The Effect of Autonomy Need Satisfaction and Escapism Motivation on Consumers’ Variety-seeking Behavior in Metaverse

Team: Terry Haekyung Kim; Hyunjoo Im

Program: Apparel Studies (Doctoral program)

Based on the self-determination theory, this study investigates consumers’ psychological states (e.g., autonomy need satisfaction, escapism motivation, positive affect) to explain variety-seeking in the metaverse.

The metaverse, a group of virtual shared worlds, is rapidly growing and many brands have created virtual product experiences in metaverse platforms (e.g., Roblox). However, if and how consumers possibly behave uniquely different in the metaverse is unknown. Because the physical laws governing the real world can be altered in the metaverse, consumers are likely to become adventurous and exploratory, which can encourage variety-seeking behaviors in the metaverse. Based on the self-determination theory, this study investigates consumers’ psychological states (e.g., autonomy need satisfaction, escapism motivation, positive affect) to explain variety-seeking in the metaverse.

A single-factor (real-world vs. metaverse) between-subjects online experiment was conducted (n=245, US consumers aged 18-39). Results demonstrated that the participants in the metaverse condition reported higher variety-seeking intention than the participants in the real world. While there was no difference in autonomy need satisfaction between the two conditions, escapism motivation moderated effects of the metaverse (vs. real-world) on autonomy need satisfaction. Escapism motivation amplified the effects of metaverse (vs. real-world) experience on autonomy satisfaction. Autonomy need satisfaction positively influenced positive affect and positive affect positively influenced variety-seeking intention. This study has shown that the metaverse experience can increase consumers’ variety-seeking behaviors by satisfying the user motivations.