Telepresent or not? Virtual reality, service perceptions, emotions and post-consumption behaviors

ABSTRACT

The S-O-R framework (Stimulus-Organism-Response) is used to examine the influence of telepresence in virtual reality (VR) on service perceptions, positive emotions and post-consumption behaviors.  Potential customers to a heritage bed and breakfast (B&B) hotel in Christchurch, New Zealand, experienced one of the guest rooms in VR. The telepresence dimension of spatial situation had a positive relationship with both service atmospherics and service quality. Positive emotions after the VR experience had a positive effect on overall attitude towards the hotel. Positive surprise had a significant relationship with intention to book the B&B hotel. The telepresence dimension of suspension of disbelief had a negative relationship with positive emotions. Implications for using VR as a marketing tool for B&Bs and hotels are offered.

KEYWORDS:

• Virtual reality
• telepresence
• service atmospherics
• positive emotions
• post-consumptionbehavior

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ekaterina Surovaya

Dr. Ekaterina Surovaya is a researcher and tutor in the Department of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the University of Canterbury. Her research interests are related to virtual reality in different consumption contexts and consumer generated advertising.

Girish Prayag

Dr. Girish Prayag is a Professor of Marketing at the University of Canterbury Business School, New Zealand. He is Editor of Method and Practice for Current Issues in Tourism and serves on the editorial boards of several other tourism and hospitality journals. His research interests are related to segmentation of markets, tourist behavior and organizational resilience.

Ryan Yung

Ryan Yung is a doctoral student in the Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management at Griffith University. His research interests are related to virtual reality, mixed reality, and destination marketing.

Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore

Dr. Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore is a Senior Lecturer at Griffith University, Australia. She is Editor-inChief of Tourism Management Perspectives and serves on the editorial boards of several other tourism and hospitality journals. She is also the founder and chair of Women Academics in Tourism (WAiT). Catheryn’s research interest is on tourist and guest behaviour, with a passionate focus on women, families and young children and on understanding these segments from an Asian perspective.