A Multidisciplinary Examination of 3D Virtual Shopping Environments: Effects on Consumer Perceptual and Physiological Re
3D virtual reality technology can be used to create innovative virtual store environments capable of delivering unique and engaging shopping experiences. However, the value of using such an advanced technology has not been fully exploited yet. This study
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as some studies succeeded in demonstrating the persuasive effect of vividness (e.g., McGill & Anand, 1989), while others demonstrated that a vivid message is not always more persuasive than a non-vivid message (Keller & Block, 1997). In response, some empirical studies were conducted to examine the set of circumstances in which vividness effects occur (e.g., McGill & Anand, 1989; Keller & Block, 1997). However, we argue that an examination of the psychological and physiological processes underlying vividness effects may be more beneficial in understanding how vividness works in marketing messages. More specifically, in this study, we utilize physiological and psychological measures to examine the persuasive effects of vividness in the context of 3D virtual store environments. A vivid product presentation enhances the representational quality of product demonstrations by presenting more informational cues about the product and stimulating more sensory channels than a pallid product presentation (Jiang & Benbasat, 2007). For example, an immersive 3D virtual store environment can simulate direct examination of the product more closely than a 2D virtual store environment, due to a richer presentation of the product (3D depiction vs. 2D depiction) and a greater level of interactivity (e.g., using standard input devices vs. hand gestures to inspect a product). The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) suggests that, when individuals are given the opportunity to process a message (e.g., by having sufficient informational cues to process), they engage in higher elaboration (cognitive processes such as evaluation, recall, critical judgment, and inferential judgment). Consequently, an immersive 3D virtual store has the potential to stimulate more cognitive elaboration among users. However, this effect may not be uniform across individuals. In the context of product presentation, Schlosser (2003) demonstrated that greater object interactivity produces more elaborate cognitive responses from experiential users. However, the relationship was reverse for searchers or users with utilitarian goals. In terms of cognitive processing, searchers are goal oriented and often have prior expectations about a product. Therefore, they are more likely to be concept-driven and engage in top-down processing which is guided by prior expectations and knowledge. Their emphasis is efficiency in reaching their goal. In contrast, experiential users are more likely to be data driven. Therefore they engage in bottom-up processing which is guided by the stimulus and is more malleable based on the environment. They focus more on the actual experience that they derive from the interaction. The consumer learning literature further suggests that due to “confirmation bias” and “pseudodiagnosticity”, people are more concerned about false positives and thus lean towards facts or unambiguous information that confirm their prior beliefs and tend to interpret ambiguous stimuli as a confirmation of their prior beliefs (Hoch & Ha, 1986). Accordingly, in the case
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