IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i9p5056-d798758.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Shared Virtual Reality Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Exploring the Gratifications and Effects of Engagement with Immersive Videos

Author

Listed:
  • Yang Cheng

    (Department of Communication, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA)

  • Yuan Wang

    (Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China)

  • Wen Zhao

    (Department of Communication, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT 06824, USA)

Abstract

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and recent economic recession have been impacting many people’s mental health. The experience of social distancing created new hardships for people who already reported symptoms of depression or anxiety. In these circumstances, new technologies, such as immersive virtual reality (VR) videos, could serve as useful tools for facilitating interactions, emotional sharing, and information processing within a virtual environment. In this study, researchers aimed to enrich the information processing literature by focusing on the uses and gratifications of 360-degree VR videos during the pandemic. Through employing survey research with 1422 participants located in the U.S. and structural equation modeling for data analysis, this study found that five types of gratification, including utilitarian (i.e., navigation), hedonic (i.e., enjoyment), sensual (i.e., realism), social (i.e., community), and symbolic (i.e., coolness), significantly motivated users to use such immersive videos. Simultaneously, data demonstrated that these five types of gratification could influence users’ cognitive engagement with virtual content. In addition, such VR engagement facilitated users’ positive attitudes toward immersive videos and continued usage of them. The findings provided practical implications for COVID-19 global recovery as well.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang Cheng & Yuan Wang & Wen Zhao, 2022. "Shared Virtual Reality Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Exploring the Gratifications and Effects of Engagement with Immersive Videos," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-16, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:9:p:5056-:d:798758
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5056/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5056/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kandaurova, Maria & Lee, Seung Hwan (Mark), 2019. "The effects of Virtual Reality (VR) on charitable giving: The role of empathy, guilt, responsibility, and social exclusion," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 571-580.
    2. Deborah S. Chung & Sujin Kim, 2008. "Blogging activity among cancer patients and their companions: Uses, gratifications, and predictors of outcomes," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 59(2), pages 297-306, January.
    3. Simonson, Itamar & Nowlis, Stephen M, 2000. "The Role of Explanations and Need for Uniqueness in Consumer Decision Making: Unconventional Choices Based on Reasons," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 27(1), pages 49-68, June.
    4. Simonson, Itamar & Nowlis, Stephen M., 2000. "The Role of Explanations and Need for Uniqueness in Consumer Decision Making: Unconventional Choices Based on Reasons," Research Papers 1610, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    5. Alzayat, Ayman & Lee, Seung Hwan (Mark), 2021. "Virtual products as an extension of my body: Exploring hedonic and utilitarian shopping value in a virtual reality retail environment," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 348-363.
    6. Sirgy, M Joseph, 1982. "Self-Concept in Consumer Behavior: A Critical Review," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 9(3), pages 287-300, December.
    7. Herz, Marc & Rauschnabel, Philipp A., 2019. "Understanding the diffusion of virtual reality glasses: The role of media, fashion and technology," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 228-242.
    8. Mollen, Anne & Wilson, Hugh, 2010. "Engagement, telepresence and interactivity in online consumer experience: Reconciling scholastic and managerial perspectives," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(9-10), pages 919-925, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Abosag, Ibrahim & Ramadan, Zahy B. & Baker, Tom & Jin, Zhongqi, 2020. "Customers' need for uniqueness theory versus brand congruence theory: The impact on satisfaction with social network sites," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 862-872.
    2. repec:cup:judgdm:v:8:y:2013:i:2:p:136-149 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Lokesh Jasrai, 2014. "Measuring Mobile Telecom Service Innovativeness Among Youth," Paradigm, , vol. 18(1), pages 103-116, June.
    4. Powel Maxwell Worimegbe & Agbaje Ifedayo, 2020. "Corporate Rebranding And Customers Retention. A Study Of Selected Telecommunication Firm In Nigeria," Cactus - The tourism journal for research, education, culture and soul, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 2(1), pages 17-25.
    5. M. Todd Royle & Gavin Fox & Wayne A. Hochwarter, 2009. "The Relationships Between Select Situational And Dispositional Constructs And Informal Accountability For Others," International Journal of Management and Marketing Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 2(1), pages 113-133.
    6. Hristina Nikolova & Cait Lamberton, 2016. "Men and the Middle: Gender Differences in Dyadic Compromise Effects," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 43(3), pages 355-371.
    7. Henkel, Laura & Toporowski, Waldemar, 2021. "Hurry up! The effect of pop-up stores’ ephemerality on consumers’ intention to visit," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    8. Wang, Feng & Liu, Xuefeng & Fang, Eric (Er), 2015. "User Reviews Variance, Critic Reviews Variance, and Product Sales: An Exploration of Customer Breadth and Depth Effects," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(3), pages 372-389.
    9. Simonson, Itamar, 2007. "Will I Like A "Medium" Pillow? Another Look At Constructed And Inherent Preferences," Research Papers 1977r1, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    10. Dörnyei, Krisztina Rita & Lunardo, Renaud, 2021. "When limited edition packages backfire: The role of emotional value, typicality and need for uniqueness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 233-243.
    11. Claire I. Tsai & Min Zhao & Dilip Soman, 2022. "Salient knowledge that others are also evaluating reduces judgment extremity," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 366-387, March.
    12. repec:cup:judgdm:v:6:y:2011:i:4:p:307-313 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Haris Krijestorac & Rajiv Garg & Prabhudev Konana, 2021. "Decisions Under the Illusion of Objectivity: Digital Embeddedness and B2B Purchasing," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(7), pages 2232-2251, July.
    14. Sahi, Gurjeet Kaur & Devi, Rita & Gupta, Mahesh C. & Cheng, T.C.E., 2022. "Assessing co-creation based competitive advantage through consumers’ need for differentiation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    15. Kostyk, Alena & Sheng, Jie, 2023. "VR in customer-centered marketing: Purpose-driven design," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 225-236.
    16. Christian Hildebrand & Gerald Häubl & Andreas Herrmann & Jan R. Landwehr, 2013. "When Social Media Can Be Bad for You: Community Feedback Stifles Consumer Creativity and Reduces Satisfaction with Self-Designed Products," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 14-29, March.
    17. Alexander Dilger & Thomas Gehrig & Marko Sarstedt, 2019. "(Ir)Rationality of decisions in business research and practice: introduction to the special issue," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 12(1), pages 1-7, April.
    18. Kim, Aekyoung & Briley, Donnel, 2020. "Finding the self in chance events," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 853-867.
    19. Raphael Thomadsen & Robert P. Rooderkerk & On Amir & Neeraj Arora & Bryan Bollinger & Karsten Hansen & Leslie John & Wendy Liu & Aner Sela & Vishal Singh & K. Sudhir & Wendy Wood, 2018. "How Context Affects Choice," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 5(1), pages 3-14, March.
    20. Yan, Huan & Chang, En-Chung & Chou, Ting-Jui & Tang, Xiaofei, 2015. "The over-categorization effect: How the number of categorizations influences shoppers' perceptions of variety and satisfaction," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 631-638.
    21. Sohn, Yong Seok & Ko, Man Ting, 2021. "The impact of planned vs. unplanned purchases on subsequent purchase decision making in sequential buying situations," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    22. Nikolaus Franke & Martin Schreier, 2008. "Product uniqueness as a driver of customer utility in mass customization," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 93-107, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:9:p:5056-:d:798758. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.