Adding Dimension to Content: Immersive Virtual Reality for e-Commerce

Abstract

This paper outlines a plan of research to investigate whether consumers prefer an immersive virtual reality format for information search rather than static picture format in an e-commerce context. The research uses the Expectation Confirmation Theory as a foundation to propose a research model for examining how two presentation formats for information search, static picture and immersive virtual reality, affect online consumers’ continuance intention to use the website. The proposed constructs theorised to be directly affected by presentation format are the confirmation and post-usage beliefs of enjoyment and perceived diagnosticity. The confirmation, the extent to which the expectation of the website matches the perceived performance, is proposed to affect online consumers’ continuance intention via modified beliefs and attitudes toward website providing a certain format.