Conceptual framing of virtuality and virtual consumption research

ABSTRACT

As virtual worlds and virtual consumption have evolved, so have the schools of thought on virtuality. Most prior literature on virtuality and virtual consumption has focused on the perspective of virtuality as “place”. More recently, researchers have examined virtuality and virtual consumption from the perspective of virtuality as practice or process. Rarely, however, both perspectives have been considered concurrently. This paper first provides a comprehensive overview of the different perspectives of the virtuality, followed by discussion of such theoretical perspectives in the context of studies of virtual consumption, identity, and social relationships. The last section proposes an integrated conceptual frame for study of virtual consumption: (1) the disjuncture and convergence between two places – virtual world versus real world; (2) the practices in which consumers manage to maintain and cross the cultural boundary of virtual world and real world via virtual consumption, and (3) the marketing efforts and process that develop around those places and practices.

随着虚拟世界和虚拟消费的发展，虚拟化的思想流派也在不断发展。大多数关于虚拟和虚拟消费的文献都关注虚拟 “地方”的视角。最近，研究人员从体验和过程作为虚拟的角度，审视虚拟和虚拟消费。然而，很少有人同时考虑这两种观点。本文首先全面概述了虚拟的不同观点，然后在虚拟消费，一致性和社会关系研究的背景下对虚拟理论观点进行讨论。最后提出了一个用于研究虚拟消费的综合概念框架：（1）虚拟世界与现实世界两个地方之间的分离和融合; （2）消费者通过虚拟消费维持和跨越虚拟世界和现实世界的文化边界的行为，（3）围绕这些地方和实践发展的营销努力和过程。

KEYWORDS:

• conceptual framework
• de-localization/realization
• re- localization/realization
• virtual consumption
• virtuality

关键词:

• 概念框架
• 去本地化
• 重新定位
• 虚拟消费
• 虚拟

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.