Conceptualising and Modelling Virtual Experience for the Online Retailer: The 3D Technology

Transcription

1 Conceptualising and Modelling Virtual Experience for the Online Retailer: The 3D Technology INTRODUCTION Previous studies (e.g., Jiang & Benbasat, 2005; Algharabat & Dennis, 2010 a, b, c) regarding online virtual experience (VE) assert the importance of three-dimensional (3D) product presentation technology to convey relevant information which often enhances customers understanding and evaluating of the quality and performance of products sold online. Further, 3D technology enhances users experiential and instrumental experiences (Algharabat & Dennis 2010). A 3D presentation enables consumers to interact with products and enriches their learning processes (Klein 2003; Li, Daugherty & Biocca 2001; 2002; 2003). Previous research has defined VE based on different aspects. For example, Li et al. (2001) found that VE is accompanied by psychological and emotional states when consumers interact with products in a 3D environment. The authors assert that virtual affordance, presence, involvement, enjoyment and active process are the main characteristics for VE. However, Hoffman & Novak (1996, p.50) relied on the notion of flow to define VE. The authors define flow as "the state occurring during network navigation. Further, the authors posit that VE has the following characteristics: a seamless sequence of responses facilitated by machine interactivity, intrinsically enjoyable, accompanied by a loss of self-consciousness, and self-reinforcing". To conceptualise and define product VE, Algharabat & Dennis (2010 a, b) define product VE based on the authenticity of 3D product. Algharabat & Dennis (2010a, p. 101) define the authenticity of the 3D product as: a psychological state in which virtual objects presented in 3D in a computer-mediated environment are perceived as actual objects. Furthermore, the authors identify users ability to control the content and form of the 3D flash (interactivity) and their ability to see the products with their chosen colours (vividness) as the main antecedents of 3D authenticity. The authors emphasis the significant role of an authentic 3D product VE in aiding customers feelings and cognitive regarding the presented products. Furthermore, Kempf & Smith (1998) define the concept of perceived diagnosticity the extent to which consumers believe that particular shopping experiences are helpful to evaluate products. The others advised scholars to employ the notion of perceived diagnosticity which often enhances customers cognitive evaluation of product attributes. In the context of online shopping, Jiang and Benbasat (2005, p. 117) relied on Kempf and Smith s (1998) study and claimed that the concept of perceived diagnosticity to examine product VE. The authors find that perceived diagnosticity reflects the perceived ability of a web interface to convey to customers relevant product information that helps them in understanding and evaluating the quality and performance of online products. Jiang and 1

2 Benbasat (2005) posit that virtual control and functional control enhances perceived online product diagnosticity. Other scholars (Klein, 2003; Suh and Lee, 2005) define product VE based on the notion of telepresence which refers to a psychological state were consumers feel that their mind has been transported into other areas. To measure VE, authors in this area agreed that interactivity and vividness are the main antecedents which enhance consumers VE. To that end, the main dimensions of VE are still a questionable one. Since we have two approaches to define, conceptualise and operationalise VE. The aim of this paper is to empirically answer this issue. Literature Review Consumers Experience Researchers investigated different types of product presentations and their impact on consumers cognitive, affective and conative responses. For example, Li et al. (2001, 2002, 2003) classify experiences, based on the interaction between a product or an environment and an individual, into three types. First, direct experience permits consumers to interact (e.g., physically) directly with a product. Second, an indirect experience often allows consumers to interact with second-hand source such as static visual pictures. Third, VE allows consumers to interact with 3D virtual models. A 3D presentation technology enables consumers to interact with products, enriches their learning processes, and creates a sense of being in a simulated real world. Furthermore, direct and virtual experiences combine within virtual reality, such that the latter enhances and enriches the overall experience because consumers use almost all of their senses when interacting with 3D product visualisation (Klein, 2003; Li et al., 2001, 2002, 2003; Jiang & Benbasat, 2005; 2007; Algharabat & Dennis a, 2010). Previous research on the 3D technology (Kim and Forsythe, 2007, 2008; Kim and Biocca; 1997; Li et al., 2003; and Suh and Lee, 2005) reports the importance of 3D product visualisation technology in enhancing consumer learning, entertainment, fun and pleasure. Perceived Diagnosticity Based on the direct product experience, Kempf & Smith (1998) have used the concept of perceived diagnosticity, to represents the extent to which consumers believe that particular shopping experiences are helpful to evaluate products quality and performance. Furthermore, Kempf & Smith (1998) posit that perceived diagnosticity positively contributes to the cognitive evaluation of product attributes and suggested that any research associated with direct experience to consider using this construct. In the context of e-commerce, Jiang & Benbasat (2005) adopted the notion of perceived diagnosticity and implement it to the online retailers. Further, the authors assert that perceived diagnosticity reflects the perceived ability of a Web interface to convey to 2

3 customers relevant product information that helps them in understanding and evaluating the quality and performance of products sold online. The authors assert that perceived diagnosticity is the main outcome form product VE. Flow Novak et al. (2000) studied telepresence through a large-scale survey asking individuals to retrospectively evaluate their VEs on the web in order to investigate the antecedents and consequences of flow. Thus, the authors identified both virtual control and telepresence, in direct manipulation and multimedia, as the main antecedents to consumers flow which the authors consider to be the base for VE. 3D Authenticity Algharabat & Dennis (2010 a) noticed that none of the previous definitions of telepresence or presence that use 3D virtual models realistically taps consumers VE. The authors posit that a 3D virtual experience should be an authentic representation of the direct (offline) experience. Furthermore, they propose a new notion that relates to the simulation of online products and VE, namely, the authenticity of the 3D product visualisation. The authors assert that telepresence and presence are not particularly well suited to the online retail context, because they reflect illusion and transportation to other places. In contrast, the concept of 3D authenticity of the product visualisation implies the ability to simulate the product VE in bricks-and-clicks contexts. Compatibility Compatibility is the extent to which consumers believe their online shopping experience is consistent with their existing shopping habits, product evaluation styles and past experiences in physical shopping environments (Moore & Benbasat, 1991; Jarvenpaa & Todd, ). Advanced technologies, such as 3D technologies, often provide customers with VE that is compatible with their physical product experience (Peterson et al., 1997). The importance of compatibility clearly appears to the surface whenever online shopping experiences cannot sufficiently enable consumers to evaluate product quality. Researchers (Lim et al. 2000) on this area focused their effort on the vividness (i.e., multiple sensory channels) and nonverbal language of the product presentation to create VE. Enjoyment Shih (1998) posits that enjoyment, play and fun (i.e., experiential consumption aspects) are the main consequences of 3D product presentation technology. Li et al. (2003) investigate the influence of 3D product presentation characteristics. The authors posit that 3D product presentation can strongly impact users cognitive and affective evaluations. Affective evaluation refers to users feelings of pleasure and fun, whereas cognitive evaluation refers to the 3D product presentation s ability to attract users attention, 3

4 enhance their product knowledge, encourage them to get more information and have a better comprehension of the brand name and products attributes. Kim and Forsythe (2007) investigate the effects of adopting 3D product presentation (e.g., Virtual Try-on models and 3D virtual product demonstrations) for online apparel retailers. The authors find that 3D product presentation provides participants with greater hedonic benefits than functional benefits. In turn, Kim and Forsythe s (2008) empirical result reveals that a 3D rotation view provides users with functional and hedonic values with slightly higher functional role. In the same context Lee, Fiore and Kim (2006) investigate the role of technology acceptance model (TAM) in explaining the effects of 3D image interactivity technology on consumer responses. The authors find significant indirect effects of the 3D product presentation on attitude and behavioural intention toward online retailers mediated by the direct effects of TAM s perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment. Conceptual Framework Our conceptual framework and hypotheses are proposed on Appendix A. Method We designed a hypothetical retailer s website with two stimuli for this study. The stimuli were illustrated on 3D product visualisation technology that allowed participants to view the focal product, laptops and rings, from different angles; they also could rotate the product and zoom it in or out. The 3D stimuli are intended to help consumers to imagine the product in appropriate and relevant ways and thus enhance their virtual experiences (Li et al. 2001). The website we created for this study was not previously known to users, nor did users have any knowledge of the fictitious brands on it. Thus, we eliminated any impact of previous experiences or attitudes (Fiore et al. 2005). Sample consists of 240 for each stimulus and we have employed non-student samples. We designed the website to be highly interactive and vivid. However, we did not include interactivity and vividness in testing our model, since we assume that these construct should be the main elements of VE as has been stated in the previous research. Participants were informed that this study pertained to consumers evaluations of an electronic retailer s website. The questionnaire contained seven-point Likert-type scales, anchored by strongly disagree and strongly agree. To measure the 3D authenticity construct, we adopted a three-item scale based on Algharabat & Dennis (2010). To measure perceived diagnosticity and compatibility, we adopted a scale based Jiang & Benbasat (2005). We used a modified version of Novak et al s. (2000) scale to measure flow. Finally, we used Babin et al s (1994) scale to measure entertainment. 4

5 Measurement Models We evaluated measurement properties by running AMOS We treated the focal construct of VE as second-order construct, and its five dimensions (authenticity, diagnosticity, flow, compatibility, and entertainment) are first-order factors measured through their respective indicators. The second-order CFA model fit was deemed to be acceptable on the basis of a battery of fit indexes (χ 2 = , df = 85; and χ 2 /df = 1.935) comparative fit index [CFI] =.967; goodness-of-fit index [GFI] =.950; Tucker Lewis index [TLI] =.959; incremental fit index [IFI] =.967; root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] =.048). The set of fit indexes reported is consistent with Hu and Bentler s (1999) recommendations. The path coefficients between the indicators and their respective first-order factors were significant at α =.05 level. In addition, all the path coefficients between the second-order construct (VE) and its four dimensions (authenticity, diagnosticity, flow, compatibility, and entertainment) were significant at the α =.05 level. Discussion This study aims to investigate the main dimensions of VE. Previous research conceptualises and defines VE based on a unidimensional construct. However, based on our results, we believe that VE is a multidimensional construct. Any VE scale should reflect the authenticity, diagnosticity, compatibility and flow of the online 3D presented product or/and overall experience. This will enhance customers ability to evaluate the quality of the product and to learn more about the product or/and the web site. To that end, enjoyment should also be reflected with the VE scale, since this construct focuses more on the entertainment part of the VE. We designed the websites to reflect a high level of both interactivity and vividness. This issue assures that the designed website is reflecting the virtual control and functional control which are the basis for VE. While previous studies focused on the process of manipulating interactivity and vividness constructs to create authenticity, diagnosticity, compatibility and flow to measure VE. We believe that creating VE should be centred on all the previous constructs rather than on one of them. Moreover, operationalsing VE should be based on different aspects of the technology. For example, (i) the technology should reflect the authentic part of the illustrated product. (ii) The technology should help users to have the belief that what they are seeing online is what they will find offline (diagnosticity). (iii) The technology should enhance consumers believe that their online shopping experiences are consistent with their existing styles, habits, and past experiences in physical shopping environments (compatibility). (iiii) VE should not lead all the time to mental result, rather many users might navigate the online retailers for the sake of entertainment. Our VE dimensions will enhance online shopping experiences, particularly when enabling consumers to evaluate product quality, performance and fun. 5

6 Appendix A The model constructs 3D Diagnosticity H1=.83*** 3D Authenticity H2 =.60*** 3D Flow H3 =.58*** 3D Virtual Experience 3D compatibility H4 =.84*** Entertainment H5 =.14* χ 2 = , df = 85; and χ 2 /df = 1.935; CFI =.967; GFI =.950; TLI =.959; IFI =.967; RMSEA =.048. * p < 0.05; ** p <0.01; *** p <

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