Gamified marketing activities in retail Metaverse to foster sustainable relationship behaviour: Moderation effect of arousal seeking and perceived risk

The study examines the impact of gamified marketing activities on sustainable relationship behaviour. It also includes user experience as the mediator of the relationship between gamified marketing activities and sustainable relationship behaviour. Arousal seeking and perceived risk were added as moderators between gamified marketing activities and user experience. The study further extends its scope to test the model in a moderated mediated analysis. The data were collected from Metaverse platforms like Roblox, Decentraland, and Sandbox. A total of 313 responses were collected and analysed using SmartPLS 4.0. The results show that gamified marketing activities positively influence user experience and sustainable relationship behaviour. Arousal seeking and perceived risk have proven to moderate the relationship between gamified marketing activities and user experience. Utilizing PROCESS Macro, it is discovered that arousal seeking and perceived risk are moderating the mediation effect of user experience on the relationship between gamified marketing activities and sustainable relationship behaviour. The present research further extended the understanding of the role of gamified marketing activities on user experience and sustainable relationship behaviour through a moderated mediated model. This study pioneers the moderating role of arousal seeking and perceived risk in the relationship between gamified marketing activities and user experience in the Metaverse.