Customer immersion in virtual environment an investigation of antecedents and outcomes.

Customer immersion in virtual environment an investigation of antecedents and outcomes.Customer immersion in virtual environment an investigation of antecedents and outcomes.Customer immersion in virtual environment an investigation of antecedents and outcomes.Customer immersion in virtual environment an investigation of antecedents and outcomes.Customer immersion in virtual environment an investigation of antecedents and outcomes.Customer immersion in virtual environment an investigation of antecedents and outcomes.Customer immersion in virtual environment an investigation of antecedents and outcomes.Customer immersion in virtual environment an investigation of antecedents and outcomes.Customer immersion in virtual environment an investigation of antecedents and outcomes.Customer immersion in virtual environment an investigation of antecedents and outcomes.Customer immersion in virtual environment an investigation of antecedents and outcomes.

1 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY CUSTOMER IMMERSION IN VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT: AN INVESTIGATION OF ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES SUMMARY OF THE DISSERTATION Ho Chi Minh City – 2022 The dissertation is prepared at: University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City Academic advisors: Assoc Prof Dr LÊ NHẬT HẠNH Prof JULIAN MING-SUNG CHENG Reviewer 1: Reviewer 2: Reviewer 3: The dissertation will be presented to the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City At…….hours…… day…….month………year……… This dissertation can be found at the library of University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City AUTHOR’S PUBLICATIONS RELATED TO THIS DISSERTATION Publications on International journal: Immersive experience and customer responses towards mobile augmented reality applications: The moderating role of technology anxiety Cogent Business & Management (Scopus, Q2), 9(1), 2063778 A conceptual model for studying mobile augmented reality applications-enhanced immersive experience Heliyon (SSCI, Scopus, Q1), Accepted for publication Publications on International conference: The application of augmented reality applications in studying customer immersion in Vietnam 2022 International Joint Conference on Management, Economics and Finance Customers’ immersive emotions in virtual environment as powerful marketing tools in tourism sector Proceedings of The first international Conference in Economics & Business, Can Tho University A powerful tools in the era of technological advancement: how to enhance tourist’ immersive emotions The International Tourism Conference “Sustainable tourism development: Lessons learned for South East Asian countries” Publications on JABES journal: Công nghệ thực tế ảo tăng cường có phải cơng cụ hiệu bối cảnh khơng? Vai trị trải nghiệm đắm chìm, “Tạp chí Nghiên cứu Kinh tế Kinh doanh Châu Á”(JABES), Vol 33 No ABSTRACT Purpose The main purpose of this study is to propose and empirically investigate an integrated conceptual framework that illustrates how bodily and mental factors, namely embodiment and mental imagery respectively, stimulate users’ mobile augmented reality applications-enhanced customer immersion - a psychological state engaged in, engrossed in and immersed in virtual environment-which in turn facilitates customers’ attitude and behavioral intention towards these apps based on the combination of embodied cognition and StimuliOrganism-Response framework (S-O-R, hereafter) Moreover, the moderating role of personal innovativeness in the relationships between MAR apps-enhanced customer immersion and its antecedents was revealed in this study Design/methodology/approach Two mobile-based augmented reality applications (MAR apps, hereafter) consisting of YouCam Makeup application and Formex watches application were chosen for data collection in survey method A dataset of 332 valid samples were used from customers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Partial least square structural equation modeling version 3.2.8 statistical software (PLS-SEM, hereafter) was used to analysis the empirical data and test the proposed hypotheses in the conceptual model Findings Customer immersion in virtual environment has received increasing concerns from scholars and practitioners This study proposed a integrated conceptual model to evaluate the antecedents and outcomes of customer immersion, in which having reflective second-order constructs (e.g embodiment, mental imagery, customer immersion) and first-order constructs (e.g., personal innovativeness, attitude and behavioral intentions towards MAR apps) Besides, the results revealed that personal innovativeness plays a moderating role in the relationship embodiment and customer immersion This study also give some theoretical and practical implications as well as limitations, future research in this study Originality/value This study combined embodied cognition theory and S-O-R framework to explain how mental and bodily mechanisms stimulate customer immersion in holistic perspective with second-order constructs, in turn lead their responses Therefore, this study is expected to provide scholars and practitioners with a better understanding of MAR apps-enhanced customers’ immersive experience as well as its antecedents and outcomes Keywords: MAR apps, customer immersion, embodiment, mental imagery, customer responses, personal innovativeness, CHAPTER - INTRODUCTION 1.1 Trends of doing business in virtual environment Recently, emerging technologies such as augmented reality (AR, hereafter) and virtual reality (VR, hereafter), exists widely in virtual environments, are considered as immersive technologies, which have paid attention to scholars and practitioners because of their advantages in enhancing user experience (Fan et al., 2022; Wedel et al., 2020) AR, is considered as “a variation of virtual environments”, can be used to assist customers’ pre-experience before purchasing decision and engage customers dynamically with diversified products/services (Fan et al., 2020; Vieira et al., 2022), then to enhance in-store experience Thus, companies using AR technology in their marketing campaigns that allow their customers have immersed and more interactive experience than traditional forms In fact, the AR market size worldwide is expected to gain from USD 12.0 billion in 2021 to USD 72.8 billion in 2024 (Fan et al., 2022) In particular, market growth rate was expected by 31% annually (Rauschnabel et al., 2019) AR is described as one of “next generation” technologies (Javornik, 2016; Sağkaya & Ozansoy, 2022) AR can be used in fields such as industry, tourism, entertainment, education, retailing, etc because of this dominant benefits (Hilken et al., 2018) The development of AR has been leading to various channels, thereby bringing an enormous change in retailing sector (Frishammar et al., 2018) Moreover, mobile devices such as tablet, smart phone are essential for almost people because their convenience There are more five billion mobile phone users in the world, most of them using smart-phone and about 218 billion mobile applications downloaded in 2020 (Oyman et al., 2022) Mobile phones-based applications having AR function (e.g., MAR apps) allow users to try-on in virtual environment, thus it can stimulate users’ experience This calls for more studies and provide a new direction to capture customers’ attention by stimulate them to interact with virtual products on their mobile phones It is obviously that AR is potential and effective marketing tools in which companies should be take their advantages to suit customers’ demand Marketers can come up with loyal customers for the launch of the new products and strategies It is clear that MAR apps has been considered as technological advancement in recent decades, thus business can take advantages of these virtual technologies to enhance customer immersion The use of MAR apps has been interested from developed countries, there is little research in developing countries like Vietnam In the marketing context, there have been a number of studies related to the technological characteristics connected with customer satisfaction on hotel websites,online bookstores (Nguyen et al., 2021) In addition, several empirical studies have also been carried out in Vietnam to measure intention to use mobile devices (Khoi et al., 2018; Phong et al., 2018) AR shopping application technology has become more popular due to its interactive features (Lu & Smith, 2007) Customers can try and experience products with MAR apps, and then, customers evaluate virtual products before purchase decisions In recent years, many companies have applied MAR apps in creating more and more products with full information and interaction to suit customer needs (Zubizarreta et al , 2019) Many organizations are already using AR shopping app technology on mobile phones (e.g YouCam App, IKEA), virtual glasses (e.g Magic Mirror, Memory Mirror) These technology applications transform the shopping experience of customers by allowing them to understand the company's products that customers will buy from different options and which they can compare with other choices they have have experienced AR shopping application technology is a potential and effective marketing tool that companies should take advantage of to suit their needs Marketers can take the advantages of MAR apps to launch new products and suitable strategies Therefore, MAR apps are considered a technological advancement, especially in developing countries like Vietnam According to Moorhouse et al (2018), new technologies such as MAR apps are technological innovations that can stimulate consumer behavior In the business context, previous studies have emphasized the characteristics of technology to enhance customers’ immersive experience, MAR apps can provide more information to make customers feel satisfied, satisfied before making purchasing decisions (Georgiou & Kyza, 2018; Hudson et al., 2019) According to recent studies, the investigation of customer's immersive experience using MAR apps has not been studied much in Vietnam During the increasingly COVID-19 epidemic, customers are not convenient to go to stores directly, so MAR apps can provide crucial information to customers 1.2 Research background Recently, consumer shift to online shopping has been significantly accelerated due to the global pandemic and this change is expected to have lasting effects even when the world returns to a “new normal” status (Irawan et al., 2020) When shopping online, customers often find it difficult to imagine how selling products personally suit and fit with them or/and match in their environment (Zhang et al., 2019), thus firms/retailers have been attempted to incorporate advanced technologies that enable consumers to visualize and try out virtual products that mimic the in-store physical experience (Song et al., 2019) Augmented reality has been advocated to provide valuable opportunities to fulfill such requirement because it can superimpose virtual contents onto the real objects with physical surroundings and vice versa (Qin et al., 2021) Mobile augmented reality applications (MAR apps) have been especially developed to make it possible for customers to see themselves with different virtual products on their smart-phone without actually/physically apply these products directly on their body (e.g., wear glasses (Yim et al., 2017), watches (Song et al., 2019) or make-up (Hilken et al., 2018), they can also interact with the products in a personalized and immersive ways (e.g., position and visualize a piece of virtual furniture in the physical home via IKEA MAR app) and thus experience the sense of authenticity and realism of products and services within MAR apps (Hilken et al., 2018) Referring to such realistic experience in online environment, customer immersion is a fundamental concept for apprehending such state of mind and feelings (Hudson et al., 2019) Customer immersion lies at the central of the advancements in emerging technologies such as AR, VR (Rauschnabel et al., 2022) and has gained an increasing attention from both academics and practices in the field of digital business (Nguyen et al., 2021) Previous researches pay attention to the significant role of AR experiences, particularly customer immersion, on exerting/eliciting either customers’ relational outcomes such as customer satisfaction, loyalty (Hudson et al., 2019) or their purchase intention(Yim et al., 2017) However, there is still a limited specific research on how customer immersion with MAR apps can engender both positive attitudinal and behavioral outcomes that are beneficial to online retailers In addition, customer immersion has been consistently conceptualized in a complex and multi-dimensional manner that refers to “a psychological state in which individuals are involved in, absorbed by their activities and fully engrossed in the computer-mediated environment”(Song et al.,2019) the literature review surprisingly reveals that customer immersion is usually delineated as the state of deep involvement (Song et al.,2019) or different degree of involvement (Blumenthal & Jensen, 2019; Weibel et al., 2010) and frequently studied as an unidimension construct (Hudson et al., 2019; Yim et al., 2017) The comprehensive understanding on the nature of such a specific and multi-dimensional experience as well as its impacts on attitudinal and behavioral responses towards try-on AR apps is thus inhibited By addressing these research gaps, this study can contribute depth knowledge to the emerging literature regarding the experiential effectiveness of advanced technologies (i.e., AR) in the era of digital retailing business Previous studies (Bogicevic et al., 2021) have demonstrated that features of advanced technologies play an important role in determine online customer experiences Two popular technological features, namely interactivity and vividness, have been widely employed to explain the specific customer immersion in a great deal of AR, VR research (Yim et al., 2017) However, there is scant research from a digital retailing perspective investigating the underlying psychological mechanisms describing how customer immersion is enabled and formulated by advanced technologies In response to this paucity of knowledge and drawing upon the theory of embodied cognition (Poushneh, 2021), this study investigates the impacts of technological embodiment and mental imagery that are the respective representative of bodily and mental processes occur when consumers process display information (e.g., about products/brands) within the technology-mediated environments on facilitating customer immersion Embodiment is integrated by the technological devices and human bodily characteristics (Flavián et al., 2019a; Orús et al., 2021; Tussyadiah et al., 2018) By touching on a mobiphone’s camera, customer can virtual try on and experience the products/services by using MAR apps Customers can embody MAR apps to physically and actively interact with products/services (i.e., embodiment) the on mobile screen rather than only imagine and employ mental imagery to generate a representation in their memory to visualize the products/services (i.e., mental imagery), thus using AR apps enable customers not just to see and to visualize, but also to feel involved with, absorbed in and engrossed by virtual stimuli (i.e., customer immersion) They can evaluate how products/services fit them personally similar to the experienced in the real world (Smink et al., 2020; Yim et al., 2017) Mental imagery refers to “a process by which visual information is represented in the working memory”(Heller et al., 2019) In other words, mental imagery is a self-generated stimulation based on customers’ mental process that impact their ability to imagine visual information in their working memory Mental imagery can activate stored information in the past and evoke prior experiences, create mental images in their mind using MAR apps (Park & Yoo, 2020) Personal innovativeness, as an individual trait, prefers to the willingness of an individual to adopt new things, especial new technology (Agarwal and Prasad, 1998; Kim and Choo, 2021) Customers with high innovativeness might be more inclined to try out technology-based products than others (Fagan et al., 2012), they are ready to spend more time and feel more enjoyable to experience MAR apps-based virtual products Personal innovativeness can be a key conditional factor in determining the relationship between technology-enabled psychological factors and customer immersion, and thus being integrated in the research framework In summary, this study provides a better understanding to the existing literature by empirically examining a conceptual model pertaining to the impacts of technology-enabled psychological embodiment and mental imagery on customer immersion that in turn stimulate attitudinal and behavioral responses towards MAR apps There are three contributions in this study, consisting of investigating how customers’ MAR apps enhanced-immersion influence their attitudinal and behavioral responses, examining the driving roles of embodiment and mental imagery on customer immersion based on the combination of S-O-R framework, and embodied cognition theory; and testing the moderating effect of personal innovativeness on the relationship between MAR apps enhanced-immersion and its precursors 1.3 Research gaps The first gap, emerged as almost previous researches related to MAR apps were studied in developed markets (Oyman et al., 2022; Qin et al., 2021), is the lack of studies to investigate how to enhance immersion as well as its effects on attitude and behavioral responses in developing counties as Vietnam To my knowledge, whether and how customer immersion has an impact on their responses toward MAR apps in developing markets has been limited Applying MAR apps to enhance consumer immersion should be investigated in these developing markets The existing gap can be addressed through the investigation of customer immersion using MAR apps in Vietnam retail setting The second gap is the combination of embodiment and mental imagery based on embodied cognition theory and S-O-R framework in conceptual framework of the study It seems that most of previous AR technologybased studies is only focused on technological features (Bonetti et al., 2018; Yim & Park, 2019, Nikhashemi et al., 2021, Arghashi & Yuksel, 2022) To author’s knowledge, previous studies using embodied cognition theory in the combination of embodiment and mental imagery still remains limited Therefore, an in-depth investigation regarding the relationships of embodiment and mental imagery on customer immersion is required in current study The third gap is dominant moderateing role of personal innovativeness as one of crucial personality traits using MAR apps Recent researches have tested the moderating of personality traits such as user motivation (Perannagari & Chakrabarti, 2019), assessment orientation (Jessen et al., 2020), technology anxiety (Dogra et al., 2022) or prior experience (Song et al., 2019), almost of them used to moderate the relationship between customer experience (e.g engagement) and its outcomes Different customers have different traits, so MAR apps can affect on their experience in various ways Personal innovativeness, as an individual trait, refers to the willingness of an individual to adopt new things, especially new technology (Agarwal and Prasad, 1998; Kim and Choo, 2021) Customers with high innovativeness might be more inclined to try out technology-based products than others (Fagan et al., 2012), they are ready to spend more time and feel more enjoyable to experience MAR apps-based virtual products Thus, personal innovativeness moderating customer immersion and its two precursors, and thus being integrated in the research framework In short, this study revealed some dominant research gaps, including (1) investigating customer immersion using MAR apps in Vietnam retail setting (2) scrutinizing the relationships of embodiment and mental imagery on customer immersion, and (3) examining the moderating role of personal innovativeness on the relationship between customer immersion and its two antecedents 1.4 The objectives and questions of research The purpose of this research is to investigate the impacts of technology-enabled psychological embodiment and mental imagery on customer immersion that in turn stimulate attitudinal and behavioral responses towards MAR apps More specifically, four crucial contributions consist of examining the driving roles of embodiment and mental imagery on customer immersion; investigating how customers’ MAR apps enhanced-immersion influence their attitudinal and behavioral responses; testing the moderating role of personal innovativeness on the relationship between customer immersion and its two precursors Therefore, this study needs to answer some main research questions, as follows: Question 1: How technology-enabled psychological embodiment and mental imagery have impacts on customer immersion? Question 2: Is the moderator of personal innovativeness impacting on customer immersion and its two precursors? Question 3: How does customer immersion affects on customer attitude and their behavioral intention using MAR apps? 1.5 Research contributions Theoretical contributions: The first contribution of this study is that the combination of the theory of embodied cognition and S-O-R framework to explain mechanism that how technology-enabled factors, psychological embodiment and mental imagery, influence customer immersion, in turn enhancing behavioral intention regarding MAR apps In specifically, theory of embodied cognition was applied in some fields such as education, management (Li et al., 2018), the current understanding about how this theory applied in retail and e-commerce settings remains limited In addition, prior research has generally focused on either bodily information process(Tuena et al., 2017), virtual objects’ characteristics affecting their friendliness and online gamer loyalty(Li et al., 2018) However, to the best of the author’ knowledge, no study has explained the impact of both bodily and mental information processes on customer immersion to virtually try products on AR mobile applications This current study is to address the gaps by utilizing the theory of embodied cognition to explain the impact of embodiment and mental imagery on customers’ immersion Moreover, S– O–R framework was applied to explain the paradigm of how the role of a stimulus as an antecedent affects individuals’ internal organisms and behavioral responses (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974) In other words, the environmental stimuli trigger psychological state, which leads to a response of an individual In the conceptual model, organism is customers’ immersion Stimuli consist of mental imagery and embodiment which are environmental factors which influence on customer immersion as psychological state In addition, response factors consist of attitude and behavioral intention towards MAR apps The second valuable contribution is that this study has highlighted the importance of customer immersion with multi-dimentional constructs Immersion has been consistently conceptualized in a complex and multi-dimensional manner that refers to “a psychological state in which individuals are involved in, absorbed by their activities and fully engrossed in the computer-mediated environment” (Song et al., 2019), the literature review surprisingly reveals that immersion is usually delineated as the state of deep involvement (Song et al., 2019) or different degree of involvement (Blumenthal & Jensen, 2019; Weibel et al., 2010) and frequently studied as an unidimension construct (Hudson et al., 2019; Yim et al., 2017) The comprehensive understanding on the nature of such a specific and multi-dimensional experience as well as its impacts on attitudinal and behavioral responses towards try-on AR apps is thus inhibited By addressing these research gaps, this study can contribute depth knowledge to the emerging literature regarding immersion using MAR apps in the era of digital retailing business Last but not least, personal innovativeness is considered as a crucial moderator in the conceptual model According to Kim and Choo, (2021), personal innovativeness is also considered as an individual trait, which is “the willingness of an individual” to try on new technologies (e.g., MAR apps) Customers with high innovativeness might be more perceptions to try out technology-based products than others, they are ready to spend more time and more enjoyable to experience MAR apps-based virtual products Personal innovativeness is a key conditional factor in determining the relationship between technology-enabled psychological factors and MAR apps enhanced-immersion in the conceptual framework This finding provide an empirical support to the moderating role of personal innovativeness in experiencing MAR apps, especially in the developing countries as Vietnam Practical contributions: Firstly, this study review potential trends of applying MAR apps in the retail sector It is clear that MAR apps as one of emerging technological advancement having an impact on customer immersion This study has explained the importance and the reasons why these MAR apps were chosen, so firms and retailers can enhance their customer experience by attaching more information through MAR apps on the smartphones or tablets Moreover, author intended to express the importance of augmented reality technology in retail sector AR technology give emerging potential for marketers and create a challenge for marketing practice Moreover, MAR apps obviously support retailers to establish long-lasting relationships with their customers, so this technology has the potential to change the way customers socialize, interact and conduct their business MAR apps give retailers profitable benefits in stimulating customers to virtual try-on, increase their brand awareness and customer loyalty In particular, AR technology enables retailers to redesign and reshape mobile apps-based retail stores by promoting customers’ immersive experience Retailers can apply MAR apps to provide customers with virtual try-on experience to identify which are the best products suitable for their needs Thus, MAR apps are important tools for retailers to generate a memorable experience and make customers become more immersed and engaged Secondly, this research revealed that after virtual try-on MAR apps, customer immersion leads to positive attitudes, then they are more willing to use MAR apps again in future purchases The finding also shows that the positive attitude reinforces their behavioral intention Managers should keep in mind that if customers have positive ideas about MAR apps, in the future, when they intend to buy products, they will use these technologies in their purchase process, and might even recommend others to use them Thirdly, the study showed that attitude can affect behavioral intention positively Thus, managers should pay attention to enhance customer immersion, then their customers willing to their products and recommend others to purchase This study revealed that the customer immersion using MAR apps lead to behavioral intention to use in the future On the other hand, the results of this study also indicated that there is a positive relationship between customer immersion ang attitude towards MAR apps Thus, retailers should create easy-to-use MAR apps to virtual try-on and meet their customers’demand Fourthly, some participants in the survey were afraid of give personal information in downloding MAR apps to virtual try-on, so it was not comfortable for them to spend more time to make purchse decisions The finding revealed that customers concerned and willings to virtual try-on these MAR 10 apps without giving their personal information Thus, firms and retailers should provide their customers “easy-to-use” technology and protect customers’ personal information 1.6 Research sampling, research method This section describes sample frame, preparation of survey research, research and data collection procedure Research sampling of this study is to explain the extent to which the current research area will be conducted in the study, it means what the study can focus on (Thọ NĐ, 2014) Research method of current study is quantitative method to accomplish the research objectives 1.6.1 Research sampling The sample size: The onsite interview was utilized to collect 450 samples for the survey, of which 332 questionaires were used for data analysis It was used was convenience sampling, which is non-probability sampling with the equivalent proportions of male and female based on the ease of access to the subjects who participated in the study (Cabero et al., 2019) Time and data colletion context: Time period for data collection was from August, 2020until March, 2021 before COVID-pandemic outbreak in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 1.6.2 Research method The quantitative method aims to investigate the impacts of technology-enabled psychological embodiment and mental imagery on customer immersion that in turn stimulate attitudinal and behavioural responses towards MAR apps as well as personal innovativeness moderating the relationship between customer immersion and its two precursors In doing so, the quantitative study was conducted to examine these hypotheses in the integrated conceptual model in the study 1.7 Structure of the study There are five chapters in the current study The first chapter is the introduction of research background as well as the necessary for conducting the study Next, the second chapter gives information about literature review or theoretical framework in order to propose an integrated conceptual model of the study Then, the third chapter of methodology aims to describe how to conduct the research Next fourth chapter gives the results of the study Finally, the fifth chapter mentions the discussion, theoretical and managerial implication of the study Chapter – General background In the introduction, author aims to describe the research topic giving necessary research background, the research objectives and questions, research contributions in the study, explanation some key concepts, and dissertation’s structure Chapter – Literature Review In literature review, the study give the theoretical review on augmented reality, mobile augmented reality applications, theoretical background relevant to the study consisting of theories, summarizing customer immersion, moderating role of personal innovativeness, customer immersion’s antecedents and outcomes Therefore, author suggests some main hypotheses in the integrated conceptual model Chapter – Research Method In the methodology, author describes the research methods such as pilot study and quantitate method, scale measurement, research scope, mobile augmented reality apps chosen in the study, research settings In this chapter, author also use research tools as the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) software to test the hypotheses in the integrated conceptual model 15 Therefore, it shows that prior studies have rarely concentrated on the integration of mental imagery and psychological embodiment pertaining MAR apps enhanced-customer immersion, especially moderating role of personal innovativeness in retailing sector 2.3.3 Antecedents of customer immersion Most of previous AR technology-based studies is only focused on technological features (Bonetti et al., 2018; Yim & Park, 2019, Nikhashemi et al., 2021; Arghashi & Yuksel, 2022), such as vividness, interactivity, technology nolty, etc Previous studies (Bogicevic et al., 2021) have demonstrated that features of advanced technologies play an important role in determine online customer experiences Two popular technological features, namely interactivity and vividness, have been widely employed to explain the specific customer immersion in a great deal of AR, VR research (Chang and Wang, 2008; Yim et al., 2017) However, there is scant research from a digital retailing perspective investigating the underlying psychological mechanisms describing how customer immersion is formulated by advanced technologies In response to this paucity of knowledge and drawing upon the theory of embodied cognition (Poushneh, 2021), this study investigates the impacts of technological embodiment and mental imagery that are the respective representative of bodily and mental processes occur when consumers process display information (e.g., about products/brands) within the technology-mediated environments on facilitating customer immersion Embodiment is integrated by the technological devices and human bodily characteristics (Flavián et al., 2019a; Orús et al., 2021; Tussyadiah et al., 2018) By touching on a mobiphone’s camera, customer can virtual try on and experience the products/services through MAR apps Customers can embody MAR apps to physically and actively interact with products/services (i.e., embodiment) the on mobile screen rather than only imagine and employ mental imagery to generate a representation in their memory to visualize the products/services (i.e., mental imagery), thus using AR apps enable customers not just to see and to visualize, but also to feel involved with, absorbed in and engrossed by virtual stimuli (i.e., customer immersion) They can evaluate how products/services fit them personally similar to the experienced in the real world (Smink et al., 2020; Yim et al., 2017) Mental imagery refers to “a process by which visual information is represented in the working memory”(Heller et al., 2019) In other words, mental imagery is a self-generated stimulation based on customers ‘mental process that impact their ability to imagine visual information in their working memory Mental imagery can activate stored information in the past and evoke prior experiences, create mental images in their mind using MAR apps (Park & Yoo, 2020) To author’s knowledge, previous studies using embodied cognition theory in the combination of physical and mental traits still remains limited Therefore, this study investigated two crucial antecedents of customer immersion using MAR apps based on embodied cognition theory, consisting of embodiment and mental imagery with second-order constructs of each In addition, recent MAR apps related-theories (Hilken et al., 2018; Perannagari & Chakrabarti, 2019; Wang et al., 2021; Chen et al., 2022), such as TAM, flow theory, situated-cognition theory have been used separately in their conceptual framework To my knowledge, the integration of embodied cognition theory and S-O-R framework to reveal the relationships of MAR apps-enhanced customer immersion with its antecedents and outcomes remains rare in recent conceptual framework The S–O–R framework explains the paradigm of how the role of a stimulus as an antecedent affects individuals’ internal organisms and behavioral responses (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974) In the model of this study, organism is customer immersion Stimuli consists of mental imagery and psychological embodiment which are environmental constructs which influence on customer immersion 16 2.3.4 The moderating role of personal innovativeness Personal innovativeness, as an individual trait, is defined as the willingness of an individual to adopt new technology (Agarwal and Prasad, 1998; Kim and Choo, 2021) Customers with high innovativeness might be more perceptions to try out technology-based products than others (Fagan et al., 2012), they are ready to spend more time and more enjoyable to experience MAR apps-based virtual products A person with high innovativeness has strong intentions towards MAR apps to experience immersive Individuals with high personal innovativeness are also believed to explore novelty and have motivation to try on new technology to gain more knowledge about products/services on MAR apps Previous studies argued that innovators having the ability to imagine, understand and get benefits from new technologies (Krey et al.,, 2019) 2.3.5 Conceptual framework and hypothesis Embodiment As above mentioned, embodiment can be considered the integrated impact of the technological devices on the human body (Flavián et al., 2019a; Orús et al., 2021; Tussyadiah et al., 2018) Embodiment consists of three dimensions, including ownership, location, and agency (Flavián et al., 2019a; Longo et al., 2008; Tussyadiah et al., 2018) Ownership represents the feeling that the virtual product is part of customers’ own body Location refers to the feeling that the virtual product and own body are located at the same place Agency refers to the feeling that customers can interact with and move the virtual products/objects Using AR try-on applications, a user can try products on their own face or surroundings in real time (eg, make-up, furniture), which could help providing consumers a 'try before you buy' experience to have the senses similar to that experienced in the real world, particularly regarding their capacity to control (agency), to own (ownership) and to feel self-located (location) with their virtual products/objects in a digital environment For example, customers can then use the AR try-on applications to helps them see, rather than only imagine how those products/objects related in the surroundings Thus, author proposed: H1a Embodiment will be related positively to customer immersion As above mentioned, personal innovativeness is considered as individual trait reflecting their willingness to try out new technology (Agarwal and Prasad,1998) A person with high innovativeness has strong intentions to try on virtual technologies as AR mobile apps Previous studies argued that innovators having the ability to imagine, understand and get benefits from new technologies (Krey et al., 2019) Customers with high innovativeness can look out new interactive technologies to achieve their experience and thus they focus on new technologies that can help them accomplish their tasks Therefore, customers with high personal innovativeness are ready to spend more time to interact bodily trying on AR apps-based products Based on the discussion above, author expect personal innovativeness moderates the relationship between embodiment and customer immersion H1b: Personal innovativeness positively moderates the relationship between embodiment and customer immersion using MAR apps Mental imagery Mental imagery is defined as “a process by which visual information is represented in the working memory” (Heller et al., 2019) AR apps can provide the clear, detailed representation of an image (namely imagery vividness) in combination of the real world and virtual world (McLean and Wilson, 2019) Vividness is considered as the quality of product presentations (Yim et al., 2017) or “the clarity with which the individual experiences an image and reflects its quality” (Gavilan et al., 2014) It also provide consumers 17 mentally “try before you buy” experience, thereby resulting in enhanced longer memory about relevant information about products In online settings, augmented reality technology enables customers to enhance the vividness of their experience (González et al., 2021) In addition, imagery quality is the numbers of images in customers ’mind while processing information (Babin and Burns, 1998) After try-on experience, customers can evoke lots of images in their mind how the products display on mobile AR apps Moreover, imagery elaboration is defined as “the activation of information in the production of mental images beyond what is provided by the stimulus” and it is created by establishing integrations between information provided and that stored in long term memory (Babin and Burns, 1998) It means new information stored individual memory and that information is provided and activated by the stimulus in information processing After virtual try-on experience through AR apps as stimuli evoked previous images-related experiences, users becomes more familiar with previous images in their thoughts, knowledge and become deeper elaboration.Thus, in this study, mental imagery consists of three components, including imagery vividness, imagery quantity and imagery elaboration (Babin and Burns, 1998; Gavilan et al., 2014) Mental imagery plays a crucial role in information processing of human brain (Park and Yoo, 2020) It also enables customers to have ability to imagine, active stored information as mental images in which they can make pictures appear in their mind and then have an impact on cognitive, affective and behavioral responses, such as experience, positive emotion, attitude and behavioral intention (Park & Yoo, 2020) In addition, Bogicevic et al., (2019) investigated that mental imagery has an impact on sense of presence, which a psychological state is using virtual reality technology in tourism setting In virtual environment, consumers can not interact directly with physical products, their experience about those products is only based on MAR apps, so mental imagery can make consumers re-experience (reliving memory which they have experienced) or pre-experience (imagining some never-experienced images or pictures) Yoo and Kim (2014) also stated that customers are likely to build up mental images by using mental imagery in online retail setting that is a necessary information in their purchase decisions For instance, MAR apps can support customers to evoke mental images in their mind how the products display on smartphone’ camera, customers become more immersive when the level of mental imagery increase and vice versa Thus, this study developed the following hypothesis: H2a Mental imagery will be related positively to customer immersion A person with high innovativeness has strong intentions to try on virtual technologies as MAR apps Previous studies argued that innovators having the ability to imagine in their minds, understand and get benefits from new technologies (Krey et al., 2019) In contrast, customers with low cognitive innovativeness lack ability to imagine in their brains, and thus they are insensitive to the features of new technologies (Huang and Liao, 2015) Therefore, customers with high (low) innovativeness are (not) ready to spend more time to interact mentally by imagining some mental imagery while trying on AR apps-based products Based on the discussion above, author expect personal innovativeness moderates the relationship between mental imagery and customer immersion H2b: Personal innovativeness positively moderates the relationship between mental imagery and customer immersion using MAR apps Consequences of customer immersion As explained above, MAR apps enhanced-customer immersion is considered as “human psychological states, which were engaged in, involved with, and engrossed in certain virtual environment” (Yim et al., 2017), MAR apps enhanced-customer immersion can lead attitude and behavioral intention 18 Thus, attitude using MAR apps will be affected by MAR apps enhanced- customer immersion, then lead to behavioral intention Attitudinal response toward AR apps in the current studyis considered as customers positive or negative feelings about using AR apps.Ryan and Deci (2000) argued that human behavior is driven by individual and external motivation factors, so a positive attitude lead high motivation to have behavioral intention Moreover, technical acceptance model(Davis, 1989) and theory of planned behavior(Azjen, 1980)also explain the relationship between attitude and behavioral intention, so customers’ attitude towards AR apps can lead to customers’ intention to use AR apps As mentioned above, immersive experience refer to individual’s internal psychological states, which were engaged in, involved with, and engrossed in virtual environment (Yim et al., 2017), so immersive experience can lead attitudinal and behavioral responses Thus, attitude toward AR apps will be influenced by internal human states, which we refer to as immersive experience in this study, then lead to intention to use AR apps Thus, we expect that attitudinal response might play an intermediate role of the relationship between immersive experience and intention to use AR apps: H3: Customer immersion will be related positively to attitude towards MAR apps H4: Attitude toward MAR apps positively affects intention to use these apps For the latter, Yim et al (2017) indicated that enjoyment as affective factor has an impact on intention to use technology According to Kowalczuk et al (2021), immersion as affective factor has an direct impact on reuse intention toward AR applications It means that during virtual experiencing MAR apps, customers can intend to reuse MAR apps, so we proposed a hypothesis, as follows: H5: Customer immersion will be related positively to behavioral intentions to use MAR apps CHAPTER - RESEARCH METHOD 3.1 Research sampling 3.1.1 The sample size This study carried out a method of purposive sampling for an empirical investigation Because of certain limitations, purposive sampling is a practical approach which respondents need be focused on with specific characteristics to assist better for the survey (Chang & Chen, 2021, Etikan et al., 2016) In the current study, the target respondents should meet some criteria, as follows: (1) to ensure all the respondents can clearly understand and evaluate MAR apps-related customer immersion, (2) to ensure the consistency of data collection procedure for all respondents (e.g., introduction to download, virtual try-on MAR apps, complete survey questionnaire) The face-to-face interview was utilized to collect 450 samples for the survey, of which 332 questionnaires were used for data analysis According to Raykov & Widaman, (1995), a large sampling size is used to ensure the reliability of the research model However, Hair et al., (2010) argued that the ratio to design a sample size in marketing research is about a minimum of ten times of numbers of paths in the model of study (ratio 10:1) In the conceptual model of this study, there are paths, at least 60 samples The survey method in this study is a convenient method based on characteristics of Ho Chi Minh City population, the number of samples in the main study expected 450 sample size in order to ensure the reliability and reduce sampling errors 3.1.2 Data colletion context The dataset was collected from both male and female customers using smartphones These respondents are selected from specific areas of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam because this is a commercial hub 19 and a major center of science and technology in Vietnam (Thuy, 2022) Besides, people in Ho Chi Minh City have the highest average income per month compared to other regions of Vietnam (Vietnam E-business Index, 2021), so they has conditions to access new technologies in their experience 3.1.3 The sampling method It was used was convenient sampling, which is non-probability sampling with the equivalent proportions of male and female based on the ease of access to the subjects who participated in the study (Cabero-Almenara et al., 2019) In order to test some criteria for the study’s purpose, participants was asked screening questions (e.g the willingness and understanding instructions, having any difficulty in using MAR apps, providing incomplete questionnaires (Rauschnabel et al., 2019, Jessen et al., 2020) After completing the survey questionnaires, respondents were received a small gift for their participationm (Flavián et al., 2020) 3.1.4 MAR apps used in the study Having developed by fashion and cosmetic companies in recent years, AR applications provide for customers with high experiential appeal (Watson et al., 2018) Especially, customers have been at home for weeks in lockdown in time of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have more time on their smart-phone such as virtual make-up, glasses, watches, etc (Willems et al., 2021) When using mobile AR applications, customers can interact with virtual products within customers’ own physical space as if they are part of the real world (Scholz & Smith, 2016) Moreover, AR technology can enable a more immersive product experience and gives users control over their experience (Hilken et al., 2018) Author only selected participants who have never used AR apps to avoid previous effects (Daassi & Debbabi, 2021) Two mobile AR apps, namely “YouCam Makeup”, “FormexTryOn” were selected for this survey “YouCam Makeup” MAR app with makeup products was applied in this study (Daassi & Debbabi, 2021) “Formex” MAR app not have sex bias, which is male and female can virtual try-on in virtual environment (Qin, et al, 2021, Song et al, 2019) These MAR apps were chosen to diversify respondents’ choice, to avoid sex bias (Rauschnabel et al., 2019, Daassi & Debbabi, 2021) Prior studies (e.g Daassi & Debbabi, 2021, Park and Yoo, 2020, Wang, Wang, & Ko, 2021), most of these MAR apps was chosen for experiment studies “YouCam Makeup” MAR app with lots of styles of lip colors, eye shadows, and eye lash (Daassi & Debbabi, 2021) In addition, “Formex TryOn” MAR app provides for customers with try-on experience on watches traps and models (Song et al., 2019) This MAR app allows customers to virtual try on their wrist Data collection was conducted if respondents were willing to virtual try-on and answer the survey 3.1.5 Time for collecting data Time period for data collection was from August, 2020 until March, 2021 before COVID-pandemic outbreak in Ho Chi Minh City 3.1.6 Data collection procedure In current study, there are three steps for data collection consisting of introduction, letting participants experience on MAR apps, then completing the questionnaire, respectively and having time break in five minutes among steps (Sung, 2021) Firstly, participants were introduced the way how to experience MAR apps Then, they were required to download “YouCam Makeup”, “Formex TryOn” MAR apps on their smart-phone After that, some screening questions author were provided to participants to gain some suitable criteria, such as the willing to follow the instructions, experiencing MAR apps, providing the complete (Jessen et al., 2020; Rauschnabel et al., 2019) 20 In the next step, respondents were distributed a survey questionnaire Reviewers guide participants the ways to answer the questions in the questionnaire There are two main parts in the survey questionnaire: screening questions, scale measurement and demographic-based general information Screening questions are multiple-choice questions (e.g the installation and use mobile apps, respondents’ willingness to download and try-on, the frequency of MAR apps-experience) Because of using convenience sampling, screening questions help eliminate confusion and reduce response bias (Mangione, 1995); Jessen et al., 2020) After completing the questionnaire, participants were received a study credit for their participation (Flavián et al., 2020) If participants need more time for participation, they can be given extra time Data collectors were recruited and trained to be suitable for the study’s purposes In order to motivate their data collection, they also were given a financial incentive (S R Nikhashemi et al., 2021) Some screening questions were designed to control data collection bias to meet the criteria (H H Shin & Jeong, 2021) After data collection, author continue analyze data and report the results from imported database 3.2 Research method There are two design ways for quantitative method consisting of survey and experimental designs (Creswell, 2014) The main method in this study is quantitative method is applied to test and validate hypotheses in the conceptual model Besides, author used qualitative method for reviewing previous studies The pre-test study is used to refine scales by using feedback from expert and some young customers, pretests contructs retated to immersive experience in the questionnaire (Carpenter, 2018; Thọ NĐ, 2014) The questionaire was pilot-tested by 20 respondents for checking its readability and clarity before the main stage of data collection This pilot study was implemented by ten participants, including a Doctor of Philosophy, two Ph.D students in Management and International Business, seven students in Marketing, International Business, Information Technology, Management, Accounting and Finance and 10 customers to ensure clarity of items of scales, procedure to virtual try-on apps on smart-phone, and to test for potential problems (Qin et al., 2021, Lee et al., 2006) The authors made minor change to the questionnaire suitable for the context The pilot study is mainly built based on scales from previous studies Because of the difference from the culture, the level of economic development, so scales need to be adjusted suitable for the Vietnam context (Thọ ND, 2014) Research models and observed variables scale adopted and adjusted at this stage is called draft scale The purpose of using pilot study was to test the constructs’ reliability before conducting a main study (Hair, Black, Babin, Anderson, & Tatham, 2010) The results of the reliability test indicated that Cronbach’s Alpha values was more than 0.7, it means al constructs gain reliability The quantitative method aims to investigate the impacts of technology-enabled psychological embodiment and mental imagery on customer immersive experience that in turn stimulate attitudinal and behavioural responses towards MAR apps as the moderating role of personal innovativeness on the relationship between immersive experience and its two precursors In doing so, the quantitative study was conducted to examine these hypotheses in the integrated conceptual model in the study 3.3 Data analysis procedure PLS-SEM software was used for data analysis because it can be analysed with small sample size, testing discriminant validity by test the HTMT criterion, not need testing goodness-of-fit, etc (Hair et al., 2019) According to Garson (2012), PLS is the most popular and effective approach in analyzing linear structural models including latent variables The results not only allow researchers to test scales ‘reliability, discriminant and convergent validity of the scales but also estimate the coefficients of the scales PLS can analyze complex models with many latent variables at the same time ... Management and International Business, seven students in Marketing, International Business, Information Technology, Management, Accounting and Finance and 10 customers to ensure clarity of items of scales,... dominant research gaps, including (1) investigating customer immersion using MAR apps in Vietnam retail setting (2) scrutinizing the relationships of embodiment and mental imagery on customer immersion, ... contributions consist of examining the driving roles of embodiment and mental imagery on customer immersion; investigating how customers’ MAR apps enhanced -immersion influence their attitudinal and behavioral