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How to retain users in the metaverse: Exert technological affordances through psychological ownership mechanism

Author

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  • Fan, Xiaojun
  • Li, Huiyao
  • Jiang, Xinyu

Abstract

Metaverse platforms often experience initial popularity but struggle to sustain long-term user engagement. This study investigates how technological affordances—social interactivity, co-creativity, and meta-mobility—influence user stickiness through the mediating mechanism of psychological ownership, which comprises intimate knowing, self-investment, and perceived control. Utilizing a multi-method approach, we conducted two online surveys (n1 = 112; n2 = 312) analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM) for mediation mechanisms, supported by a 3 × 2 × 2 factorial offline experiment (n = 346) employing concurrent randomization and ANOVA to establish causal relationships. Our findings reveal that three affordances significantly enhance user stickiness, with psychological ownership mediating these effects. And individual differences—self-construal and technology propensity—moderate this dynamic. For interdependent (vs. independent) users, social interactivity (co-creativity or meta-mobility) affordance is more likely to stimulate psychological ownership but impede (facilitate) user stickiness. Interestingly, users with low (vs. high) technology propensity are more likely to form psychological ownership by co-creativity affordance. As the first study to propose a user-stickiness model for metaverse platforms, this research integrates the affordance theory and psychological ownership into technological innovation discourse, offering actionable insights for designing personalized affordances to ensure user retention.

Suggested Citation

  • Fan, Xiaojun & Li, Huiyao & Jiang, Xinyu, 2026. "How to retain users in the metaverse: Exert technological affordances through psychological ownership mechanism," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:84:y:2026:i:c:s0160791x25003215
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2025.103131
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    References listed on IDEAS

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