Are male and female avatars perceived equally in 3-D virtual worlds?

David DeWester; Fiona Fui Hoon Nah; Sarah J. Gervais; Keng Siau

Are male and female avatars perceived equally in 3-D virtual worlds?

David DeWester, Fiona Fui Hoon Nah, Sarah J. Gervais, Keng Siau

Psychology

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Virtual worlds are three-dimensional, computer-generated worlds in which users take the form of avatars and use those avatars to interact with objects and other avatars in the virtual world. Virtual worlds are growing in importance in both educational institutions and businesses. Educational institutions have adopted virtual worlds as a medium for instructional delivery whereas businesses are using virtual worlds for recruitment, training, collaboration, and marketing. Given these emerging phenomena, a better understanding of behavioral and perceptual issues in virtual worlds is warranted. We propose a research model to study the interaction effects of gender stereotypicality of male and female avatars and gender typicality of tasks on trust perceptions. Gender stereotypes have been widely studied in the real world along with their effects on trust perceptions. An experiment is proposed to examine the effects of gender stereotypes on trust perceptions in virtual worlds. Implications and expected contributions are also discussed.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009
Pages	3088-3095
Number of pages	8
State	Published - 2009
Event	15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009 - San Francisco, CA, United States Duration: Aug 6 2009 → Aug 9 2009

Publication series

Name	15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009
Volume	5

Conference

Conference	15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009
Country/Territory	United States
City	San Francisco, CA
Period	8/6/09 → 8/9/09

Keywords

Avatars
Perception of avatars
Stereotypicality
Virtual worlds

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Computer Science Applications
Computer Networks and Communications
Information Systems
Library and Information Sciences

Cite this

Are male and female avatars perceived equally in 3-D virtual worlds? / DeWester, David; Nah, Fiona Fui Hoon; Gervais, Sarah J. et al.
15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009. 2009. p. 3088-3095 (15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009; Vol. 5).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

DeWester, D, Nah, FFH, Gervais, SJ & Siau, K 2009, Are male and female avatars perceived equally in 3-D virtual worlds? in 15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009. 15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009, vol. 5, pp. 3088-3095, 15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009, San Francisco, CA, United States, 8/6/09.

@inproceedings{b7d55c655d47436d85d835765c45eefa,

title = "Are male and female avatars perceived equally in 3-D virtual worlds?",

abstract = "Virtual worlds are three-dimensional, computer-generated worlds in which users take the form of avatars and use those avatars to interact with objects and other avatars in the virtual world. Virtual worlds are growing in importance in both educational institutions and businesses. Educational institutions have adopted virtual worlds as a medium for instructional delivery whereas businesses are using virtual worlds for recruitment, training, collaboration, and marketing. Given these emerging phenomena, a better understanding of behavioral and perceptual issues in virtual worlds is warranted. We propose a research model to study the interaction effects of gender stereotypicality of male and female avatars and gender typicality of tasks on trust perceptions. Gender stereotypes have been widely studied in the real world along with their effects on trust perceptions. An experiment is proposed to examine the effects of gender stereotypes on trust perceptions in virtual worlds. Implications and expected contributions are also discussed.",

keywords = "Avatars, Perception of avatars, Stereotypicality, Virtual worlds",

author = "David DeWester and Nah, {Fiona Fui Hoon} and Gervais, {Sarah J.} and Keng Siau",

year = "2009",

language = "English (US)",

isbn = "9781615675814",

series = "15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009",

pages = "3088--3095",

booktitle = "15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009",

note = "15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009 ; Conference date: 06-08-2009 Through 09-08-2009",