Into the virtual worlds: Conceptualizing the consumer-avatar journey in virtual environments

As digital representations of human controllers, consumer-avatars play a pivotal role in enabling immersive consumer experiences in virtual environments. Despite their significance in digital marketing research, the literature on consumer-avatars is highly fragmented and lacks comprehensive analysis across studies. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review and developed a comprehensive conceptual framework of the consumer-avatar journey, encompassing three unique phases: Self Representation, Avatar Embodiment, and Avatar-Mediated Interactions. By integrating empirical evidence with multiple theoretical perspectives, including motivation, self-concept, identification, and presence theories, we explored consumer motivations for self representation, how avatar identification occurs, and how avatar-mediated interactions are facilitated by the sense of presence. Additionally, we examined the moderating roles of technological, social, and individual factors in these processes. Our study provides significant theoretical contributions to the current literature by consolidating fragmented research and offers practical insights for marketers to design effective strategies around consumer-avatars. By elaborating on each phase of the consumer-avatar journey, we developed 11 propositions and 5 research questions to guide future research on consumer-avatars.