Experiencing virtual reality in retail: Extending the acceptance model for VR hardware towards VR experiences

Abstract VR glasses are an upcoming trend in retail. However, little is known about customer acceptance of VR experiences. The literature considers acceptance drivers for VR content and hardware separately, despite both elements affecting technology acceptance. This paper extends the existing VR hardware acceptance model by assessing VR content perception. In particular, the resulting VR experience acceptance model (VR-XAM) incorporates perceived informativeness and perceived playfulness into a structural equation model to predict attitude and usage intention towards VR glasses. The results show the outstanding role of utilitarian variables for VR glasses, suggesting that companies should first focus on informative and useful elements when implementing VR experiences into retail landscapes. Furthermore, the study stresses the importance of playfulness as the most important hedonic aspect of customer acceptance for VR in retail. Thus, the paper extends the understanding of technology acceptance and provides useful implications for the development of VR applications in retail.