Effects of Technology, Content, and Social Relationship on Customer Continuance Intention in the Metaverse

This study examines customers’ continuance intention in metaverse services by integrating technological, content, and social-relational dimensions and assessing the role of immersiveness. Six focal antecedents are considered, namely, technological sophistication, security, content creativity, content richness, social interaction, and social presence. Survey data from 231 metaverse users in China show that technological sophistication, content creativity, social interaction, and social presence are positively associated with immersiveness, whereas security and content richness are not. In addition, continuance intention is positively associated with technological sophistication, security, content richness, social interaction, and immersiveness. Despite the absence of clear indirect effects via immersiveness, the results suggest that continuance intention reflects not only immersive experience but also post-adoption evaluations of assurance and usefulness. As metaverse services move toward broader adoption and commercialization, these findings distinguish experience-building drivers from retention-relevant factors and offer implications for service development, content strategy, and community experience design.