VR in the Workplace: Perceptions and Reactions to Organizations Using VR in High Versus Low Stakes Contexts

Virtual reality (VR) is becoming an increasingly popular tool across a range of domains, from education and healthcare to entertainment and workforce development. Organizations are now beginning to adopt VR for personnel management purposes, including training, evaluation, and decision-making. However, little is known about how such uses influence public perceptions of the organizations themselves. To address this gap, we conducted a three-study investigation examining how individuals perceive organizations that implement VR for various workplace applications. Across the studies, participants were presented with scenarios involving fictitious companies using VR in either low-stakes (e.g., team meeting) or high-stakes (e.g., job interview) contexts. Our findings suggest that people generally view VR technology and the organizations who use the technology positively. However, the context of use significantly shapes perceptions, where organizations that used VR in high-stakes applications were evaluated more negatively than those using it in low-stakes settings. This pattern suggests that while VR carries a general technological appeal, its application in high-stakes contexts may lead to skepticism or concern. We discuss the implications of these findings for organizations considering the integration of VR into personnel practices, highlighting the importance of context and transparency in shaping stakeholder perceptions.