ScholarWorks@중앙대학교

초록

Purpose: This study applies the concept of virtuality to metaverse retail settings to elucidate how shopping experiences in virtual environments characterized by high virtuality (vs low virtuality), featuring unrealistic and imaginative spatial elements, can bolster consumer creativity. Design/methodology/approach: We employed a 2 × 2 between-subjects design, varying store virtuality (low vs high) and item virtuality (low vs high), to create an artificial retail environment within the metaverse platform. The study analyzed data from 165 female Zepeto users (aged 18–39) using factor analysis, reliability analysis, ANOVA, and the PROCESS macro procedure. Findings: An online-based experiment revealed that metaverse fashion stores with high virtuality are more effective at stimulating imagery elaboration and subsequent positive emotion and increasing creative consumption. Thus, virtuality is an environmental characteristic of the metaverse platform, which fosters consumer creativity through cognitive and affective mechanisms. Originality/value: This study refines the concept of virtuality in retail environments and examines how shopping content in metaverse stores influences consumer creativity through imagery elaboration and positive emotion. It advances theoretical understanding of virtual retailing and consumer behavior while offering practical insights for designers, brands, and retailers to enhance the virtual shopping experience as a distinctive experiential strategy.

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