (Ding & Hung, 2021) Third, this study also found that the flow experience in the metaverse could prompt the user to buy virtual products for their avatar This finding is consistent with Syahrizal et al (2020) who identified the drivers of virtual item purchases in video games Importantly, we discovered that while the appearance similarity with the avatar does not directly affect virtual product purchase intention, it does so indirectly by allowing users to perceive self- congruence with their avatars, thereby increasing their immersion (i.e flow) into the metaverse world Lastly, to the best of our knowledge, this study is the first attempt to show that consumer behavior in the virtual world can extend to behavior in the real world Specifically, people who intend to buy virtual products for their avatars are more likely to buy the real versions of the products for themselves 5.1 Theoretical implications This study suggests how the researchers understand the metaverse itself and the dynamics in it Several studies to date have examined consumer behavior in the virtual world, especially through video games, and many psychological concepts have been adopted including self-congruence with the avatar (Ko & Park, 2020), flow (Li & Lwin, 2016), and behavior related to virtual products (Wu & Hsu, 2018) Yet, the literature surrounding the metaverse is still scarce In filling this literature gap, this study attempted to provide a deeper understanding of the metaverse by establishing the definition and applying the concepts from the previous studies to this nascent field of research Our findings verified that most concepts from video game-related studies work similarly in the metaverse First, both video games and metaverse are constructed in the virtual world in which users can be easily immersed Second, all activities are accomplished by their digital form of avatar and users perceive their avatar as their representations, feeling homogeneity with it Third, the users purchase virtual products (items) which give users specific benefits Nonetheless, discrepancies between video games and the metaverse also exist The findings of our study imply that the extent of appearance similarity may play a greater role in the metaverse compared to video games It may be because, in the metaverse, virtual items are much more realistic in their appearances and consist of items from the real world such as t-shirts, hoodies, hats, etc Therefore, users in the metaverse 34 J PARK AND N (L.) KIM are able to perceive similarity with their avatars more so than in video games, which, in turn, boosts self-congruence with their avatar and flow Another distinguishing facet of the metaverse, as discovered in our study, is the connection of purchasing behavior between the virtual and real world Studies have yet to show how the consumption of virtual items in video games influences the real world; yet, according to our findings, the purchasing behavior in the metaverse can be extended easily to that of the real world Moreover, this study used the “extended self” theory by Belk (2016) to understand the role of an avatar as a digital version of the self in the metaverse This study revealed the self- concept transformation, that is, appearance similarity with the user would be developed into self-congruence with the avatar This finding is meaningful because whether people make their avatars identical to their actual appearance or to their ideal image has been debated Hence, this study confirms Belk’s (2016) notion that the identification with one’s digital self can be increased with an avatar who is similar to the owner In addition, as Belk (2016) suggested that the experience of using an avatar in the virtual world has an effect in real life, this study attests to the “proteus effects” by finding the link between the real world and the virtual world Specifically, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempt to demonstrate the possibility that purchase intention in the metaverse can influence that of the real world This link should be examined further in aspects other than consumption 5.2 Managerial implications The findings of this study also have several implications for metaverse developers and retail brands For developers, it is crucial to allow users to engage in high-quality avatar customiza tion The more people feel that their avatars are similar to their real appearance, the more likely they are to buy virtual products One of the reasons ZEPETO has been popular with users is that there are numerous options (e.g body shape and various facial features) they can choose for their avatar, which is not common in other metaverse platforms Thus, developers should focus on creating sophisticated customization features Retail brands that want to utilize the metaverse as a new marketing tool can also find marketing cues in this study Many retail brands, especially apparel brands, are already using the metaverse as a retail channel to roll out virtual and real-world products They have created virtual versions of products that have the exact same appearance as real products in the metaverse This study shows that users’ purchase intention of virtual products can lead to purchase intention of the real versions of the products in the real world Since the virtual versions of the products are far more affordable than the real versions, users can easily access new luxury products in the virtual world Brands could also use the metaverse as a testbed for new products If users show high interest in the newly launched virtual products, brands can interpret this success as a sign to manufacture real versions of the products Moreover, brands can combat the industry-wide problem of product returns by allowing users to virtually try on items in their digital boutiques Given the user-avatar appearance similarity, sizing and fit issues can be alleviated, and brands can encourage customers to buy items with greater confidence Lastly, the metaverse can be used as a virtual brand community where users interact with the brand and with other consumers Through the highly interactive and immersive nature of the metaverse, users can experience the brand in an exciting way (e.g watch a virtual fashion show, play branded games), in turn, increasing brand familiarity and loyalty JOURNAL OF GLOBAL FASHION MARKETING 35 5.3 Limitations and future studies This study has several limitations The first limitation stems from the metaverse platform we used We recruited participants who had experience using ZEPETO While ZEPETO is a popular metaverse platform, there are other major metaverse platforms in the market, and each offer slightly different features (e.g the degree of avatar customization, con tents, etc.) Although metaverse platforms have common features such as the use of avatars and interaction between users, the quality of avatar customization, and the goal of each metaverse platform are different To strengthen the generalizability, we recom mend recruiting users from various metaverse platforms and even the non-users to understand their perceptions and experiences The second limitation concerns the demographics of the sample The number of female participants was much larger than male participants, and the sample was limited to users in South Korea Since metaverse platforms are enjoyed by males and females alike and from around the world, we encourage future studies to increase the diversity of the sample demographics Third, this study examined the path from virtual to real product purchase intention However, future research should consider the opposite direction For instance, people who have purchased real products may also consider buying virtual versions of the products for their digital self (i.e an avatar) in the metaverse The bi-directional nature of the purchase intentions warrants further examination Finally, even though this study only considered the “appearance” (i.e physical) similarity between the user and the avatar, additional dimensions of similarity, such as personal characteristics should be considered in a future study (Hooi & Cho, 2014) Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s) ORCID Jinsu Park http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1997-9872 Naeun (Lauren) Kim http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9939-2857 References Bankhurst, A (2021, October 19) Animal crossing: New horizons is another case of Nintendo stopping support too soon IGN 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