Influencing Customers’ Buying Behaviour in E-tail Through Telepresence Evoked by Augmented Reality: The Mediating Role of Usefulness, Ease of Use and Enjoyment

The main aim of this study was to investigate the influence of telepresence on customers’ ‘perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment and perceived ease of use, attitude towards augmented reality and intention’. It also measures the mediating effect of ‘perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment and perceived ease of use’ in influencing the relation between ‘telepresence and attitude’ and ‘telepresence and intention’. The technology acceptance model along with the telepresence concept was used to develop a conceptual framework. Data collection was done using convenience and snowball sampling techniques. Online customers from the Delhi NCR region of India were the targeted respondents and 321 responses were collected to test the hypotheses. Covariance-based structural equation modelling was applied to study the relation between different constructs. Findings showed that the four exogenous constructs ‘telepresence, perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment and perceived ease of use’ have significant influences on two endogenous constructs ‘attitudes towards AR’ and ‘intention’. Mediation results outlined that three mediating constructs ‘perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment and perceived ease of use’ have a significant specific indirect effect. It was a case of complementary partial mediation. The results altogether contribute to AR and sensory marketing literature and help marketers in decision-making.