Consumer trust in 3D virtual worlds and its impact on real world purchase intention

Purpose - – This paper examines the three-dimensional (3D)virtual world users’ perceptions of authenticity and trustworthiness in the virtual prototypes and users’ potential purchase behavior in the real-world settings. The 3D virtual worlds provide a new platform that exhibits virtual prototypes as a promotion channel for new products of real-world and online service, where users can communicate “face to face” via their representative avatars. Design/methodology/approach - – The authors conducted an experiment in Second Life and collected data in a post-study questionnaire to test our proposed conceptual model. Structural equation modeling was the main methodology. Findings - – The research results showed that 3D virtual world users obtained a high sense of telepresence and social presence. The sense of telepresence positively leads to users’ perceptions of online trust in the virtual prototypes and thus increases their intention to purchase real-world objects; the users’ sense of social presence positively associates to their perceptions of authenticity and online trust and, therefore, their purchase intention. Research limitations/implications - – In survey research, the common method variance is a problem. A more robust way is to use objective measures. Practical implications - – A new channel was proposed for businesses to enhance their online strategies that will increase their business value. Social implications - – 3D virtual world is also a cutting-edge platform for remote education, public information service, etc. Originality/value - – This paper initially contributes to the literature that interprets underlying factors in 3D virtual worlds associated to purchase intention in real-world objects. We demonstrated the advantages, i.e. the communication efficacy and vivid virtual design in the 3D user-generated environment.