Changing consumer behaviour in virtual reality: A systematic literature review

Virtual Reality (VR) has evolved rapidly and has been increasingly used in research aimed at promoting behaviour change within consumer domains, particularly since the introduction of head-mounted displays (HMDs). The aim of this systematic review is to examine 1) the validity of VR in this type of research (i.e. is behaviour in VR accurately captured, compared to behaviour in real-life), and 2) the effectiveness of using VR as a tool to change behaviour in consumer domains. 24 articles (27 studies) are included in this review. The findings indicate that VR can potentially be validly used in consumer research aimed at behaviour change in a consumer setting, as findings in real-life were mostly replicated in VR (or vice versa), though the number of studies is relatively low and were mostly conducted in the food domain using student samples. Furthermore, studies which used VR as a behaviour change tool were generally effective in changing consumer behaviour in desired directions, more so than when less immersive (2D), equivalent treatments were used. Future research can focus on extending behavioural research frameworks to include VR in their scope and applying more interactive VR environments to more fully take advantage of VR possibilities for consumer research.