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EMAC 2024 Annual


Avatars in Marketing – A Conceptual Framework and Literature Review
(A2024-119039)

Published: May 28, 2024

AUTHORS

Annika Kroos, University of Passau; Johanna Zimmermann, University of Passau; Jan Schumann, University of Passau

ABSTRACT

Avatars appear in a multitude of forms and are increasingly employed in digital settings such as on websites, social media platforms, or in the metaverse. Despite their prevalence, marketing literature misses to fully capture their variety and the opportunities they present. To address this gap, we provide a conceptual framework including three types of avatars (organization-, user-, and social-other-controlled avatars) and their interactions across technology-enabled service environments. Based on our framework, using a structured literature review approach, we classify prior marketing findings to uncover blind spots in avatar research. Results show that marketing research has, to date, mainly focused on consumer reactions toward organization-controlled avatars, neglecting the other identified avatar types and diverse avatar interactions. This investigation serves as a guide for future research in marketing, encouraging the exploration of untapped directions in avatar research.