IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/spr/prbchp/978-3-031-83705-0_22.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

Making It Personal: How Place Attachment in the Metaverse Can Influence Sustainable Behavioral Intentions

In: Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2025

Author

Listed:
  • Tsz-Wai Lui

    (National Taiwan Normal University)

  • Lakshmi Goel

    (Al Akhawayn University)

  • Yassine El Bouchikhi

    (Al Akhawayn University)

Abstract

The study examines how immersive virtual experiences in the metaverse can foster environmental awareness and drive pro-environmental behavior intention. Using the interactionist theory of place attachment (ITPA) and situated cognition theory, we propose a research model highlighting how meaningful interactions in virtual environments can simulate attachment to places, which influences users’ cognitive and emotional engagement and sustainable behavioral intentions. We test this research model using the “Reef Migration” from theBlu, a virtual marine tour available on Steam. 300 Participants used a virtual reality headset to explore marine life and then answered a survey. A pre-recorded audio script was developed to provide information about the marine species and the threats they face, educating participants as they navigate the virtual tour. Our findings show that the metaverse’s sensory perceptions (telepresence and media richness) enhance location awareness, while technology affordance (ease of use and usefulness) increases task awareness. These immersive experiences evoke emotional responses and cognitive engagement, altering mental models and promoting sustainable behavior. The metaverse can bridge gaps in environmental education for those unable to access real-world environments due to constraints. By offering meaningful experiences, the metaverse fosters attachment to virtual places, influencing sustainable behaviors similar to real-world interactions.

Suggested Citation

  • Tsz-Wai Lui & Lakshmi Goel & Yassine El Bouchikhi, 2025. "Making It Personal: How Place Attachment in the Metaverse Can Influence Sustainable Behavioral Intentions," Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics, in: Lyndon Nixon & Aarni Tuomi & Peter O'Connor (ed.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2025, pages 263-273, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:prbchp:978-3-031-83705-0_22
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-83705-0_22
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:prbchp:978-3-031-83705-0_22. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.