Factors Explaining Metaverse Users’ Charity Willingness

Abstract

From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the metaverse emerged as a new platform where people interact and communicate. Of many changes this technology introduced, people active in the virtual world do not have many opportunities to run into neighbors in need as it has before the pandemic. So this research set out to investigate what factors are associated with people’s willingness to give to charity amidst the pandemic. More importantly, the group difference between metaverse users and non-users was analyzed and compared. The result shows that personal attributes like extroversion, compassion, resilience, and even academic achievement were positively correlated with people’s willingness to give to charity. In the group comparison, metaverse users were more likely to give charity to people in need as opposed to non-users. The users were more likely to have received help from others, thus more willing to give back to those who needed help.