Virtual Social Identity and Consumer Behavior

Citation

Vander Schee, B.A. (2010), "Virtual Social Identity and Consumer Behavior", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 27 No. 6, pp. 563-564. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363761011078307

Computer mediated environments (CME) have existed for some time. But research on virtual worlds is still emerging. The direction of future studies lies in the conceptual models being developed now by pioneers in the field. These initial studies lay the groundwork to address concerns in the future. For example, how can corporations best capitalize on the attentive audience of virtual world residents? How do consumers respond to various types of avatars? How should issues related to consumer privacy, access to children and consumer research be addressed as this new technology advances?

The book Virtual Social Identity and Consumer Behavior seeks to answer these questions. In particular “this book focuses exclusively on one key aspect of CMEs: the unprecedented ability they offer to visitors to craft one or many social identities at will” (p. viii). As a compilation of selected papers presented at the 2008 Advertising and Consumer Psychology Conference sponsored by the Society for Consumer Psychology the authors and their perspectives are both scholarly and diverse. Thus the mix of theory and application make for an engaging book appropriate for academic and corporate interests.

The opening chapter, “I, avatar: auto‐netnographic research in virtual worlds” Kozinets and Kedzior posit that the essence of virtual world experiences cannot be captured effectively using traditional ethnographic research. Auto‐netnography involves documenting personal in‐world experiences to better understand the cultural nature of online communities. They argue that three aspects of in‐world experiences in particular make auto‐netnographic research distinctive as an approach to understanding in‐world consumer behavior. They include re‐worlding, or existing in an environment without traditional physical and social boundaries, re‐embodiment where individuals assume a self‐created persona through an avatar, and mutliperspectivality where individuals exist physically in real life and through one or more avatars in‐world. Although well‐versed in this area of study the authors took a user‐friendly approach in presenting their work.

In chapter 2, “For a better exploration of metaverses as consumer experiences” author El Kamil formulates four research propositions that merit further investigation. One such proposition is that in metaverses (online worlds) the avatar chosen by the consumer is a reflection of his or her motivations. The value of further pursuing these new lines of inquiry lies in having a better understanding of on‐line consumer experiences and thus a more informed approach to in‐world promotion, demonstration and consumption.

Hinsch and Bloch's chapter, “Interaction seeking in second life and implications for consumer behavior” provides an overview of Second Life. They suggest that consumers engage in Second Life to buy or sell social capital, often the motivation is simultaneous. Virtual world environments lack the capacity for taste, smell or touch. However the nature of the medium and the residents' desire for interactivity provide marketers with a low cost setting for consumers to engage visually with products or designs.

The exploratory work by Brown and Tuten in chapter 4, “I don't know you, but I trust you: a comparative study of consumer perceptions in real‐life and virtual worlds” suggests that most Second Life residents trust each other as if they were regular friends. However, they trusted personal recommendations from real friends to a much greater degree. The limited sample size hinders the generalizabilty of the results and as the authors mention, more research in e‐word of mouth marketing is needed.

In chapter 5, “Social interaction with virtual beings: the technology relationship interaction model and its agenda for research” authors Keeling, Keeling, de Angeli and McGoldrick report the results of their exploratory work on consumer responses to service avatar interactions. They frame their research in expectancy violation theory and suggest a future line of research inquiry.

In Chapter 6, “Personalize avatar: a new way to improve communication and e‐service” Crete, St‐Onge, Merle, Arsenault and Nantel examine whether using a personalized avatar (i.e. virtual model) has an influence on consumer perceptions regarding website layout, quality and stickiness. Their results suggest that a personalized avatar positively influences online consumer behavior. Future research could extend to customer satisfaction and purchase intention.

Wang, Zhao and Bamossy provide a narrative regarding their research in chapter 7, “The sacred and the profane in online gaming: a netnographic inquiry of Chinese gamers.” Their thick description of how some gamers create an extended self through their gaming avatar(s) offers insight regarding the attachment, reverence and cultural norms in computer‐mediated environments. Although repetitive in places the authors used detailed description to convey the entrenched values of gamers in a way that non‐gamers could appreciate. Virtual marketers can glean several insights from this study regarding avatar relationships.

In chapter 8, “Finding mii: virtual social identity and the young consumer” Bryant and Akerman provide a conceptual framework to address how children and teens adopt and modify their virtual social identities. They suggest that children advance through four developmental stages from self‐development and identity development to identity projection and finally self‐representation. Understanding the developmental stages in context of the online environment (i.e. social networking, gaming or virtual world activity) could provide marketing applications for avatar development and execution.

In chapter 9, “Me, myself, and my avatar: the effects of avatars on SNW (social networking) users' attitudes toward a website and its ad content” Kim and Sundar present the results of their research. They conclude that avatar presence influences user self‐preservation but does not affect user self‐enhancement or attitude toward the avatar‐hosting website. Future research in this area might glean insights regarding the use of avatars in virtual advertising or public service messages.

Appiah and Elias discuss in chapter 10, “Effects of ethnic identity and ethnic ambiguous agents on consumer response to websites” the value of researching whether using an ethnic ambiguous agent resonates more strongly with a greater audience. Their preliminary findings suggest that at least with African Americans this may not be the case. However agent ethnicity may be a factor in consumer response toward the website, product or brand and thus merits further exploration.

Lutchyn, Duff, Faber, Cho and Huh consider a similar research question in chapter 11, “Ethnic matching: an examination of ethnic morphing in advertising.” They suggest that consumers may prefer a digitally morphed agent based on ethnicity when it comes to attractiveness of the agent and attitude toward the brand.

In the final chapter, “Mirror, mirror on the web: understanding thin‐slice judgments of avatars” Bublitz, Claybaugh and Peracchio provide a theoretical overview of thin‐slice judgments and how they can be applied in virtual settings. Specifically they provide a list of future research projects related to marketing in virtual worlds, relationship marketing, customer service and marketing ethics.

The chapters were originally written for a conference and thus the nature of their independent and simultaneous construction makes them susceptible to repetition and content overlap. At the same time the authors demonstrate the pace of development in studying virtual worlds and how consumers interact in them. It is clear that gaming, social networking sites and virtual worlds are growing in popularity and thus represent a medium that might become an absolute necessity, if not already, to effectively reach consumers. The book reaches a wide audience as it is should resonate with researchers in consumer behavior, customer service administrators and marketers in general. Perhaps first becoming as a resident in Second Life will give the reader a greater appreciation for the book in real life.

Brian A. Vander Schee

Aurora University, Aurora, Illinois, USA