Examining the influence of avatar identification on sharing intention in the metaverse: The mediating role of immersion and moderating effect of perceived social distance

This study aims to investigate the impact of avatar identification on the intention to share by examining the mediating role of user immersion and the moderating effect of perceived social distance. For this, we collected 228 higher education students in South Korea through a survey and used hierarchical regression with SPSS 24.0. In the results, first, it showed that participants who perceived higher levels of similarity identification, wishful identification, and embodied presence in their avatars in the metaverse platform were more immersed in their avatars. Second, participants who perceived greater embodied presence in their avatars had a stronger intention to share their avatars through immersion. Finally, the positive relationship between perceived embodied presence and immersion was more significant for participants in metaverse platforms with higher perceived social distance compared to those with lower perceived social distance. This study is the first to examine the integral model of avatar identification factors in the metaverse platform. And, this study’s results show the mechanism by which avatar identification enhances the intention to share.