The Effect of Music on Shoppers’ Shopping Behaviour in Virtual Reality Retail Stores: Mediation Analysis

Abstract

Abstract-The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of music, as an atmospheric cue of 3D virtual reality retail (VRR) stores, on shoppers' emotions and behaviour. To complete this research, a major empirical study was conducted in Second Life (SL) which is one of the most mature virtual worlds (VWs). The effect of the music on shoppers' emotions was experimentally tested in computer labs. Pre-test and post-test were conducted to evaluate the emotion levels before and after experiencing 3D VRR stores. Detailed mediation analysis was done with the PROCESS tool at the later stage of the analysis. This research confirmed 'music' as an atmospheric cue of 3D Servicescape. Results of this research determined the effect of music on shoppers' arousal, pleasure and consequent shopping behaviour. Further, this research could not identify the direct effect of arousal on shoppers' behaviour, however, it was a major source of inducing pleasure and increasing shoppers' positive approach behaviour. This paper contribute to better understanding the 3D VRR store atmospheric, role of music in it, shoppers' emotions and behaviour.

Understanding the use of Virtual Reality in Marketing: A text mining-based review

“…Overall, virtual setting studies tend to be experiments, where the sample size ranges from 100 to 200 participants (e.g., Waterlander et al, 2015;Yeh et al, 2017;Dad et al, 2018). Data are treated using statistics like t-student test, ANOVA, ANCOVA or multiple regressions (e.g.…”

“…Data are treated using statistics like t-student test, ANOVA, ANCOVA or multiple regressions (e.g. Krasonikolakis et al, 2014;Waterlander et al, 2015;Yeh et al, 2017;Dad et al, 2018). More recently, researchers have started to use structural equations and the sample size tends to rise, ranging between 300 and 400 (e.g., Krasonikolakis et al, 2018).…”