Increasingly, consumers interact through the Internet to share their knowledge, experiences, and opinions. Consequently, 'word-of-mouse' has become a significant market force that influences consumer decision-making. On the basis of extensive quantitative and qualitative research, the authors sketch how consumers make use of virtual communities as social and information networks, and how this affects their decision-making processes. We present three studies that address (i) determinants and effects of virtual community influence on the consumer decision process; (ii) virtual community participation patterns; and (iii) discussion practices of the most active community members. Key implications for managers, marketers, and market researchers are discussed.

Virtual communities: A marketing perspective

The development pace of digital socialization has accelerated drastically in the past decade, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic. Through that continuing digital shift, the idea of the metaverse, a virtual parallel world that can digitally replicate people's lives, is developing fast through Meta's (previously known as Facebook) announcement in October 2021 that it will dedicate sizeable investments in it. While the metaverse provides immense opportunities to brands, the primary concern will be on how integrate it with current media and retail channels, whether they are offline or online. Accordingly, using an exploratory qualitative approach, this study examined the potential strategic channel-based marketing routes that companies would face in the presence of the metaverse. The findings show that the route to market will become much more complex given the metaverse's own platform setup. Strategic multichannel and omnichannel routes are examined through a proposed framework that takes into consideration the expected evolution of the metaverse platform. 

/pdf/marketing-in-the-metaverse-era-toward-an-integrative-channel-3j7hiww1.pdf

Marketing in the metaverse era: toward an integrative channel approach

PurposeThe rise of the metaverse has brought profound changes to the economic and social operation models and injected new vitality into academic research. Although a large number of studies have emerged, there are few quantitative analyses of development frontiers and trends.Design/methodology/approachFrom a bibliometric perspective, this paper selects 183 pieces of metaverse-related literature in the WoS core database since 2000 as the object of analysis. This paper sums up the characteristics of the literature using the methods of descriptive statistical analysis, keywords analysis, thematic evolution analysis and summarizes the core themes and the laws of metaverse development in each stage.FindingsThe digital economy vision brought by the metaverse has led to an increasing number of researchers and achievements in this field. But the depth and breadth of research are still insufficient and unevenly distributed in the region, and the cross-fertilization fields need to be expanded. From the industry's point of view, VR games represented by Second Life and My World have contributed to the popularity of the metaverse. As technology progresses, the research hotspots in the field of metaverse gradually develop from conceptual research to artificial intelligence, blockchain, NFT and other technical applications. However, academic research has not yet caught up with the industry's pace and stays more in the concept discussion and preliminary application stage.Originality/valueA systematic overview of the current status, knowledge structure and hot issues of metaverse research is shown, which provides a thematic axis for this field, enriches and improves the quantitative analysis of its literature and provides a clear picture for researchers to continuously promote the development of this field. At the same time, it is necessary to warn that technological development is a double-edged sword. The process of metaverse development should return to rationality, respect the laws of its development and guarantee the healthy development of the metaverse by strengthening legal regulation and the ethical review of science and technology.

An analysis of the current status of metaverse research based on bibliometrics

Interest in the Metaverse has recently surged due to the transformational opportunities and experiences that it offers to customers and businesses across the globe. However, the extant literature on the Metaverse is inconsistent, with no existing literature synthesis or consensus among studies on the definition of the Metaverse. This study provides a scoping review of Metaverse research, identifying the trends, definitions, and characteristics of the Metaverse concept. After providing a review of Metaverse research in all subject areas, the study narrows its focus to the business and management field, providing a more detailed review of the trends, characteristics, opportunities, and challenges of the Metaverse in this specific context. The findings from the literature are used to propose the Metaverse Research Model which conceptualizes and problematizes the literature, providing insight into the key concepts related to the Metaverse and offering guidance in terms of future research directions. 

What is the Metaverse? Challenges, Opportunities, Definition, and Future Research Directions

This study aims to examine hospital image, perceived medical quality, relationship marketing and word-of-mouth as the determinants of patients’ intent to revisit private hospitals in Penang, based on the theory of planned behaviour.,A quantitative study comprising a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to domestic and international patients at the airport, private hospitals and hotels located in Penang. The partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach was used to analyse and test the research hypotheses.,The results show that cognitive components (i.e. hospital image and perceived medical quality) do not have any significant influence on patients’ intent to revisit, while affective components (i.e. relationship marketing) and behavioural components (i.e. word-of-mouth) are important in increasing patients’ intent to revisit private hospitals in Penang, Malaysia. Trust has no significant mediating effect between predictor variables and patients’ intent to revisit, but it has significant association with affective and behavioural components.,The findings provide insights to medical marketing teams in promoting and increasing patients’ intent to revisit their respective hospitals and for the governments to sustain and enhance medical tourism in their countries.,This study is one of the few studies that looks at the relationship between hospital image, perceived medical quality, relationship marketing, word-of-mouth and patients’ intent to revisit private hospitals in Penang, Malaysia. This study also explored the direct and indirect effects of trust on patients’ intent to revisit that was still limited.

Patients’ intent to revisit with trust as the mediating role: lessons from Penang Malaysia

Second Life is a computer mediated 3D virtual world imagined and created by its residents. Virtual world is a simulated environment where residents can interact with each other through different communication media. The purpose of this study is to investigate why people communicate in Second Life and the importance of communication to generate real business value. The major theoretical backgrounds used in this study were the communication theory and social systems, theory of intrinsic motivation and word of mouth communications. A case study from Second Life users in the form of online interview was performed to learn communication behaviour of people, their attitude towards communication technology and experience of performing online business. The result was focused on effectiveness and superiority of web 2.0 communication and its effect on real world companies and organisations. The outcome of the findings has real world implication for policy makers, managers and leaders with respect to sharing information and decision making.

Communication and online business opportunities in virtual environment: Second Life

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Communication and online business opportunities in virtual environment: Second Life