Metaverse Communication and Virtual Interaction: Exploring User Engagement in Immersive Digital Environments
Keywords:
avatar self-identification , communication richness, Indonesia, metaverse, user engagement, virtual safetyAbstract
Immersive platforms such as Roblox, Zepeto, VRChat and Meta Horizon Worlds have become everyday venues where young Indonesians meet, talk and transact through avatars, yet firms and platform operators still know little about why some virtual encounters produce sustained engagement while others are abandoned after a single visit. Drawing on the stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) framework, social presence theory and media richness theory, this study examines how communication richness and avatar self-identification shape user engagement through social presence, and whether virtual safety concern weakens the payoff of presence. Survey data from 438 Indonesian metaverse users aged 18–40 were analysed with partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), complemented by measurement invariance testing, multigroup analysis across access devices and importance–performance map analysis. Communication richness influenced engagement both directly (β = 0.214) and indirectly through social presence (β = 0.193), indicating complementary partial mediation. Avatar self-identification had no direct effect on engagement (β = 0.061, p = 0.204) but a significant indirect effect through social presence (β = 0.143), indicating full mediation. Virtual safety concern negatively moderated the social presence–engagement relationship (β = −0.118, p = 0.005), and the avatar–presence link was significantly stronger among VR-headset users than among PC and mobile users. The model explained 43.1% of the variance in social presence and 45.7% in engagement. The findings position social presence as the conversion mechanism through which metaverse design features become engagement, and identify interpersonal safety as a boundary condition that platform governance must address before immersion can deliver commercial or social value.
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