User Acceptance of Virtual Reality: An Extended Technology Acceptance Model

ABSTRACT

Although virtual reality (VR) has many applications, only few studies have investigated user acceptance of this type of immersive technology. We propose an extended version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) that addresses some aspects of VR. Our model includes variables from the TAM, user experience, variables specific to VR, and variables relating to user characteristics. This model was tested with 89 users who performed an aeronautical assembly task in VR. Results suggest that intention to use VR is positively influenced by perceived usefulness and negatively influenced by cybersickness. Hedonic quality-stimulation and personal innovativeness are predictors of perceived usefulness. Perceived ease of use does not have a significant impact on intention to use and it is only influenced by pragmatic quality. These findings have a number of implications regarding user acceptance of VR.

Acknowledgments

This study is part of the LEON project (acceptability of emerging technologies in aeronautics) funded by the Picardy regional authority and by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). The task used in this study was part of the NIKITA project (ANR-10-CORD-0014) and the virtual environment used was developed by EMISSIVE (http://www.emissive.fr/fr/). The CAVE used in this study (called Translife) is hosted by Heudiasyc (CNRS UMR 7253) and funded by the Picardy regional authority and by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER).

We thank Samba Drame for developing the virtual environment and for his help with the experiments in the CAVE. We also thank Savinien Colinet, Laura Liepchitz, Julie Berteaux, and Yuchen Qiu for their precious help with the experiments. We are also grateful to Geoffrey Blondelle for his precious comments on an earlier draft of this article and to Fabien Cerrotti who helped us during the revising process.

We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Notes

1. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) are integrated systems that manage a company’s inventory, logistics, orders, billing, shipping, sales, etc. (Amoako-Gyampah, 2007).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Camille Sagnier

Camille Sagnier obtained her PhD in ergonomics at University of Picardy Jules Verne in France. Her work focused on user acceptance of virtual reality in aeronautic industry. She is interested in user acceptance and user experience of emerging and innovative technologies.

Emilie Loup-Escande

Emilie Loup-Escande is an associate professor with the CRP-CPO EA 7273 research center of Picardy Jules Verne University in France. She is interested in the ergonomic design of emerging technologies. She has been involved in the design and assessment of virtual reality applications (product design, training and learning, entertainment).

Domitile Lourdeaux

Domitile Lourdeaux is associate professor at CNRS Heudiasyc UMR 7253 laboratory in Université de Technologie de Compiègne – Sorbonne Universités. Her research interests are the orchestration of virtual environments and of autonomous virtual humans for training in critical situations.

Indira Thouvenin

Indira Thouvenin is Professor at the CNRS Heudiasyc UMR 7253 Lab. at University de Technologie de Compiègne, France. Her research interests belong to Immersion and interaction in virtual environments, Augmented driving for intelligent vehicles and Attention/inattention estimation.

Gérard Valléry

Gérard Valléry is Professor at the University of Picardy Jules Verne in France. His work focuses mainly on the ergonomics of services, the development of ICTs and the management of organisational projects.