A Study on the VR Interface Design for Children Products and its  Influence Towards China’s Consumerism

Authors

  • Li Yefei City Graduate School, City University Malaysia, Malaysia.
  • Fauzi Naeim Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.48165/sajssh.2024.5107

Keywords:

Product design, Purchase intention, Hedonic attributes, Virtual reality

Abstract

The present study intended to evaluate the impact of the virtual reality store interface, which comprised of two dimensions, virtual spatial cues (VR) and interactivity (INT), on Chinese customers’ purchase decisions which included the preference for product hedonic attributes (HD) and purchase intention (PIP). Secondly, the mediating role of perceived product design which encompassed aesthetics (PRAS), functionality (PFUN), and symbolism (SYMM), was investigated. A quantitative approach was implemented, combined with a survey-based strategy for data collection. The criteria for respondents included parents having children who are VR game users, and the age range of the children was between 10 to 16 years. A sample of 312 respondents was analysed with the use of statistical software. The researcher employed the prominent methodology of structural equation modelling to evaluate the proposedhypotheses. The findings demonstrated that INT positively and significantly impacts HD, whereas INT and PIN were found to have an insignificant association. VR was found to impact HD and PIN positively and significantly among virtual Chinese consumers. In terms of the mediation analysis, PRAS significantly mediated the association between INT and PIN and VR and PIN, whereas the negative mediation of PRAS in the association between INT and HD and VR and HD was not validated. Regarding the mediation effect of SYMM, it was revealed that SYMM played a significant mediating role in the four proposed associations. Lastly, the mediation effect of PFUN was found to be significant in the association between INT and HD and VR and HD, whereas PFUN was an insignificant mediator in the association between INT and PIN and VR and PIN. The study offers substantial and valuable insights into virtual consumer perception regarding product design and purchase decisions for theoretical and practical applications.

References

Ahmadpour, N., Keep, M., Janssen, A., Rouf, A. S., & Marthick, M. (2020). Design strategies for virtual reality interventions for managing pain and anxiety in children and adolescents: scoping review. JMIR serious games, 8(1), e14565.

Akrimi, Y., & Khemakhem, R. (2022). Website Usability, Website Interactivity, and Website Personality as Drivers of Online Purchase. In Social Customer Relationship Management (Social-CRM) in the Era of Web 4.0 (pp. 26-47). IGI Global.

Allen, C. T., Fournier, S., & Miller, F. (2018). Brands and their meaning makers. In Handbook of consumer psychology (pp. 773-814). Routledge.

Alzayat, A., & Lee, S. H. M. (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, 130, 348-363.

Appiah, D., & Ozuem, W. (2019). Issues with the importance of branding, brand personality and symbolic meaning of brands in the Smartphone Industry. In Global information diffusion and management in contemporary society (pp. 56-97). IGI Global.

Ashman, G., Kalyuga, S., & Sweller, J. (2020). Problem-solving or explicit instruction: Which should go first when element interactivity is high? Educational psychology review, 32(1), 229-247.

Babin, B. J., Darden, W. R., & Griffin, M. (1994). Work and/or fun: measuring hedonic and utilitarian shopping value. Journal of consumer research, 20(4), 644-656.

Ben-Akiva, M., McFadden, D., & Train, K. (2019). Foundations of stated preference elicitation: Consumer behavior and choice-based conjoint analysis. Foundations and Trends® in Econometrics, 10(1-2), 1-144.

Bettiga, D., Bianchi, A. M., Lamberti, L., & Noci, G. (2020). Consumers emotional responses to functional and hedonic products: a neuroscience research. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 559779.

Bockholdt, K., Kemper, J., & Brettel, M. (2020). Private label shoppers between fast fashion trends and status symbolism–A customer characteristics investigation. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 52, 101883.

Campbell, A. J. (2020). Let the data speak: Using rigour to extract vitality from qualitative data. Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 18(1), pp1‑15-pp11‑15.

Charette, M., McKenna, L. G., Maheu-Cadotte, M.-A., Deschênes, M.-F., Ha, L., & Merisier, S. (2020). Measurement properties of scales assessing new graduate nurses' clinical competence: A systematic review of psychometric properties. International journal of nursing studies, 110, 103734.

Chen, H., Chen, H., & Tian, X. (2022). The impact of social shopping feature richness on buying intention: a product perspective. Internet Research.

Chonpracha, P., Ardoin, R., Gao, Y., Waimaleongora-Ek, P., Tuuri, G., & Prinyawiwatkul, W. (2020). Effects of intrinsic and extrinsic visual cues on consumer emotion and purchase intent: A case of ready-to-eat salad. Foods, 9(4), 396.

Coyle, J. R., & Thorson, E. (2001). The effects of progressive levels of interactivity and vividness in web marketing sites. Journal of Advertising, 30(3), 65-77.

Crofton, E., Murray, N., & Botinestean, C. (2021). Exploring the effects of immersive virtual reality environments on sensory perception of beef steaks and chocolate. Foods, 10(6), 1154.

Cruz-Neira, C., Fernández, M., & Portalés, C. (2018). Virtual reality and games. In (Vol. 2, pp. 8): MDPI.

Di Francesco, P., Lago, P., & Malavolta, I. (2018). Migrating towards microservice architectures: an industrial survey. 2018 IEEE International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA),

Engberg, M., & Bolter, J. D. (2020). The aesthetics of reality media. Journal of Visual Culture, 19(1), 81-95.

Eyduran, E., Topal, M., & Sonmez, A. Y. (2010). Use of factor scores in multiple regression analysis for estimation of body weight by several body measurements in brown trouts (Salmo trutta fario).

Goyal, C., Vardhan, V., Naqvi, W., & Naqvi, W. M. (2022). Virtual reality-based intervention for enhancing upper extremity function in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy: a literature review. Cureus, 14(1).

Hadi, N. U., Abdullah, N., & Sentosa, I. (2016). An easy approach to exploratory factor analysis: Marketing perspective. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 6(1), 215.

Hair, J. F., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2011). PLS-SEM: Indeed a silver bullet. Journal of Marketing theory and Practice, 19(2), 139-152.

Hanafiah, M. H. (2020). Formative vs. reflective measurement model: Guidelines for structural equation modeling research. International Journal of Analysis and Applications, 18(5), 876-889.

Held, R., & Durlach, N. (1991). 14Telepresence, time delay and adaptation. In Pictorial Communication in Real and Virtual Environments (pp. 253-267). CRC Press.

Huang, J., Guo, Y., Wang, C., & Yan, L. (2019). You touched it and I’m relieved! The effect of online review’s tactile cues on consumer’s purchase intention. Journal of Contemporary Marketing Science.

Islam, H., Jebarajakirthy, C., & Shankar, A. (2021). An experimental based investigation into the effects of website interactivity on customer behavior in on-line purchase context. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 29(2), 117-140.

Jaarsma, T., Årestedt, K. F., Mårtensson, J., Dracup, K., & Strömberg, A. (2009). The European Heart Failure Self‐care Behaviour scale revised into a nine‐item scale (EHFScB‐9): a reliable and valid international instrument. European journal of heart failure, 11(1), 99-105.

Jee, J., & Lee, W.-N. (2002). Antecedents and consequences of perceived interactivity: An exploratory study. Journal of interactive advertising, 3(1), 34-45.

Kaimara, P., Oikonomou, A., & Deliyannis, I. (2022). Could virtual reality applications pose real risks to children and adolescents? A systematic review of ethical issues and concerns. Virtual Reality, 26(2), 697-735.

Kim, D., Park, S.-P., & Yi, S. (2021). Relevant and rich interactivity under uncertainty: Guest reviews, host responses, and guest purchase intention on Airbnb. Telematics and Informatics, 65, 101708.

Kim, J., Shinaprayoon, T., & Ahn, S. J. (2022). Virtual tours encourage intentions to travel and willingness to pay via spatial presence, enjoyment, and destination image. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 43(1), 90-105.

Ma, D., Gausemeier, J., Fan, X., & Grafe, M. (2011). Virtual reality & augmented reality in industry. Springer.

Machiels, C. J., Yarar, N., & Orth, U. R. (2019). Symbolic meaning in beverage packaging and consumer response. Trends in Beverage Packaging, 73-104.

Mi, C., Chang, F., Lin, C., & Chang, Y. (2018). The theory of reasoned action to CSR behavioral intentions: The role of CSR expected benefit, CSR expected effort and stakeholders. Sustainability, 10(12), 4462.

Mishra, A., Shukla, A., Rana, N. P., & Dwivedi, Y. K. (2021). From “touch” to a “multisensory” experience: The impact of technology interface and product type on consumer responses. Psychology & marketing, 38(3), 385-396.

Muravevskaia, E., & Gardner-McCune, C. (2023). Designing a Virtual Reality Empathy Game framework to create empathic experiences for children. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 35, 100561.

Oyelere, S. S., Bouali, N., Kaliisa, R., Obaido, G., Yunusa, A. A., & Jimoh, E. R. (2020). Exploring the trends of educational virtual reality games: a systematic review of empirical studies. Smart Learning Environments, 7, 1-22.

Peng, H.-P. (2019). Symbolic interaction: Customer, Lifestyle and Store APP embedded in WeChat. 2019 IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics-Taiwan (ICCE-TW),

Petersen, G. B., Petkakis, G., & Makransky, G. (2022). A study of how immersion and interactivity drive VR learning. Computers & Education, 179, 104429.

Poushneh, A. (2021). How close do we feel to virtual product to make a purchase decision? Impact of perceived proximity to virtual product and temporal purchase intention. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 63, 102717.

Rendon, A. A., Lohman, E. B., Thorpe, D., Johnson, E. G., Medina, E., & Bradley, B. (2012). The effect of virtual reality gaming on dynamic balance in older adults. Age and ageing, 41(4), 549-552.

Rojas, S. L., & Widiger, T. A. (2014). Convergent and discriminant validity of the Five Factor Form. Assessment, 21(2), 143-157.

Seymour, S. (2019). Functional aesthetics. In Functional Aesthetics. Ambra Verlag.

Shan, Y. (2019). Virtual Reality in China: Is There a Sustainable Business Model for Virtual Reality Content Enterprises? Cultural Science Journal, 11(1), 54-67.

Shao, A., & Li, H. (2021). How do utilitarian versus hedonic products influence choice preferences: Mediating effect of social comparison. Psychology & Marketing, 38(8), 1250-1261.

Shrestha, N. (2021). Factor analysis as a tool for survey analysis. American Journal of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, 9(1), 4-11.

Silverman, B. G., Hanrahan, N., Huang, L., Rabinowitz, E. F., & Lim, S. (2016). Artificial intelligence and human behavior modeling and simulation for mental health conditions. In Artificial Intelligence in Behavioral and Mental Health Care (pp. 163-183). Elsevier.

Sina, A. S., & Wu, J. (2022). The effects of retail environmental design elements in virtual reality (VR) fashion stores. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 1-22.

Singh, R. P., Javaid, M., Kataria, R., Tyagi, M., Haleem, A., & Suman, R. (2020). Significant applications of virtual reality for COVID-19 pandemic. Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, 14(4), 661-664.

Tavinor, G. (2022). Virtual Reality Media and Aesthetics. The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Technology, 417.

Templeton, C., & Kessinger, M. W. (2020). Virtual reality: Learning by seeing in 3D. In Handbook of Research on Software for Gifted and Talented School Activities in K-12 Classrooms (pp. 94-119). IGI Global.

Tofighi, B., Chemi, C., Ruiz-Valcarcel, J., Hein, P., & Hu, L. (2019). Smartphone apps targeting alcohol and illicit substance use: systematic search in in commercial app stores and critical content analysis. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 7(4), e11831.

Wang, J., & Hsu, Y. (2019). Does sustainable perceived value play a key role in the purchase intention driven by product aesthetics? Taking smartwatch as an example. Sustainability, 11(23), 6806.

Wang, J. J., Torelli, C. J., & Lalwani, A. K. (2020). The interactive effect of power distance belief and consumers’ status on preference for national (vs. private-label) brands. Journal of Business Research, 107, 1-12.

Wohlgenannt, I., Simons, A., & Stieglitz, S. (2020). Virtual reality. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 62, 455-461.

Xiong, J., Hsiang, E.-L., He, Z., Zhan, T., & Wu, S.-T. (2021). Augmented reality and virtual reality displays: emerging technologies and future perspectives. Light: Science & Applications, 10(1), 216.

Downloads

Published

2024-02-04

How to Cite

Yefei, L., & Naeim , F. (2024). A Study on the VR Interface Design for Children Products and its  Influence Towards China’s Consumerism. South Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 5(1), 103–128. https://doi.org/10.48165/sajssh.2024.5107