Title: A systematic review of metaverse: the next big leap in marketing and consumer research

Authors: Akanksha Srivastava; Ganesh P. Sahu

Addresses: School of Management Studies, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh – 211004, India ' School of Management Studies, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh – 211004, India

Abstract: As digital boundaries dissolve, the metaverse emerges as a canvas for marketing and consumer research, offering a vibrant new reality where immersive experiences unlock unprecedented insights and opportunities for innovation in understanding consumer behaviour. Despite this tremendous growth, research on metaverse's role in marketing and consumer research remains largely fragmented and unsynthesised. To overcome this situation, we aim to synthesise and evaluate 190 peer-reviewed articles published between January 1, 2009-March 15, 2025 to uncover current research trends and identify future research prospects. We employed the SPAR-4-SLR protocol to structure our methodology and applied TCM-ADO framework for literature analysis. The corpus of analysis focused on evaluating various theories, research settings, methods and techniques, and various factors such as antecedents, moderating and mediating variables, and outcomes. We finally contribute to the literature by mapping out a future research agenda supported by an integrative framework to advance research at the intersection of metaverse in marketing.

Keywords: systematic literature review; SLR; TCM-ADO framework; metaverse; customer experience; marketing; consumer behaviour; research agenda.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTMKT.2026.153417

International Journal of Technology Marketing, 2026 Vol.20 No.2, pp.175 - 220

Received: 05 May 2025
Accepted: 17 Oct 2025
Published online: 07 May 2026 *

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