Consumer behavior in an augmented reality environment: Exploring the effects of flow via augmented realism and technology fluidity
Introduction
Breakthrough technologies such as virtual and augmented technologies are increasingly significant driving forces for engaging today’s tech-savvy Gen Z consumers (Lee and Leonas, 2018, Priporas et al., 2017). Specifically, different types of augmented reality (AR, hereafter) applications accessible via QR codes, smart devices, large interactive screens or through projectors have been widely adopted for advertising and marketing purposes (e.g., McLean and Wilson, 2019, Rauschnabel et al., 2015, Rese et al., 2017). These AR applications embed digital content such as product information, virtual images, and animations into the real physical environment for user interface via intermediary devices interactively in real time (Azuma et al., 2001). Examples of commonly adopted AR systems enable consumers to interact with virtual make-up or clothing try-on sessions, in addition to enjoying a virtual tour in a museum, hotel, opera house, and more.
An AR system is distinct from that of a mixed reality (MR) or virtual reality (VR) system. While AR overlays digital elements over a real-world environment in which users interact with the digital items (Flavián et al., 2019), MR merges the digital elements with the real world (Farshid et al, 2018) where users interact with both the physical and virtual environments. Virtual reality (VR) presents digital elements and users interact exclusively with a virtual environment (Dwivedi et al., 2020), in contrast to AR which is “not closed off from reality but melds the real and virtual worlds together” (Rauschnabel et al., 2017). Extended reality (or XR) is an umbrella term that covers AR, MR, VR and any other emerging immersive technologies (Alcañiz et al., 2019, Çöltekin et al., 2020, Wendt, 2020). In particular, Rauschnabel et al. (2022b) defined XR by specifying X as a placeholder for “any” form of these realities to avoid the misleading term “extended” which per definition, excludes VR where reality is not extended but rather replaced (Dwivedi et al., 2020).
Extant research has studied AR applications from the perspective of technology acceptance (Huang and Liao, 2015, Olsson and Salo, 2011, Rese et al., 2014), user perception (Sung and Cho, 2012, Yaoyuneyong et al., 2016, Yim et al., 2017), user experience (Kim & Forsythe, 2008), AR-experience design (Scholz & Smith, 2016), and beauty and apparel shopping purchase intention (e.g., Wang et al., 2021, Watson et al., 2018). Yet, little theory-based research has assessed how AR-system engagement may allow consumers to assess a product-use experience leading to purchase decision-making. A relevant theory applicable to examine this cognitive process in the AR environment is the flow theory, which reflects an individual’s cognitive absorption when undertaking a task (Csikszentmihalyi, 1977). The construct of flow has been shown to mediate the effects of website design features such as interactivity, telepresence, attractiveness and vividness on attitude, purchase intentions and other consumer responses (e.g., knowledge acquisition) in an online marketing context (e.g., Skadberg and Kimmel, 2004, Van Noort et al., 2012). Rauschnabel et al. (2017) demonstrated flow as one of the important drivers that contributed to a positive association between the level of enjoyment and consumers’ attitude toward playing mobile AR games (e.g., Pokémon Go).
In the same vein, empirical research that investigates how consumer interaction with the affordances on a technology platform may influence their shopping experience is also limited. Such interaction is particularly relevant in an AR environment, as interaction fluidity experienced in the user-AR interface will help determine their perceived produce-use outcomes. An applicable theory to assess this user-technology interaction experience is the technology fluidity theory (Lin, 2004), which measures how fluidly an individual can make use of a technology platform to maximize the utilities of its affordances. The concept of technology fluidity is a key principle in designing effective interactivity mechanisms and user-technology interfaces (e.g., Elmqvist et al., 2011, Lin, 2008).
To gain a better understanding of the effectiveness of AR technology as a marketing tool, the current study explored how product-use experience resulting from interacting with an AR system may influence consumers’ purchase intention. A lab experiment was conducted to test the effects of AR technology affordances on users’ immersive experience via technology fluidity and flow theories. Two AR technology platforms (web-based and mobile app-based) that marketed the same product were utilized to elicit study participants’ cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses, through completing a product evaluation task in these two different AR-system settings. A conventional non-AR in-store product marketing device was also utilized to enable participants to complete the same set of evaluation task for comparison purposes.
Section snippets
Augmented realism
The concept of realism lies in the notion of presence, which has been conceptualized and operationalized in variegated approaches in the literature (Lombard & Ditton, 1997). In the AR research context, Daassi and Debbabi (2021) identified the notion of “location” in AR-based interaction experience, emphasizing presence that brings “virtual products to the consumer’s real surroundings” or creates “an intense illusion that the product moves into the consumer’s immediate physical environment”
Research design and participants
This study adopted a posttest-only between-group experiment, which randomly assigned participants to one of three study conditions that promoted the same product of a major paint brand. Each study condition had the participants utilize a different tool to choose a paint color to “paint” a wall in a “room.” These tools included a mobile app-based AR interface, a web-based AR interface, and a paint color-pallet booklet (as used by consumers in a physical store). This research design enabled the
Descriptive statistics
Zero-order correlations among all variables tested in the research hypotheses were presented in Table 3. All the variables are significantly correlated to one another, except for cognitive responses toward interface medium (consistent with the corresponding research hypotheses) and prior experience of using an AR system.
Measurement model
A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to evaluate the measurement of each construct. Results revealed that factor loadings for the measurement items of each
Discussion
The current study investigated the effects of AR technology affordances experienced through two different AR platforms in the context of marketing a brand. A laboratory experiment with three conditions compared the effects of two types of AR applications (web-based vs. mobile- app based) versus a non-AR traditional marketing device on the potential psychological and behavioral outcomes associated with consumer decision-making. The study has advanced noteworthy theoretical contributions to
Conclusion
The current study is among the first to test how the AR affordances of augmented realism and technology fluidity may influence consumers’ flow experience during computer–human interaction to generate a set of cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses in an online marketing environment. Findings from this research provide important design implications to marketers who wish to develop an effective AR-based marketing strategy. They also benefit future research that aims to further explore the
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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