Augmented reality mobile engagement: Augmenting emotions for customer connection

Emotional experiences are pivotal in capturing customer attention and fostering deeper engagement in augmented reality (AR) mobile applications. This study investigates the impact of AR mobile app experience, driven by customers’ perception of AR attributes, on emotions that lead to customer engagement. It also examines the mediating effect of emotional states such as pleasure, arousal, and dominance on the relationship between AR-induced brand experience and customer engagement. Data were collected from 351 AR mobile app users using purposive sampling and analyzed using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that AR mobile experiences, driven by perceived augmentation and perceived interactivity, significantly shape customers’ emotional states such as pleasure, arousal, and dominance, which in turn enhance customer engagement. The findings further reveal that emotional states such as arousal and dominance significantly mediate the relationship between AR brand experience and customer engagement. Overall, the study shows that AR brand experience, shaped by AR attributes, evokes customer emotions that foster engagement and offers useful implications for AR app developers and managers.