Evaluating augmented reality evacuation guidance system for sustaining compliance under social interference in virtual environment

Evacuation guidance systems provide routes during emergencies, but occupants do not always comply when social cues compete with guidance. Limited research has examined attention allocation and sustained compliance across multiple decision points. This study compared environment-embedded cues (CON), AR navigation (AR-NAV), and a socially embodied AR virtual safety manager (AR-VSM) in an immersive VR evacuation experiment under competing environmental and social cues. Both AR conditions were simulated through a virtual smartphone interface. These conditions showed lower attention to surrounding non-player characters (NPCs), while AR-VSM yielded the highest sustained compliance. NPC-oriented attention was strongly negatively associated with compliance. An exploratory mediation analysis suggested statistical associations among guidance condition, attention, and compliance without establishing a causal mechanism. These findings highlight the relevance of attention allocation and guidance design to sustained compliance under competing local cues.