The impact of immersive and flow experiences on consumer participation in hyper-connected shopping platforms: A metaverse perspective

Consumers find it increasingly compelling to immerse themselves in the metaverse, a trend that will likely continue. Although the metaverse has retailing potential, understanding empirically its effects on consumer behavior is still underexplored. Our study investigating consumer interactions in this hyper-connected shopping environment uses scenario-based data from 262 consumers and a multimethod quantitative approach to examine the integrative behavioral model, revealing consumer perceptions of metaverse affordances, their impact on self-efficacy, and the role of trust, immersion, and flow experiences in participation in metaverse shopping platforms. Perceived enjoyment emerges as a critical driver of consumer participation. This study provides convincing empirical evidence of the drivers specific to consumer metaverse experiences, going beyond the current understanding of consumer behavior in the metaverse shopping context, mainly at the conceptual level. The findings provide actionable insights for metaverse practitioners to enhance consumer engagement.