Metaverse in services marketing: an overview and future research directions

ABSTRACTAlthough it is still at the inception stage, the Metaverse is likely to revolutionize service marketing and management by disrupting existing business strategies, consumer norms, and marketing practices. However, most of the existing research focuses on the co-creation of metaverstic experiences in terms of interaction, but not on the co-creation of the purchase experience process of the actual products and services. This study proposes a conceptual framework that explains how and why the Metaverse will have significant impacts on creation and delivery of service experiences, the marketing of those experiences, and the co-creation of the purchase experience process through the provision of functional and hedonic benefits to various stakeholders. This study also discusses the potential of Metaverse in mitigating decision risks attributed to uncertainties associated with service experience offerings, information overload, and confusion in the marketing ecosystems and customers’ service experience journey. Since the adoption of the Metaverse will have significant implications for all stakeholders while presenting challenges, implications of the Metaverse and the associated challenges are discussed. This study also provides a research agenda to investigate the possible impacts of the Metaverse on service industries.摘要尽管元宇宙仍处于初期发展阶段，它可能会通过挑战现有的商业策略，消费者规范和营销实践来彻底改变服务营销和管理。 但是，大多数现有的研究都主要集中在以互动为理念实现体验价值共创，而没有考虑从实际产品和服务的购买体验过程（的角度）实现价值共创。 本项研究提出了一个概念框架，旨在解释如何以及为何元宇宙会对1）服务创造和传递，2）对新式体验的营销策略，以及3）通过提供功能和享乐主义的福利的规范为各个利益相关方提供购买体验价值共创产生重要影响。 这项研究还讨论了元宇宙对于降低由市场生态和客户服务体验相关的决策风险，信息过载以及信息混淆方面的潜在能力。 由于在服务体验中采用元宇宙将对所有利益相关者产生重大影响同时带来挑战，本文也对元宇宙对服务行业的意义及其所带来的挑战进行了探讨，并且对未来服务行业提出了一系列的研究议程。KEYWORDS: Metaverseservice industryexperienceinformation searchengagementconfusionservices marketingdecision making关键字: 元宇宙；服务行业；体验；信息搜索；参与；混淆；服务营销；决 Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).