Is Virtual Reality an emotional technology that changes human behavior? : The relationships among immersion, perceived enjoyment, satisfaction, and willingness to work out

The aim of this study is to examine how emotions such as immersion, perceived enjoyment, and satisfaction, generated in virtual realiity(VR), influence consumers’ willingness to work out. A total of 256 adults participated in an experiment involving a VR skiing experience to test the hypotheses of this study. Drawing on elaboration likelihood model, the authors propose that immersion gained from the VR skiing experience be related to perceived enjoyment, satisfaction, and the willingness to work out. As predicted, the results find a positive relationship between immersion and perceived enjoyment, satisfaction, and the willingness to work out. The results also show that perceived enjoyment drives satisfaction with the overall experience of virtual reality and willingness to work out. Unlike what we predicted, yet, virtual reality satisfaction does not lead to a willingness to work out.