Abstract:
- Since the emergence of social virtual worlds (SVW)
as a potential business platform, several authors and marketing
managers are raising questions about avatars' shopping
behavior. Millions of real dollars are being spent on virtual
items in-worlds. Gender issues have received quite a lot of
attention with regards to shopping behavior and shoppers
adoption of specific retail channels. The current paper, however,
is the first to empirically examine consumer behavior in SVWs,
focusing in particular on the role of users' 'gender' in shaping
their shopping behavior for virtual products.