Empirical Analysis of the Effect of 3D Avatars on Consumer's Online Purchasing Behavior in Virtual World : Emphasis on Trust Transference

가상세계에서 3차원 아바타 판매원이 소비자 온라인 구매 행위에 미치는 영향에 관한 실증연구 : 신뢰전이를 중심으로

Virtual world typically characterized by Second Life (www.secondlife.com) has been successfully drawing a great deal of potential users all around the world. Attention towards 3D avartars has been increasing exponentially especially in the electronic commerce world. 3D avatars have firm position in the virtual world. This study is launched to explore this research void in which trust transference from 3D-avatars-sales representative to customers purchase intention will be especially analyzed on. To perform experiments, a research model was built in a form of path analysis. Two types of 3D avatars were designed and implemented-at-tractive type and professional type. Questionnaire survey was adopted, and empirical analysis results were obtained from the research model. Results reveal that the proposed hypotheses are proven with statistical significance.