Purpose This study’s aim is to examine the effects of actual metaverse users’ parasocial relationships with artificial intelligence– (AI-) controlled non-player characters (NPCs) on digital luxury non-fungible token (NFT) brand preferences leading to behavioral intentions (e.g. online and offline purchase intentions, virtual-to-real behavioral activities, NFT luxury brand endorsements on social medial platforms). The study focuses on Gen Z users who seek escapism by forming parasocial relationships with NPCs, which ultimately leads to digital NFT brand preference and, in turn, affects their behavioral intentions to consume luxury fashion brands. Design/methodology/approach The usable sample size for the partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis was 348 (of 400) actual metaverse platform users (Gen Z) in the USA. Findings Among the metaverse users, the parasocial relationships with AI-controlled NPCs formed through NPCs’ emotional and cognitive intelligence lead to metaverse social connectedness, which in turn results in luxury NFT brand preferences and a virtual-to-real behavioral spillover. Furthermore, Gen Z users’ positive virtual social connectedness influences not only their metaverse purchase intentions but also their real-world purchase intentions through a virtual-to-real behavioral spillover, highlighting the positive function of AI. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to address engagement through AI-controlled NPCs by separating emotional and cognitive intelligence, thus filling an important research gap. It demonstrates that luxury brands need different marketing strategies for digital NFTs and real items and thus need to understand consumer psychological mechanisms.
Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
AI in Service Interactions
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
With the evolution of wellness tourism in the digital era, there has been an exponential change in the landscape of travel wellness and preventive health care. Today, the travelers are driven to seek holistic well-being, self-care, and transformative experiences beyond traditional leisure. This growing demand has led to the integration of advanced wellness and tourism technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR), telemedicine, and blockchain. These innovations enhance personalization, operational efficiency, and accessibility for the customer; they also redesign the delivery and consumption of wellness experiences. As there is a technological shift in the wellness tourism industry, critical challenges arise related to data privacy, the digital divide, sustainability, cultural sensitivity, and the erosion of authenticity in wellness practices. This chapter critically examines the relationship between wellness tourism and emerging technologies. It hides the opportunities and the underlying challenges associated with this transformation. Insights complemented by semi-structured interviews with industry experts and extensive academic literature reviews published between 2015 and 2025 offered a comprehensive exploration of future trends, challenges, and pathways for sustainable development in wellness tourism. It also proposes the framework for ethical technology integration, ensuring the wellness tourism ecosystem remains inclusive and resilient. Inform the ground of the principle of sustainability.
Metaverse interoperability has become necessary for uniform virtual experiences between different metaverse ecosystems. Blockchain technology along with decentralized oracle network have played a key role in representing and transferring metaverse assets across different metaverse environments. This paper discusses the concept of interoperability with respect to metaverse, representation of metaverse assets on blockchains, and shows the application of decentralized oracles in achieving metaverse interoperability. Various standards for representing assets in blockchain and their comparison is performed. In the paper, the ERC-721 standard was used for tokenizing assets and transferring them from the Avalanche Fuji testnet to the Ethereum Sepolia testnet and Arbitron Sepolia to Ethereum Sepolia. Chainlink CCIP was used to transfer NFTs between blockchains. A comparison in term of the total gas consumed in both the transactions was performed. The paper has shown that Distributed Oracle Networks (DON) have become a useful solution in providing accurate and secure data feeds as well as transferring assets between different blockchain networks.