The Impact of Interactivity Virtual Embodiment and Virtual Crowd on Virtual Reality Experiences and Impulse Buying

Abstract

With the growth of virtual reality (VR) devices and applications VR is asserted to be a successful internet shopping technology in the future However only a few studies have investigated the VR shopping context Applying the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model this research examines the influences of some VR environment stimuli (interactivity virtual embodiment virtual crowd) on a customer’s organism (local presence telepresence perceived social presence and playfulness) and a customer’s urge to buy impulsively in a VR store To examine these relationships the author conducted a 2x2x3 factorial design experiment with 364 participants The findings revealed that interactivity has positive impacts on local presence and playfulness virtual embodiment has positive impacts on telepresence and playfulness and virtual crowd has positive impacts on perceived social presence Additionally except telepresence local presence perceived social presence and playfulness are found to have positive impacts on the urge to buy impulsively The results of this research contribute to the literature on consumer behaviors in VR shopping as well as the understanding of the impacts of VR environmental factors on impulse buying

Date of Award	2020
Original language	English
Supervisor	Jeng-Chung Chen (Supervisor)