Me, my avatar, and my sneakers: The effect of avatar customization on the psychological ownership of virtual fashion items

Abstract

An avatar serves as a key medium that can display virtual fashion items to digital consumers. This study examines the impact of avatar customization on the purchase intention of virtual fashion items through avatar embodiment and psychological ownership. Two studies were conducted to allow participants to experience avatar customization process as on metaverse platforms. Serial mediation analysis revealed that avatar customization enhanced avatar embodiment, resulting in greater psychological ownership and purchase intention for virtual fashion items. The results demonstrated how users' integration with their avatars was transferred to virtual fashion items selected for the avatars. Furthermore, this effect was amplified by the level of the perceived avatar human likeness. The findings provide valuable insights for the literature on avatars by connecting users’ avatar perception to virtual fashion items, and for industry practitioners managing virtual fashion markets for avatars.