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Customer inspiration in the metaverse: Antecedents, mechanisms, and outcomes

Author

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  • Bazi, Saleh
  • Hajawi, Doa'a

Abstract

The metaverse represents a transformative digital environment reshaping consumer-brand interactions, yet the psychological mechanisms driving engagement remain unexplored. This study develops and examines a model of customer inspiration in the metaverse, testing how gameful experience, embodiment, and digital environment benefits drive customer inspiration from and to states. Using data from 1045 metaverse users analyzed via Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). We find gameful experience, embodiment, and digital benefits significantly enhance inspiration-by, with digital benefits emerging as the strongest driver. The customer inspiration-by to inspiration-to proves more robust than traditional digital context, leading to essential outcomes: brand happiness, brand loyalty, immersive experience, and willingness to pay a premium price. The study profoundly contributes to scholars and offers actionable insights for marketers, highlighting that the metaverse design, particularly gamification and features, outperforms the hedonic approaches. We contribute to emerging research topics on virtual consumer psychology while providing a framework for optimizing metaverse marketing.

Suggested Citation

  • Bazi, Saleh & Hajawi, Doa'a, 2025. "Customer inspiration in the metaverse: Antecedents, mechanisms, and outcomes," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:87:y:2025:i:c:s0969698925002188
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104439
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