Social Commerce and Metaverse in a New Virtual World

Abstract

Social commerce platforms are used for a variety of purposes including networking, shopping, and purchasing goods and services from others, while metaverse platform enables users to explore virtual 3D worlds and interact with other users in these environments. Although there are multiple benefits to embracing social commerce and metaverse platforms, regrettably these platforms sometimes lead to harassment, trolling, or abuse. Women face the risk of cyberbullying, cyberstalking, sexual harassment, graphic imagery, and hate speech while engaging in activities on social commerce or metaverse platforms. There are various studies available that have examined impulse buying behavior and attitudes toward social commerce or metaverse, but hardly any study is available that studied the risk and social support aspects about the adoption of these new emerging virtual platforms. Therefore, this study is an attempt to fill the research gap. It aims to study the influence of perceived risk and social support on women's adoption intentions toward social commerce and metaverse platforms.