Schnack Alexander, Wright Malcolm J, Holdershaw Judith L
Massey Business School, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Massey Business School, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand; Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
Food Res Int. 2019 Mar;117:40-49. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2018.01.028. Epub 2018 Jan 31.
This study explores whether using immersive virtual reality technology (iVR) in a virtual simulated store (VSS) enhances perceived telepresence and usability compared to conventional desktop technology. Two experiments were carried out in a between-groups methodological design that involved a total of 111 participants who completed a simulated shopping trip. In the first experiment a conventional desktop computer setup was used to create the VSS using mouse and keyboard for navigation. The second experiment used iVR technology including a head-mounted display, body-tracking sensors, and hand-held motion-tracked controllers, which enabled navigation via body movement in a walk-around iVR environment. Participants purchased grocery items within each VSS environment, and post-hoc measures of perceived telepresence and usability ratings were compared. Results showed that participants in the iVR group experienced stronger feelings of immersion and perceived naturalness of interactions with the store environment compared to the desktop group. Both factors potentially lead to enhanced perceived telepresence. However, the visual realism of virtual products and the grasping interface for iVR control of product inspection could be further enhanced by advances in iVR technology. This study has implications for food marketing research as the use of immersive iVR can potentially lead to more naturalistic shopping behaviour in VSSs.
本研究探讨了在虚拟模拟商店（VSS）中使用沉浸式虚拟现实技术（iVR）与传统桌面技术相比，是否能增强临场感和可用性。在组间方法设计中进行了两项实验，共有111名参与者完成了一次模拟购物之旅。在第一个实验中，使用传统的桌面计算机设置，通过鼠标和键盘进行导航来创建VSS。第二个实验使用了iVR技术，包括头戴式显示器、身体追踪传感器和手持运动追踪控制器，这使得参与者能够在环绕式iVR环境中通过身体移动进行导航。参与者在每个VSS环境中购买杂货，并比较了事后的临场感和可用性评级。结果表明，与桌面组相比，iVR组的参与者体验到了更强的沉浸感以及与商店环境互动的自然感。这两个因素都可能导致更强的临场感。然而，iVR技术的进步可以进一步增强虚拟产品的视觉真实感以及用于iVR控制产品检查的抓取界面。本研究对食品营销研究具有启示意义，因为沉浸式iVR的使用可能会在VSS中导致更自然的购物行为。
