TRANSCENDING REALITY: UNRAVELING POSITIVE AND ADVERSE EFFECTS OF MIXED REALITY PRODUCT INTERACTION
(A2024-119516)

AUTHORS

David Finken, ETH Zurich - Chair of Technology Marketing; Dorothea Aliman, University of Münster; Ana Valenzuela, Baruch College, CUNY; Jason DiPalma, Aarhus University

ABSTRACT

Technological advancement has shifted consumer interactions from the real world into mixed realities—the interplay of the real with or in virtual environments (Milgram et al., 1995). This special session investigates perceptual and behavioral implications of consumer interactions in Augmented Reality [AR]—papers 1 & 2 (Part I)—and Virtual Reality [VR]—papers 3 & 4 (Part II). Specifically, this session provides nuanced perspectives on the positive and adverse effects of AR/VR on product development, -usage, and -display. Managers should take heart from the insights as the future might be—to some extent virtual. Methodologically, the papers used controlled online, lab, and field experiments and met the highest technological standards. The session advances three major areas of consumer research: consumer-technology interactions, product perception, and self-perception more generally. We hope this session inspires future research on mixed realities (and eventually the ”Metaverse”), within and beyond the field of consumer research. The first project demonstrates that AR product displays increase preferences for products with objectively inferior performance more than those with superior performance. The authors explain this finding by suggesting that AR induces psychological ownership of products, fostering associations between products and the self. A series of six studies is conducted to provide evidence and insights for managers. The second project explores how many companies increasingly use AR to train consumers on the use of their products. Through two initial studies, authors demonstrated that AR content increases consumers’ desire to perform product-related tasks by causing them to activate a concrete mindset and increasing their self-efficacy which is mitigated by consumer’s expertise. The third project investigates the impact of employee avatars on consumer behavior in a metaverse shopping setting for embarrassing products. Two studies reveal that human and robotic avatars decrease purchase likelihood, decision time, spending, and impulse buying. The impact varies based on the embarrassment level of the product in both lab and online settings. The fourth project examines hybrid new product development (NPD) team meetings in the metaverse. Four experimental studies support the idea of group faultlines through technological diversity and show that while hybrid NPD teams tend to perform better than homogeneous teams, they evaluate their team worse. Findings point managers and team leaders to the opportunities offered by hybrid NPD team constellations in the metaverse.