CUSTOMER IMMERSION IN VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT AN INVESTIGATION OF ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES

Trendsofdoingbusinessinvirtualenvironment

Recently, emerging technologies such as augmented reality (AR, hereafter)andvirtualreality(VR,hereafter),existswidelyinvirtualenvironments,arecon sidereda s immersivetechnologies,whichhavepaidattentiontoscholars and practitioners because of their advantages in enhancing user experience(Fanet al., 2022; Wedelet al.,2020).AR, is considered as “a variation of virtualenvironments”, can be used to assist customers’ pre-experience before purchasingdecision and engage customers dynamically with diversified products/services (Fanetal.,2020;Vieiraetal.,2022),thentoenhancein-storeexperience.

Thus, companies using AR technology in their marketing campaigns that allow theircustomers have immersed and more interactive experience than traditional forms Inparticular, market growth rate was expected by 31% annually (Rauschnabelet 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 (Hilkenetal., 2018) The development ofAR has been leading to various channels, therebybringinganenormouschangeinretailingsector(Frishammaretal.,2018).

Moreover, mobile devices (e.g tablets, smartphones, etc.) are essential for mostpeople because of their convenience There are more than five billion mobile phoneusers in the world, most of them using smart-phone, and about 218 billion mobileapplications were downloaded in 2020(Oymanet al., 2022) Mobile phone- basedapplications having AR functions (e.g., MAR apps) allow users to try on in a virtualenvironment, thus it can stimulate users’ experience This calls for more studies andprovides a new direction to capture customers’ attention by stimulating them tointeract with virtual products on their mobile phones It is obvious that AR is apotential and effective marketing tool that companies should take advantage ofsuiting customers’ demands Marketers can come up with loyal customers for thelaunchofnewproductsandstrategies.ItisclearthatMARappshavebeenconsidered a technological advancement in recent decades, thus businesses can takeadvantageofthese virtualtechnologiestoenhancecustomerimmersion.

Froma r e t a i l i n g s e t t i n g , M A R a p p s h a v e b e e n a p r o m i s i n g t e c h n o l o g i e s to enhance customer’s experience by evaluating products virtually prior to purchasedecisions (Tanet al., 2022) In fact, the AR market size worldwide is expected togain from USD 12.0 billion in 2021 to USD 72.8 billion in 2024 (Fanet al., 2022).Some of recent studies revealed that augmented reality related experiential valuewhen users are in a state of ‘presence’, which prefers to “a subjective experience offeeling as if one is mentally present in certain place even though he is physicallynot”(Yoon & Oh, 2022), the investigation of customer immersion using MAR appshas not been studied.The use of MAR apps has been interested from developedcountries,thereislittleresearchindevelopingcountrieslikeVietnam.Inthema rketing context, there have been a number of studies related to the technologicalcharacteristicsconnectedwithcustomersatisfactiononhotelwebsites,onli nebookstores (Nguyenet al.,2021b) In addition, several empirical studies have alsobeen carried out in Vietnam to measure intention to use mobile devices (Khoiet al.,2018; Phonget al.,2018) AR shopping application technology has become morepopularduetoitsinteractivefeatures (Lu&Smith, 2007).Customers ca ntryand experience products with MAR apps, and then, customers evaluate virtual productsbefore purchase decisions.In recentyears,many companies havea p p l i e d

M A R appsi n c r e a t i n g m o r e a n d m o r e p r o d u c t s w i t h f u l l i n f o r m a t i o n a n d i n t e r a c t i o n t o suit customer needs (Zubizarretaet al., 2019) Many organizations are already usingAR shopping app technology on mobile phones (e.g YouCam App, IKEA), virtualglasses(e.g.MagicMirror,MemoryMirror).Thesetechnologyapplicationstransfor m the shopping experience of customers by allowing them to understand thecompany's products that customers will buy from different options and which theycan compare with other choices they have experienced AR shopping applicationtechnology is a potential and effective marketing tool that companies should takeadvantage of to suit their needs. Marketers can take the advantages of MAR apps tolaunch new products and suitable strategies Therefore, MAR apps are considered atechnologicaladvancement,especiallyindevelopingcountrieslikeVietnam.Accordin g to Moorhouseet al.(2018), new technologies such as MAR apps aretechnologicalinnovationsthatcanstimulateconsumerbehavior.

In the business context, previous studies have emphasized the characteristics oftechnologytoenhancecustomerimmersion,MARappscanprovidemoreinformation to make customers feel satisfied, satisfied before making purchasingdecisions(Georgiou& Kyza,2018;Hudsonet al.,2019).Accordingtorecentstudies, the investigation of customer immersion using

MAR apps has not beenknown much in Vietnam During the increasingly COVID-

Mobileaugmentedrealityapplications(MARapps)inVietnam

While the website and mobile application platform have attracted a lot ofattentionofresearchers inmany developedcountries;researchonthat topic indevelopingcountries,Vietnam,forexample,israreandlimited.

There are a numbero f e m p i r i c a l s t u d i e s t h a t h a v e b e e n c o n d u c t e d i n V i e t n a m related to hotel websites (Thinhet al., 2019), brands book online (Nguyenet al.,2019b),onlinehotelratings(Tranetal.,2019),MARappsintourismsetting(Huong, 2020), retaling sectors (Tan et al, 2022), education (Anh, 2016), etc Inaddition, empirical studies have conducted in Vietnam to measure the intention toapply mobile commerce (Khoiet al., 2018; Phonget al., 2018) Customer emotions(joy, excitement, prominence) and customer value (pragmatic value, pleasure value,andsocialvalue)havenotbeenstudiedinmobileapplications.Despitetheimportan ceofimmersion,howeverthereisnoempiricalinvestigationofthetheoretical framework and its implications for Vietnamese businesses In retailingsetting in Vietnam, AR technologyhas been applied in entertainment, tourism, etc.Customers can experience products with MAR apps, and then, customers evaluatevirtualproductsbeforepurchasedecisions.

Inrecentyears,many companies haveappliedMARapps in creatingmorea n d moreproductswithfullinformationandinteractiontosuitcustomerne eds(Zubizarreta et al , 2019) Many organizations are already using AR shopping apptechnologyonmobilephones.Thesetechnologyapplicationstransformt h e shoppin g experience of customers by allowing them to understand the company'sproductsthatcustomerswillbuyfromdifferentoptionsandwhichtheyc a n co mpare with other choices they have experienced MAR apps are a potential andeffective marketing tool that companies should take advantage of to suit their needs.MarketerscantaketheadvantagesofMARappstolaunchnewproductsa n d suitable strategies Therefore, MAR technology is a technological advancement,especially in developing countries like

Vietnam According to recent studies, theinvestigationofcustomerimmersionremainslimitedinVietnam.

Researchbackground

Recently, consumer shift to online shopping has been significantlyacceleratedduetotheglobalpandemicandthischangeisexpectedtohave lasting effects even when the world returns to a “new normal” status (Irawanet al., 2020).When shopping online, customers often find it difficult to imagine how sellingproducts personally suit and fit with them or/and match in their environment (Zhangetal.,2019),thusfirms/retailershavebeenattemptedtoincorporateadvancedtechnol ogies that enable consumers to visualize and try out virtual products thatmimic thein- storephysicalexperience(Songetal.,2019).

Augmented reality has been advocated to provide valuable opportunities to fulfillsuch requirement because it can superimpose virtual contents onto the real objectswith physical surroundings and vice versa (Qinet al., 2021a) Mobile augmentedreality applications (MAR apps) have been especially developed to make it possiblefor customers to see themselves with different virtual products on their smart-phonewithout actually/physically apply these products directly on their body (e.g., wearglasses (Yimet al., 2017), watches (Songet al., 2019) or make-up (Hilkenet al.,2018), they can also interact with the products in a personalized ways (e.g., positionand 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 serviceswithin MAR apps (Hilkenet al., 2018) Referring to such realistic experience inonlineenvironment,customerimmersionisafundamentalc o n c e p t f o r apprehend ingsuchstateof mindandfeelings(Hudsonetal.,2019).

Customerimmersionliesatthecentraloftheadvancementsinemergingtechnologiessuch asAR,VR(Rauschnabeletal.,2022)andhasgainedanincreasingattentionfrombothacad emicsandpracticesinthefieldofdigitalbusiness (Nguyenet al., 2021a) Previous researches pay attention to the significantroleofARexperiences,particularlycustomerimmersion,one x e r t i n g / e l i c i t i n g eithercustomers’relationaloutcomessuchascustomersatisfaction,l o y a l t y (Hudsonet al., 2019) or their purchase intention (Yimet al., 2017) However, thereis still a limited specific research on how customer immersion with MAR apps canengenderb o t h p o s i t i v e a t t i t u d i n a l a n d b e h a v i o r a l o u t c o m e s t h a t a r e b e n e f i c i a l t o onlineretailers.Inaddition,customerimmersionhasbeenconsistentlyconceptualizedina complexandmulti-dimensionalmannerthatrefersto“apsychological state in which individuals are involved in, absorbed by their activitiesand fully engrossed in the computer-mediated environment”(Songet al.,2019) theliterature review surprisingly reveals that customer immersion is usually delineatedasthestateofdeepinvolvement(Songetal.,2019)ordifferentdegreeofinvolve ment(Blumenthal&Jensen,2019;Weibeletal.,2010)andfrequentlystudied as an uni-dimension construct (Hudsonet al., 2019; Yimet al., 2017).

Thecomprehensiveunderstandingonthenatureofsuchaspecificandmulti- dimensionalexperienceaswellasitsimpactsonattitudinalandb e h a v i o r a l response s towards try-on AR apps is thus inhibited By addressing these researchgaps, this study can contribute depth knowledge to the emerging literature regardingthee x p e r i e n t i a l e f f e c t i v e n e s s o f a d v a n c e d t e c h n o l o g i e s ( i e , A R ) i n t h e e r a o f digitalretailingbusiness.

Previousstudies(Bogicevicetal.,2021)havedemonstratedthatfeaturesofadvancedtech nologiesplayanimportantroleindetermineonlinecustomerexperiences.Twopopulartec hnologicalfeatures,namelyinteractivitya n d vividness,havebeenwidelyemploye dtoexplainthespecificcustomerimmersionin a great deal of AR, VR research (Yimet al.,

2017) However, there is scantresearchfromadigitalretailingperspectiveinvestigatingtheunderlyingpsychologi calmechanismsdescribinghowcustomerimmersionisenabledandformulatedbyadvanc edtechnologies.

The S–O–R framework is used in this study to explain the paradigm of how the roleof a stimulus as an antecedent affects individuals’ internal organisms and behavioralresponses (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974) In other words, the environmental stimulitriggerpsychologicalstate,whichleadstoaresponseofanindividual.Intheintergrated framework model, organism is immersion Stimuli consists of mentalimageryandpsychologicalembodimentwhichareenvironmentalconstruc tswhich influenceoncustomerimmersion.Inaddition,responseconstructsconsistofaffectiveres ponse,cognitiveresponseandbehavioralresponsewhichareoutcomeof customers’ immersion The current study applies the S–O–R framework to useARapplicationsinmarketingcontext.ThepurposeofusingS-O-Rmodeltoexamine the effect of mental imagery and AR embodiment on customer immersion,inturnleadtotheirresponses.Inresponsetothispaucity ofk n o w l e d g e a n d drawinguponthetheoryofembodiedcognition(Poushneh,202 1),thisstudyinvestigates the impacts of technological embodiment and mental imagery that arethe respective representative of bodily and mental processes occur when consumersprocess display information (e.g., about products/brands) within the technology-mediatedenvironmentsonfacilitatingcustomerimmersion.

Almost previous AR technology-based studiesis only focused on technologicalfeatures (Bonettiet al., 2018; Yim & Park, 2019, Nikhashemiet al., 2021; Arghashi& Yuksel, 2022), such as vividness, interactivity, technology nolty, etc.Previousstudies(Bogicevicetal.,2021)havedemonstratedthatfeaturesofadvancedte chnologies play an important role in determine online customer experiences. Twopopulartechnologicalfeatures,namelyinteractivityandvividness,haveb e e n wid ely employed to explain the customer immersion in a great deal of AR, VRresearch (Yimet al., 2017) However, there is scant research from a digital retailingperspective investigating the underlying psychological mechanisms describing howcustomerimmersionisformulatedbyadvancedtechnologies.Embodimentisintegra ted by the technological devices and human bodily characteristics (Flaviánetal.,2019a; Orúset al., 2021; Tussyadiahet al., 2018) By touching on a mobile-phone’s camera, customer can virtual try on and experience the products/services byusingMAR apps Customers can embody MAR apps to physically and activelyinteract with products/services (i.e.,embodiment) the on mobile screen rather thanonly imagine and employ mental imagery to generatea representation in theirmemory to visualize theproducts/services (i.e.,mentalimagery),t h u s u s i n g A R appsenable customersnotjusttoseeandtovisualize,butalsotofeelinvolvedwith, absorbed in and engrossed by virtual stimuli (i.e., customer immersion) They canevaluate how products/services fit them personally similar to the experienced in thereal world (Sminket al., 2020; Yimet al., 2017) Mental imagery refers to

“aprocess by which visual information is represented in the working memory”(Helleretal.,2019).Inotherwords,mentalimageryisaself- generatedstimulationbasedon customers’ mental process that impact their ability to imagine visual informationint h e i r w o r k i n g m e m o r y M e n t a l i m a g e r y c a n a c t i v a t e s t o r e d i n f o r m a t i o n i n t h e past and evoke prior experiences, create mental images in their mind using MARapps (Park & Yoo, 2020) Personal innovativeness, as an individual trait, prefers tothewillingnessofanindividualtoadoptnewthings,especialnewtechnology(Agarwaland Prasad,1998;KimandChoo,2021).Customerswithhighinnovativeness might be more inclined to try out technology-based products thanothers(Faganetal.,2012),they areready tospendmoretimeandfeelmoreenjoyable to experience MAR apps-based virtual products Personal innovativenesscan be a key conditional factor in determining the relationship between technology-enabled psychological factors and customer immersion, and thus being integrated intheresearchframework.

In summary, this study provides a better understanding to the existing literature byempirically examining a conceptual model pertaining to the impacts of technology-enabled psychological embodiment and mental imagery on customer immersion thatin turn stimulate attitudinal and behavioral responses towards MAR apps There arethree contributions in this study consisting of investigating how customers’ MARappsenhanced- immersioninfluencetheirattitudinalandbehavioralresponses,examiningthedrivingrol esofembodimentandmentalimageryoncustomerimmersion based on the combination of S-O-R framework, and embodied cognitiontheory;andtestingthemoderatingeffectofpersonalinnovativenessontherelati onshipbetweenMARappsenhanced-immersionanditsprecursors.

Researchgaps

The first gap , emerged as almost previous researches related to MAR apps werestudied in developed markets (Oymanet al., 2022; Qinet al., 2021a), is the lack ofstudiest o i n v e s t i g a t e h o w t o e n h a n c e i m m e r s i o n a s w e l l a s i t s e f f e c t s o n a t t i t u d e and behavioral responses in developing counties as Vietnam To my knowledge,whether and how customer immersion has an impact on their responses towardMAR apps in developing markets has been limited Applying MAR apps to enhanceconsumerimmersionshouldbeinvestigatedinthesedevelopingmarkets.Theexisti ng gap can be addressed through theinvestigation ofcustomer immersionusingMARappsinVietnamretailsetting.

The second gap is the combination of embodiment and mental imagery based onembodied cognition theory and S-O-R framework in conceptual framework of thestudy It seems that most of previous AR technology-based studies is only focusedon technological features (Bonettiet al., 2018; Yim & Park, 2019,Nikhashemietal.,2 0 2 1 , A r g h a s h i & Y u k s e l , 2 0 2 2 ) T o a u t h o r

’ s k n o w l e d g e , p r e v i o u s s t u d i e s using embodied cognition theory in the combination of embodiment and mentalimagery still remains limited Therefore, an in-depth investigation regarding therelationshipsofembodimentandmentalimageryoncustomerimmersioni s requiredi ncurrentstudy.

The third gap is dominant moderating effect of personal innovativeness as one ofcrucialpersonalitytraitsusingMARapps.Recentresearcheshavetestedthemoderating ofpersonalitytraitssuchasusermotivation(Perannagari& Chakrabarti, 2019), assessment orientation (Jessenet al., 2020), technology anxiety(Dograet al., 2022) or prior experience (Songet al., 2019), almost of them used tomoderate the relationship between customer experience (e.g engagement) and itsoutcomes. Differentcustomers have differenttraits, soM A R a p p s c a n a f f e c t o n their experience in various ways Personal innovativeness, as an individual trait,referstothewillingnessofanindividualtoadoptn e w things,especiallyn e w technology (Agarwal and Prasad, 1998; Kim and Choo, 2021) Customers with highinnovativeness might be more inclined to try out technology-based products thanothers(Faganetal.,2012),theyarereadytospendmoretimeandfeelmoreenjoyabletoe xperienceMARapps- basedvirtualproducts.Thus,personalinnovativenessplaysthemoderatingeffectofcustomeri mmersionanditstwoprecursorsintheconceptualmodel.

Inshort,thisstudyrevealedsomedominantresearchgaps,including(1)investigating customer immersion using MAR apps in Vietnam retail setting(2)scrutinizingtherelationshipsofembodimentandmentalimageryoncustomerim mersion, and (3) examining themoderating role ofp e r s o n a l i n n o v a t i v e n e s s o n therelationshipbetweencustomerimmersionanditstwoantecedents.

Theobjectivesandquestionsofresearch

The purpose of this research is to investigate the impacts of technology- enabled psychological embodiment and mental imagery on customer immersion thatin turn stimulate attitudinal and behavioral responses towards MAR apps Morespecifically, four crucial contributions consist of examining the driving roles ofembodimentandmentalimageryoncustomerimmersion;investigatinghowcustomers

’MARappsenhanced-immersioninfluencetheirattitudinalandbehavioral responses; testing the moderating role of personal innovativeness on therelationshipbetweencustomerimmersionanditstwoprecursors.

The empirical findings are potential to provide practical managerial executives withtechnology-based marketing strategies that aim at enhanceing customer experience,attitude and behavioral intention Therefore, this study needs to answer some mainresearchquestions,asfollows:

Question 1: How dotechnology-enabled psychological embodiment and mentalimageryhaveimpactsoncustomerimmersion?

Researchscope

Thedatasetwascollectedfrombothmaleandfemalecustomersusingsmartphones.These respondents are selected from specific areas of Ho Chi MinhCity, Vietnam.Time for data collection was from August, 2020 until March, 2021before COVID- pandemic outbreak in Ho Chi Minh City In the current study, thetarget respondents should meet some criteria, as follows: (1) respondents shouldclearly understand and evaluate MAR apps-related customer immersion, (2) all gothrough the procedure of getting an introduction to download, virtual try-onMARapps,thencompletingsurveyquestionnaire.

Researchcontributions

The first contribution of this study is that the combination of the theory ofembodiedcognitionandS-O-Rframeworktoexplainmechanismthathowtechnology- enabledfactors,psychologicalembodimentandmentalimagery,influence customer immersion, in turn enhancing behavioral intention regardingMAR apps Specifically, the theory of embodied cognition was applied in somefieldssuchaseducation,andmanagement(Lietal.,2018),thecurrentunderstandingofho wthistheoryisappliedinretailande-commercesettingsremains limited In addition, prior research has generally focused on either bodilyinformation process(Tuenaet al., 2017), virtual objects’ characteristics affectingtheir friendliness and online gamer loyalty(Liet al., 2018). However, to the best ofthe author’ knowledge, no study has explained the impact of both bodily and mentalinformationprocessesoncustomerimmersiontovirtuallytryproductsonARmobileappl ications.Thiscurrentstudyistoaddressthegapsby utilizingthetheory of embodied cognition to explain the impact of embodiment and mental imagery oncustomers’ immersion.Moreover, S–O–R framework was applied to explain theparadigm of how the role of a stimulus as an antecedent affects individuals’ internalorganisms and behavioral responses (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974) In other words,the environmental stimuli trigger psychological state, which leads to a response ofan individual In the conceptual model, organism is customers’ immersion Stimuliconsist of mental imagery and embodiment, which are environmental factors whichinfluenceoncustomerimmersionaspsychologicalstate.Inaddition,responsefacto rsconsistofattitudeandbehavioralintentiontowardsMARapps.

The second valuablecontribution isthatt h i s s t u d y h a s h i g h l i g h t e d t h e i m p o r t a n c e of customer immersion with multiple dimensions Immersion has been consistentlyconceptualizedinacomplexandmulti- dimensionalmannerthatrefersto“apsychological state in which individuals are involved in, absorbed by their activitiesand fully engrossed in the computer-mediated environment” (Songet al., 2019), theliterature reviewsurprisingly revealsthat immersionisusually delineated ast h e state of deep involvement (Songet al., 2019) or different degree of involvement(Blumenthal & Jensen, 2019; Weibelet al., 2010) and frequently studied as an uni-dimension construct (Hudsonet al., 2019; Yimet al., 2017) The comprehensiveunderstanding on the nature of such a specific and multi- dimensional experience aswellasitsimpactsonattitudinalandbehavioralresponsestowardstry- onARappsis thus inhibited By addressing these research gaps, this study can contribute depthknowledge to the emerging literature regarding immersion using MAR apps in theera ofdigitalretailingbusiness.

The third contribution is that this study review potential trends of applying MARapps in the retail sector It is clear that MAR apps as one emerging technologicaladvancement have an impact on customer immersion This study has explained theimportance and the reasons why these MAR apps were used, so firms and retailerscanenhancetheircustomerexperiencebyattachingmoreinformationthrough

MAR apps on smartphones or tablets Moreover, the author intended to express theimportance of augmented reality technology in the retail sector AR technology giveemerging potential for marketers and creates a challenge for marketing practice(Yuanetal.,2021).

Lastbutnotleast,personal innovativenessis considered asacrucialmodera torinthe conceptual model According to Kim and Choo, (2021), personal innovativenessis also considered as an individual trait, which is “the willingness of an individual”to try onnew technologies (e.g., MAR apps) Customers with high innovativenessmight bem o r e p e r c e p t i o n s t o t r y o u t t e c h n o l o g y - b a s e d p r o d u c t s t h a n o t h e r s , t h e y are ready to spend more time and more enjoyable to experience MAR apps-basedvirtual products Personal innovativeness is a key conditional factor in determiningthe relationship between technology-enabled psychological factors and MAR appsenhanced- immersionintheconceptualframework.Thisfindingprovidea n empirical support to the moderating role of personal innovativeness in experiencingMARapps,especiallyinthedevelopingcountriesasVietnam.

Researchsampling,researchmethod

Researchsampling

The sample size:The onsite interview was utilized to collect 450 samples for thesurvey, of which 332 questionaires were used for data analysis It was used wasconveniencesampling,whichisnon- probabilitysamplingwiththeequivalentproportions of male and female based on the ease of access to the subjects whoparticipatedinthestudy( C a b e r oetal.,2019).

2020until March, 2021 before COVID-pandemic outbreak in Ho ChiMinhCity,Vietnam.

Researchmethod

The quantitative method aims to investigate the impacts of technology- enabledpsychological embodiment and mental imagery on customer immersion that in turnstimulateattitudinalandbehaviouralresponsestowardsMARappsaswellaspersonal innovativeness moderating the relationship beetwen customer immersionand its two precursors In doing so, the quantitative study was conducted to examinethesehypothesesintheintegratedconceptualmodelinthestudy.

Brief ofsomeconcepts

Embodied cognition theory is all “cognitive processes are grounded in bodily statesand in the brain's sensory modality-specific processing systems” (Petit et al., 2019).S-O-R framework explained that stimulating of the environment(S) evoke consumerimmersivestates(O),which resultintheresponse(R)(Mehrabian andRussell,1974).MARapps- enhancedcustomerimmersionorimmersiveexperienceisconsideredasuser“psychologi calstate”describedby feelingthemselvestobe“absorbed in, involved with, and engrossed by virtual stimuli”

(Yim et al., 2017;Georgiou&Kyza,2017).MARapps- enhancedimmersionconsistsofthreedimensions of engagement, engrossment and total immersion (Georgiou & Kyza,2017) Engagement prefers to users’ psychological state which they can “access theactivity”, then they “invest time and effort to attend to the activity” Engrossmentprefers to users’ psychological state which they may be able to “become furtherinvolvedwiththeactivity”.Totalimmersion,istheoptimumlevel,users’psycholo gical state which they are totally absorbed andimmersedinvirtualenvironment.

Embodiment is considered as “the integration of the technological devices into thehumanbody”and“occurswhenusersembodytechnologyandallowingtheextended bodies to interact with the world” (Tussyadiah et al., 2018; Flavián et al.,2019b).Embodimentisformedinthreedimensions:ownership,location,andagency( Tussyadiah et al., 2018) Ownership represents sensation of which is body’sparts. Location refers to the feeling that a consumer's self is located inside theiravatar's body Agency refers to the feeling that user can interact with the object(Tussyadiahetal.,2018).

Mental imagery refers to “a process by which visual information is represented intheworkingmemory”(Helleretal,2019,BabinandBurns,1998).

Mental imagery is a multi-dimensional construct, consisting of vividness, quantity,and elaboration (Babin and Burns, 1998; Gavilan et al., 2014) Vividness prefers to“the clarity with which the individual experiences an image and reflects its quality”.Quantity prefers to “the numbers of images in customers ’mind while processinginformation”. Elaboration prefers to “the activation of information in the productionof mental images beyond what is provided by the stimulus” (Babin and Burns,1998).

Personal innovativeness, as an individual trait, is defined as the willingness of anindividual to adopt new technology (Agarwal & Prasad, 1998; Kim & Choo, 2021).Attitude toward MAR apps is an overall affective evaluation (of using MAR apps)thatcanrangefromextremelypositivetoextremelynegative.

(Childerseta l , 2001).BehavioralintentionregardingMARappsprefersto“thedegreeo f individual intention to engage in a particular behavior” using MAR apps (Davis etal.,1989).

Structureofthestudy

Therearefivechaptersinthecurrentstudy.Thefirstchapteristheintroductionoftre ndsofdoingbusinessinvirtualenvironment,research background and others Next, the second chapter gives information about literaturereview or theoretical framework in order to propose an integrated conceptual modelofthestudy.Then,thethirdchapterofmethodology aims todescribehowtoconduct the research Next fourth chapter gives the results of the study Finally, thefifth chapter mentions the discussion, theoretical and managerial implication of thestudy.

In the introduction, author aims todescribe trends of doingbusiness in virtualenvironment, MAR apps in Vietnam, the research topic giving necessary researchbackground, the research objectives and questions, research contributions in thestudy,explanationsomekeyconcepts,anddissertation’sstructure.

In literature review, the study give the theoretical review on augmented reality invirtual environment, conceptualization ò virtual immersive experience, theoreticalbackgroundrelevanttothestudyconsistingoftheories,summarizingprevious studies ò virtual customer experience and immersive exprience Therefore, authorsuggestssomemainhypothesesintheintegratedconceptual model.

In the methodology, author describes the research methods such as pilot study andquantitate method, scale measurement, research scope, mobile augmented realityapps chosen in the study, research settings In this chapter, author also use researchtools as the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) software totestthehypothesesintheintegratedconceptualmodel.

In the research result part, author illustrates sample characteristics in the study,theresultsofdataanalysisconsistingofvalidationofmeasurementmodelr e l a t e d reliability, discriminant validity of constructs, testing hypotheses and conceptualmodel in the study as the moderating role of personal innovativeness In addition,discussions’sectiongiveinformationonemergingtrendsofMARapps,usingtheo ries in the integrated conceptual model, antecedents and outcomes of immersionaswellasthemoderatingroleofpersonal innovativeness.

Infinalchapter,thestudyprovidesthetheoreticalandpracticalimplications,limitations and future research of this research There are two parts in theoreticalimplications and managerial implications in the study In addition, author give thelistofpublishedpapersrelatedtothedissertationandappendices.

Summary

This part aims at providing a research topic giving necessary research background,theresearchobjectivesandquestions,somecontributionsforresearchersand retailers,explanationsomekeyconcepts,andthestructure ofdissertation.

Thisobjectivesofchapteraretoreviewaboutmobileapplications,mobileaugmentedreali tyapplications.Moreover,theoriesrelevanttothestudywerereviewedinthischapter.Nex tpart,customerimmersion,itsantecedentsandoutcomesaswellasmoderatingroleofpers onalinnovativenessinrelatedtoconceptualmodelshowedinthispart.Last,theproposedre searchmodelandhypotheses thatwere usedtoanswertheproposedresearchquestionsarepresented.

Mobileapplicationsinvirtualenvironment

Mobileapplications

Latestdevelopmentofmobileapplicationshavecreatedopportunitiesformarketers to integrate with new applications Having developed smartphone andapplications, many corporations have used different distribution systems to interactwiththeirclients(Aroraetal.,2017;Dinsmoreetal.,2017).

Mobileappsareconvenienttoolsthatdesignedforend- usertocooperateinsmartphoneviadownloadingtoallowuserstocommunicatewithother, forexamples of social networking (Kimet al., 2013) Previous research revealed with4000 new mobile apps downloaded per day (Aroraet al., 2017) Mobile applicationis one of key powerful tools that provide convenient services in delivery channels(Mcleanet al., 2018) Shankaret al., (2010) argued that mobile apps have an impacton customer’s attitudes and behaviors Companies have assigned marketing budgetsto achieve their customer expectations through mobile apps (McLean & Wilson,2019) Mobile apps can meet users’ satisfaction and improve decision-making forend-users This research has analyzed the linkages among customer immersion, itsantecedentsandoutcomeswithARmobileappsinVietnam.

Having adopted from previous research about mobile apps, this study contributes totheunderstandingofcustomerimmersionanditsresponses.Basedontheprevi ous studies, which are prior to relationship immersion, this study will focus on theunderstandingofcustomer immersion,itsantecedentsandresponses.

Mobileaugmentedrealityapplications(MAR apps)

Augmentedrealityisadigitaldevice,whichcan“overlaysupplementarysensory information” on the real context (Wedelet al., 2020) In other words, ARhas real and virtual features describing virtual contents on real objects such as face,body of human in user’s perception (Giglioliet al., 2015) Unlike virtual reality,AR allows the user to experience the real world with virtual objects superimposedupon through computer or smartphone’ camera (Kipper and Rampolla, 2013) AR isasourceoftechnology,whichconnectsvirtualobjectsdirectlyintocertaincircumstance sviacomputerorsmartphone(ScholzandSmith,2016,Javornik,2016).

Mobile applications is one of impressive tools in mobile commerce with more than49% of business receiving order in Vietnam (Tuuet al.,2021) In addition, AR isone of the nine emerging technologies that can support the digital transformation indifferentf i e l d s ( E v a n g e l i s t ae t a l ,2 0 2 0 ; H a j i r a s o u l ie t a l ,2 0 2 2 ) , t h u s i t g i v e s a newopportunitiesinretailandmarketingsectors.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, ARhas become an crucial technology for virtualtry-oninretailsettings,suchasclothing,footwear,andcosmeticsaswellasfurniture in customers ‘home (e.g IKEA, Dulux) (Chenet al., 2021).There havesomebenefitsusingARtechnologysuchasreducinguncertaintyindecision-making,increasing shopping intention, enhancing customer loyalty and building therelationships between customers and business brand (Chenet al., 2021) Companiescan develop AR applicationswithadditional information aboutA R p r o d u c t s i n order to provide their customer (Mekni and Lemieux, 2014) Recent studies haveprovidedevidencesthatMARappscansupportcustomertounderstandmoreinforma tion about virtual products (Dacko,2017) Besides, Huang and Liao(2015)statedthataugmentedrealitytechnologyprovidescustomersricherexperience sand moreenjoyment.Hence,experiencingtry-onvirtuallyinARtechnologyissoenjoyable that customers are willing to experience, even at great cost (Shin, 2019).From the short review above focused on developed countries, AR technology needto study whether user accept to use this technology to get more information aboutproductsbeforemakingpurchasingdecisions.

Thedifferencebetweenaugmentedrealityandvirtualreality

Virtual reality and augmented reality are interactive technologies, share thecommon goal of providing enriched, vivid, and immersion for users (Yim and Park,2019).H o w e v e r , thesetwotechnologiesdifferfromeachother.

Virtual reality creates a computer-generated environment, which is very similar tothephysicalenvironment,makingusersfeelliketheyareintherealphysicalenvironment (Steffenet al.,2019).Virtual reality (VR) is an artificial, computer-generated or entertainment simulation of an environment or real life situation Itimmerses users by making them feel like they are experiencing simulated reality,primarily by stimulating their sight and hearing VR uses advanced graphics, as wellas visual and auditory sensation, to make users feel like they are in the real worldwhere they can interact - and sometimes manipulate - what is around them MobileVR provides a way for marketers to approach consumers creatively (Vanet al.,2017).InVR-basedsystems,computer- generatedmodelsofreality canhavea major impact on advertising creation processes (Ryan, 2000) VR-based systemsstrive to create accurate virtual representations of the real world and simulate thephysical behavior of the real world Recent years have experienced the introductionof a wave of VR devices into the mass consumer market, providing image qualityand performance that are incomparable to that of the past (Hamacheret al., 2016).VRprovidesuserswithanintuitivemeanstofully immersethemselvesinanintegratedenvironmentandsimulateanumberofmarketingtask s(Ongeta l , 2008) Engineers can interact directly with elements of the simulated marketingworld.Therefore, userscanfeelandexperiencesome p hys ica l b e h a v i o r in virtual environment While the use of VR in digital marketing is still out of the trend, somebrandsaretestingthistechnologytocreateamorepersonalizedandengagingexperiencef ortheircustomers(Vanetal.,2017).VRoffersanincredibleopportunityforpotentialcusto merstointeractwithabrandinapersonalizedway.

Augmented reality is an immersive technology that modifies physical surroundingswith superimposed virtual elements (Dwivedi et al., 2021).

Augmented realty doesnotalterorreplaceusers’physicalenvironmentbutenrichestheirphysicalenvironme nt by combining it with computer-generated virtual objects (Yim andPark, 2019). Unlike virtual reality, the key characteristic of augmented realty is thecoexistence of virtual objects and real environment in the same location (Steffen etal., 2019).AR is a type of technology that enables adding an extra layer of virtualinformation in the real world (Loijenset al.,2017) It allows users to experience therealworldwithvirtualobjectssuperimposedonthemthroughacomputerorsmartphon ecamera.InlightofthegrowingapplicationsofARinmarketing,marketers focus on creating, communicating, and distributing digital affordances inthe physical environment with the aim of enhancing customer immersion to guidetheir decision- making (Chylinskiet al., 2020; Hilkenet al.,2018) However, manyfirms lack of the knowledge and capabilities to improve interactive experiences thatcould reach and comprehensively engage with their customers (Chylinskiet al.,2020) This indicates a clear need for a more comprehensive understanding of howAR marketing creates and delivers customers' immersions in a way that is differentfrom other marketing approaches The comprehensive framework presented in thispaper will provide deeper insight into customer experiences, and attitudinal andbehavioral responses in AR environments Therefore, this study adopted augmnetedreality technology based on mobile applications because of its convenience andeasinessforcustomerstovirtualtryon.

Conceptualization ofvirtualimmersiveexperience

Recently, customer immersion or the immersive experience has been studiedin different settings such as tourism (Tsai, 2019; Hudson et al., 2019), education(Radianti et al., 2020), and retailing (Peukert et al., 2019; Song et al.,

From a technological perspective, immersion is utilized to show a level of a device'sfunctionality (Flavian et al., 2019a) in which augmented reality and virtual realityare immersiveandemergingtechnologies(SuhandProphet,2018).

Froma p s y c h o l o g i c a l p e r s p e c t i v e , i m m e r s i o n r e f e r s t o a l e v e l o f u s e r e x p e r i e n c e and is a multi-dimensional construct consisting of engagement, engrossment, andtotalimmersion(BrownandCairns,2004;CarùandCova,2006).Lateron,Hilk enet al (2018) contended that the immersive user experience of using augmentedreality technology affected by their personality In addition, Witmer and Singer(1998) argured that immersion refers to a human psychological state of “beingenveloped by, included in, and interacting with an environment that provides acontinuousstream ofstimuliandexperiences.”

From a social perspective, customer immersion is as a user experience process of“beingplungedinathematisedandsecurespatialenclavewheretheycanletthemselves go” (Carù and Cova, 2006) From an experience economy perspective,Pinee t a l

( 1 9 9 9 ) a r g u e d t h a t i m m e r s i o n i s “ b e c o m i n g p h y s i c a l l y ( o r v i r t u a l l y ) a part of the experience itself.” Moreover, Agarwal and Karahanna (2000) articulatedthat user immersion is a dimension of cognitive absorption that can enhance userattitudes and lead to behavioral responses In recent studies, there have been twowaysofclassifyingthedimensionsofcustomerimmersion:engrossment,engagemen t and total immersion (Georgiou and Kyza, 2017) or cognitive, affectiveand social levels (Ali, 2022) Engagement refers to users' psychological state inwhichtheycan“accessthe activity”, andthen“investtimeandefforttoatte ndtotheactivity”.Engrossmentreferstousers'psychologicalstateinwhichtheymayb e able to “become further involved with the activity” Total immersion means users'psychologicalstateinwhichtheyaretotallyabsorbedandimmersedintheirsurround ings.

Common to all these definitions is the idea that the MAR app-enhanced customerimmersionconsistsofthreedimensionsofengagement,engrossmentandtotali mmersion from a psychological perspective (Georgiou and Kyza, 2017). In Table2.1 , author reviews some current studies related to user experience and reveal someresearchgaps.

In addition, author summarized various definitions of customer immersion. Thereare some ways to explain the concept of customer immersion in different ways indifferent fields such as retailing (Peukertet al., 2019; Songet al., 2019), education(Radiantietal.,2020),tourism(Tsai,2020,Hudsonetal.,2019).

(Songetal.,2019) Uni-dimensionality Survey Immersion

2019) et al., Uni-dimensionality Experiment, survey

2019) et al., Uni-dimension survey Immersion

2018). immersion:engagement,eng rossmentandtotalimmersion survey engagement,eng rossmenttotalim mersion,

Multi- engagement, engrossment immersion dimensions: and total

Conceptual Engagement;En grossment;Total immersion

(Yimetal.,2017) Uni-dimensionality survey Immersion

2010) et al., Uni-dimension survey Immersive tendency

There are two ways to measure customer immersion scales: uni-dimension andmultipledimensions ( see Table2.2).In particular,customerimmersionwasmeasured by uni-dimension with three items (Yimet al., 2017; Songet al., 2019) or4 items (e.g. Hudsonet al., 2019).In addition, customer immersion is considered aspsychological state measured by multi-dimensional scales, consisting engagementwith8items,engrossmenthaving6items,andtotalimmersionwith7items(Georg iou, Y., & Kyza, E A., 2018) According to Suh & Prophet, (2018), therearetwotypesofimmersion,consistingofmentalimmersionandphysicalimmersion.

In recent years, customer immersion has been concerned by researchers (Hilkenetal., 2018, Frost, 2022) Customer immersion prefers to “user’s deep involvement inthe present” (Georgiou &Kyza,2017;Yimet al., 2017;Hansen

&M o s s b e r g , 2013) In the current study, customer immersion can be understood as customerimmersionwhichwere“absorbedin,involvedwith,andengrossedinvirtualenvi ronment” in psychological perspective (Songet al., 2019;Georgiou & Kyza,2017;Yimetal.,2017).

Inthenextpart,thisstudyaimstosummarizeconceptualizationofcustomerimmersion and related concepts on customer experience in virtual environment inpreviousstudies(see Table2.2)

Presence “a psychological state characterized by perceivingoneselftobeenvelopedby,includedin,andi nteractingwithanenvironmentthatprovidesacontinuo usstreamof stimuliandexperiences”

2016) statew h e n u s i n g interactivef e a t u r e s a l l o w i n g communication either with machine or other people, supported by challenge and sense of control”

“a psychological state of optimal experience” and“thiss t a t e w a s d e s c r i b e d a s c o m p l e t e i m m e r s i o n andabsorptioninanactivity”

2017) feela b s o r b e d i n , i n v o l v e d w i t h , a n d e n g r o s s e d b y virtualstimuli”or“experiencea senseofblockin gout of stimuli from their physical world environment”

(Hudson et Immersion thenotionof i m m e r s i o n cano c c u r as a n objecti al.,2018) vedescriptiono f t h e i m m e r s i v e p r o p e r t i e s o f t h e system, with the assumption that subjective immersionfollows”

Immersion Immersionis“apsychologicalstateofbeingenveloped by, included in, and interacting with andan environment thatprovides ac o n t i n u o u s s t r e a m of stimuliandexperiences.”

Flow is “afleeting, optimal moment that isexperienced”

2020) Customeren gagement “a customer’s sustained attention in a technology- enabledactivity— manifestedinastateofimmersion,absorption,andenjo yment”

(Tsai,2020) Customere xperience “thesenseofactualpresenceinvirtualr e a l i t y arisen from design elements of computer- mediatedenvironment characterizing vividness, naturalness,controllability,andenjoyment”

Immersion is “the person’s psychological responsetothemediatedenvironment”

Presenceis“thesenseofbeingpresentinamediated environment (‘being there’), experiencedwhileinteractingwithvirtualobjects/prod ucts”

Thisstudy Customerim mersion “the degreeto whichvirtual systemsmakeu s e r s feel absorbed in, involved with, and engrossed byvirtualstimuli”adoptedb y Yimetal.,(2017)

In retail setting, MAR apps have been used to try-on beauty or brand fashionproducts (Huang & Liao, 2017; Songet al., 2019; Yuanet al., 2021; Chenet al.,2022), such as shoes, clothes, eyeglasses, lip-sticks, watches, etc Most of recentstudies (Yimet al., 2017; Jessenet al.,2020; Qineta l , 2021a; Plotkinaet al.,2021)wereinvestigatedindevelopedcountries(e.g.UnitedStates,EuropeanUnions,

TheliteraturereviewofcustomerexperiencerevealedARtechnologybased-customer experience (e.g presence, flow, involvement, engagement, etc.), MARapps- enhanced customer immersion still remains limited in recent researches (Yim& Park, 2019; Yuanet al., 2021; Orúset al., 2021; Arghashi & Yuksel, 2022, etc.).In addition, students samples is utilized in experiment method (Yimet al.,

2017;Jessenetal.,2020;Kowalczuketal.,2021);andcustomersisoftenusedinsur vey method (McLean & Wilson, 2019; Y Wanget al., 2021; Chenet al., 2022). Thus,customersfrom15yearsissamlingframeworkof thisstudyinthe surveymethod.

Moreover, recent researches have tested the moderating of personality traits such asuser motivation (Perannagari & Chakrabarti, 2019), asssessment orientation (Jessenet al., 2020), technology anxiety (Dograet al., 2022) or prior experience (Songetal., 2019), almost of them used to moderate the relationship between customerexperience (e.g engagement) and its outcomes Personal innovativeness also one ofthe crucial individual traits in adopting new technology, it can be a key conditionalfactor in moderating between customer immersion and its two precursors, and thusbeingintegratedinthecurrentstudy.

In summary, there have been some previous studies on customer experience relatedto MAR apps However, prior studies have rarely concentrated on the integration ofmental imagery and psychological embodiment pertaining MAR apps enhanced- customerimmersion,especiallymoderatingroleofpersonalinnovativenessinretailingse ctor.

Backgroundtheories

Stimuli-Organism-Response(S-O-Rframework)

The S-O-R framework suggests that the various aspects of the environment(the stimulus) evoke consumer immersive states (the organism), which result inapproachoravoidancebehaviors(theresponse).TheS–O–Rframework

(MehrabianandRussell,1974)hasthreedimensions,consistingofstimulus,organismand response.

Rframeworkexplainstheparadigmofhowtheroleofastimulusas an antecedent affects individuals’ internal organisms and behavioral responses(Mehrabian & Russell, 1974) In other words, the environmental stimuli triggerpsychological state, which leads to a response of an individual In the model of thisstudy, organism is immersion Stimuli consists of mental imagery and psychologicalembodiment,whichareconstructsaffectingcustomerimmersion.Inaddition,r esponse constructs consist of affective response, cognitive response and behavioralresponse,whichare outcome ofcustomers’immersion Thec u r r e n t s t u d y a p p l i e s the S–O–R framework to use AR applications in marketing context The purpose ofusingS-O-RmodeltoexaminetheeffectofmentalimageryandARembodimentoncusto merimmersion,inturnleadtotheirresponses.

Theoryofembodiedcognition

Based on theory of embodied cognition, human cognition is formed by bodilyandmentalprocesses(Poushneh,2021;Wen&Leung,2021).Accordingtoembodi ed cognition approach, human cognition is stimulated by mental and bodilyactions, then drives attitudinal and behavioral responses (De Koning & Tabbers,2011).

In cognitive science, the new theory of embodied cognition has been applied infields such as education, management (Liet al., 2018), the current understandingabout how this theory applied in retail and e-commerce settings remains limited Inaddition, prior research has generally focused on either bodily information process(Tuenaet al., 2017), virtual objects’ characteristics affecting their friendliness andonlinegamerloyalty(Lietal.,2018).However,tothebestoftheauthor’knowledge,nos tudyhasexplainedtheimpactofbothbodilyandm e n t a l informationprocessesoncusto merimmersiontovirtuallytryproductsonARmobilea p p l i c a t i o n s S p e c i f i c a l l y, b o d i l y a n d m e n t a l m e c h a n i s m s d u r i n g information processing in customers’ cognition can affect customer immersion. Forexample, AR apps help customers to interact bodily with virtual products and toimage how those virtual products exist in their cognition, then to enhance theirimmersion This current study intend to address the gaps by utilizing the theory ofembodied cognition to explain the impact of embodiment and mental imagery oncustomerimmersion,whichiscustomers’psychologicalstate“absorbedi n , involved with,andengrossed”inthesurroundings(Yimetal.,2017).

However, to the best of the author’ knowledge, no study has explained the impact ofboth bodily andmental informationprocesses on customerimmersion tov i r t u a l l y tryproductsonARmobileapplications.Specifically,bodilyandm e n t a l mechanismsduringinformationprocessingincustomers’cognitioncanaffectcustomer immersion.Forexample, MAR apps helpcustomers tointeractb o d i l y withvirtualproductsandtoimagehowthosevirtualproductsexistint heircognition, then to enhance their immersion This current study intend to address thegapsbyutilizingthetheoryofembodiedcognitiontoexplaintheimpactofembodiment andmentalimageryoncustomerimmersion,whichiscustomers’psychologicalstateinvolved with,engrossedin,andabsorbedinthesurroundings.

Cognition-Affection-Conation-Action(C-A-C-A)

In this study, this study adopted four-stage mechanisms of the cognition- affect-conation-action (C-A-C-A) framework The three-stage model of cognition- affection-conation framework has been applied empirically in retailing sectors (Daiet al., 2020; Qinet al., 2021a) and in virtual context (McLean & Wilson, 2019) (Flaviánet al., 2021) Prior studies tested the four-stage framework verifying thecognitive, affective, conative, and action linkages in customer loyalty perspectives(Hanet al.,2011; Oliver, 1999) In recent years, most of researchers only haveinvestigated three-stage sequential linkages of cognition, affection, and conation incustomer decision-making process (Leeet al.,2021, Qinet al., 2021a; Hanet al.,2011;K o w a l c z u ke t a l ,2 0 2 1 ) I n p a r t i c u l a r , n o p r i o r s t u d i e s h a s i n v e s t i g a t i n g empirically the four-stage framework in using MAR apps, this study adopts theframeworkofC-A-C-Aframeworktoexplaintherelationshipsamongmentalimagery and embodiment as cognitive mechanisms, immersionas affective stage,attitude as connation, and behavioral intention as action in the context of retailingsetting.

C-A-C-AframeworkinusingMARappstoexplainhowtechnology- enabledpsychological embodiment andmentalimagery shape customersimmersions,i n turnt o l e a d a t t i t u d i n a l a n d b e h a v i o r a l r e s p o n s e s C o g n i t i o n p r e f e r st o p e o p l e ’ s thoughts about the object, it encompasses the content of one’s thoughts regardingbeliefs (Back & Parks, 2003) According to Xiaoet al., (2020), cognitive stage iscreated from prior experience This is the first stage of C-A-C-A framework, inwhichmentalimageryandembodimentarethecognitivemechanismso f information processing (Bogicevicet al., 2019; Park & Yoo, 2020) For instance,mental imagery plays a crucial role in information processing of human brain (Parkand Yoo, 2020), so it can enable customers to have ability to imagine, active storedinformation as mental images in which they can make pictures appear in their mind.When cognitive mechanisms increase, MAR apps become imagery-evoking stimulifactor can provide more actively information about products to customers withoutdirectly/physical touching, thus it supports customers experience more immersive.Affectionreflects the feelings, moods, or emotional responses measured by pleasurephysiologicalresponses(Back&Parks,2003)ordegreeofaffect(liking)forsome thingoffour- stageframework(Oliver,1999),soitwouldbedesirableifconsumerswerepleasureorenjoyab lefeelingatadeeperlevelofexperience.Customerimmersionreferstoahumanpsychological stateconnectedwithanenvironment (e.g MAR apps) that can provide stimuli (Witmer & Singer, 1998).Conationis repeated stages of positive affect towards

MAR apps It is stronger thanaffectivestagebuthasvulnerabilitiesaswell(Evanschitzky&Wunderlic h,2006).In this study, author propose that attitude as the third stage of C-A-C-A framework.Afterbecomingmoreimmersiveincustomers’experience,theyhavepositi ve attitude.Actionis the mechanism by which the motivated intention Action isperceived as necessary result of above conative stage (attitude towards MAR apps),if customers ‘positive attitude regarding MAR apps is repeated, behavioral intentiondevelops,therebyfacilitatingpurchasedecisions.

2.4 Previous studies of virtual customer experience and immersive experienceInr e c e n t y e a r s , c u s t o m e r i m m e r s i o n i n v i r t u a l e n v i r o n m e n t i s a c o n c e r n e d phenomenont o i n v e s t i g a t e i n t h a t i t p r e d i c t s a f f e c t i v e a n d b e h a v i o r a l r e s p o n s e s (Froste t a l ,2 0 2 2 ) I n t h i s p a r t , a u t h o r e x p l a i n e d r e s e a r c h p r o c e d u r e a n d conceptualizationo f c u s t o m e r i m m e r s i o n i n v i r t u a l e n v i r o n m e n t s N e x t , i t s antecedentsandoutcomes ofcustomerim mersionare alsomentionedinthefollowingp a r t s I n a d d i t i o n , t h i s s t u d y a n a l y z e d t h e m o d e r a t i n g r o l e o f p e r s o n a l innovativenessandresearchgaps,asfollows :

Firstly, author identified some criteria for choosing previous studies in theliterature review There are some criteria used in this study for choosing suitablepublications, as follows:Centrality of topic: customer experience should be thefocus of the article, meaningthatwe excluded articles that are not relevant tocustomerexperience.MARappscontext:Thesubjectsofthestudyneededtocombinewit husingvirtualtechnologieslikeaugmentedreality,v i r t u a l technologies Thismeans author excluded studies in which they are not virtualtechnologies.Year of publication: All studies were published in the period from2010 to now because the most recent literature review on customer immersion onlyincludes studies published in recent years.Language: author only included studiesthatwerewritteninEnglish,meaningthatotherspublicationswritteninotherlanguage swereexcludedinthisstudy.

Authorcarried out review previous relevant studiesto achieve research objectives.There are some similar features of customer immersion using MAR apps in virtualenvironments(e.g.presence,flow,immersion)basedonresearchcontextsorobject ives.Inordertofindrelevantstudiesthatcouldbei n t e g r a t e d comprehensively into a conceptual model of MAR apps-enhanced immersion, theauthor have carried out a procedure of four stages.F i r s t l y , a u t h o r s e a r c h e d o n Web of science and Scopus websites with the keywords ("immersi*" or “flow” or“presence”) combinedwith ("virtual reality" or “augmented reality”or

“mobileaugmentedr e a l i t y ap pl ica ti on s” o r “ v i r t u a l t e c h n o l o g * ” ) A u t h o r o n l y f o c u s e d o n the recent studies from 2010 to 2020 ( Figure 2.2 and Figure 2.2) The worksincluded in this review were the papers from international or national conferenceproceedings, journals, book chapter reviews, etc The initial search resulted in 207publications After removing all duplicates and excluding papers from internationalor national conference proceedings, book chapter reviews, etc., author kept peer-reviewed journal articles only Later on, by carefully reading the titles, abstracts,keywords and full texts, author manually chose 59 theoretical and empirical articleson the topic of customer immersion related to augmented reality technology Afterthat, author summarize for articles that cited customer immersion, including studiescited by year, antecedents and outcomes of customer immersion, theories,

ARtypes,etc.Besides,wereachedouttosixexpertsinthefieldso f t e c h n o l o g y , touris m and marketing to ask them to check our list of suitable publications, toupdate new publications and to point out studies that author might have missed Forinstance, some new keywords added as

“virtual try-on”, “virtual technologies” Asthe result, more than 30 high-ranking papers were chosen and illustrated in thisstudy ( see Table2.3)

Studies ARtypes Theories Sample Method& context

Customer experience Antecedents Mediators Moderators Outcomes Findings

Perceived Easeof Use,PerceivedU sefulness,

- Using augmented- realityinteractive technology (ARIT),presence have impact onsustainable relationship behaviorthrough mediating variables(e.g., values)and moderatingvariable (consumerinnovativeness)

Theory ofInteracti veMediaEff ects(TIM E) customers experiment Flow

Affective responses(applicati onattitude, brandattitude), Conativeresponses(

Thoughts),Behavior alintentions (Purchaseintentions, revisitintentions,reco mmendationintentio n)

Examine the differences inconsumer responses to mediacharacteristics of AR apps andnon-ARapps

(Kim&H yun,2016) OVJET ARapp TAM Korean students survey

- Two models to determinewhether telepresence orusefulness can mediate therelationshipbetweenthreetype sof AR quality and the intentiontoreuseAR

Flowexperi ence(conce ntration,play fulness, timedistor tion,

Multisensory features anddecoratin gpsychologic alstates

- Haptic imagery and sense ofself-location positivelyinfluenced perceived sense ofbody ownership, perceivedownership control, and self-explorativeengagement.

Studies ARtypes Theories Sample Method& context Customer experience Antecedents Mediators Moderators Outcomes Findings exploratory behavior) Flow experience has a positiveimpact on satisfaction and spendmoretimeonARIT

AR-based vs.web-based

U.S students onlineex periment Immersion Interactivity,V ividness,Medi anovelty

Mediausefulne ss,enjoyment,a ttitudetowardm edium

- Purchaseintention The relationships of ,interactivity/ vividness,usefulnessande njoyment

Equity theory youngco nsumers labexp eriment

User’sinformati onprivacy control;trade- offbetween priceand value

- AR shapes UX, and that UXinfluences user satisfaction anduser's willingnesstobuy;

- UX is formed as a third- orderformative construct from fouruser experience characteristics:pragmatic quality, aestheticquality, hedonic quality bystimulation and hedonic qualitybyidentification

L’Oreal’sARvirtua l mirror(web, app);Mister Spex(web/app) situatedc ognitiont heory students laboratory experiment

Simulatedphysi cal control(SPC), Environmental embedding(EE)

Style-of- processing (SOP), Awareness ofprivacypract ice(APP)

A conceptual frameworkshowing AR-based spacialpresence affected bysimulatedphysical control andenvironmental embedding,enhancing behavioral intentions,mediated by hedonic, Utilitarianvalue, decision comfort,moderatedbySOPandAPP

(Hilkenet al.,2018) - Situatedc ognitiont heory

Realism oftheexperi ence(cognitive andemotio nalfit,fideli ty,immersion,s pacialpresen ce)

AR variables(Emb edding,Embodi ment,Extension)

Evaluation ofexperience(H edonic value,Utalitian value,learning/m oreinformation, satisfaction)

Contingencyfac tors (privacyconcerns, sty-of- process,trade- offbetween valueand price, UseofAR athomevs.inpu blic)

Decision making(decision, purchaseconfidence,pu rchasesatisfaction, risk),behavioralint entions(engageme nt,loyalty, purchase,reuse, revisit andretention, WOM),brandand application

A conceptual framework inwhich3ARvariables(embeddin g,embodiment and extension) leadcustomer experience, evaluationof experience and theirconsequences, analyzingmoderating role of contingencyfactors

Studies ARtypes Theories Sample Method& context Customer experience Antecedents Mediators Moderators Outcomes Findings perception (attitudetoward apps, brandattitude)

(spacialpre sence,flow, immersion, mentalimagi ng) mediacharacte risticsand mediaquality

PerceivedVal ue(Hedonic, Utilitarian,E xperiential)a nd Riskfactors -

Decision making(decision comfort,choice confidence,satisfact ion),behavioralinte ntions(purchase, revisit,reuse, patronage,engagem ent,

WOM,Brand/ARcongr uence, willingto share, personalinformation) andOutcomes (attitudetowardsapp /brand)

A framework on customerbehavior towards AR in onlineretailing

Media features(perceived interactivity,m ediairritation, medianovelty) attitudetoward AR/thewebsite, mediausefulness,m ediaenjoyment Bodyimage adoptionintention

- The moderating role of bodyimage in consumer responsesbetween AR with traditionalwebsite

&Chakrabar ti,2019) TAM ReviewLi terature

Cognitive( flow&valu e)&affective( attitude)re sponses

Design features(augmentati onquality&med iacharacteristic s)

- Designing a conceptualframework to explain thedecision-making process of retailcustomers.

AR attributes(Intera ctivity,Vividness,No velty)

- Revealing a new set of ARattributes&technologyattributes

- Brand engagement affectingsatisfaction and intention to use,analysis moderating role ofpurposeofuseinthemodel

Experiment ,survey Immersion Environmentale mbedding(EE)

Priorexper ience Decisioncomfort -Immersion was affected byEnvironmentalembeddingan d

Studies ARtypes Theories Sample Method& context Customer experience Antecedents Mediators Moderators Outcomes Findings and Stimulatedphysi cal control(SPC)

- ExplainingmechanismhowARexp eriences (EE &SPC) inducefeeling of ownership, lead todecisioncomfort

- The moderating role of priorAR try-on experience evokeweaker immersion than withoutpriorexperience.

Customer creativity,mental imagery,r egulatory mode

Creativecus tomerengag ement(custom erengageme nt , customercr eativity)

AR enables creative customerengagement, in turn, offersintrinsic satisfaction andmoderating of assessmentorientation.

Amazonshop pingapp - students Customere xperience

& visualquality - - Recommendation intention explain the influence of visualand service quality on usersatisfaction toward the app andthe impactof user satisfactiononrecommendationi ntention

Visual appeal,informa tion fit-to-task

Psychological engagement(c ognitiveengag ement&emotional engagement)

-propose a technology- enabledengagement process (TEEP)ofAR service

AR quality,Inter activity,Vividn ess,Novelty

Continuousintention to use ARapp(CI),willingn essto pay pricepremium(WPPP)

- A symmetric approach of thechain from AR attributes onCI&WPPP throughU&H benefitsand moderating role ofcustomization

Youndfe malecusto mersinSou thKorea survey

Consumerper ception ofMAR service(interacti vity,vividness, augmentation,

Flowexperienc e(concentratio n,playfulness,explo ratory behavior)&

Virtual contents affect purchaseintention mediated by spacialpresence,flow experience, anddecisioncomfort

Studies ARtypes Theories Sample Method& context Customer experience Antecedents Mediators Moderators Outcomes Findings aesthetics) decision comfort Individualism&fashioni nnovativeness

Online survey Cognition - Affectres ponses - Conation cognitive evaluation leadsaffectivea n d conationrespo nses

Experiential hierarchymode l,gratificati ontheory,feeli ng-as- information theory

Affectiveres ponses(Imm ersion,enjoym ent,productli king)

Cognitivere sponse(me diaconfiden ce,usefulness

Behavioral responses (purchaseintention) are formed by affective(product liking, enjoyment,immersion,)a n d c o g n i t i v e factors (choice confidence ,usefulness) and AR featuresbased-responses

Converse,Zara,J oyWalks - Frenchs tudents experiment

Consumerchara cteristics(innov ativenessand shoppingorientatio n)

Perceived brandpersonality(ex citement, sincerity,competence andsophistication)

AR types receive more positiveevaluations and lead customersto perceive brand personality, inwhich playfulness determineconsumer attitude toward ARapp

Crimes winebrand Flowtheory consumer s experiment Flow

(Yuanet al.,2021) Zara’virtualtry- on attachmentt heory, cue- utilizationtheory ,flowtheory consumer s survey Flowexper ience

Perceivedinfor mativeness , perceivedae sthetics,per ceivednove lty,parasoci alrelationsh ip

- Brandattac hment Psychological ownership perceived informativeness,perceived aesthetics, perceivednovelty, and parasocialrelationship all positivelyinfluence flow experience, inturn, to feel ownership,moderatedbybrandat tachment

(Orúset al.,2021) students labexperim ent , tourism

Ease ofimaginatio n,visualappea l technological embodiment Intentiontobook

Liu,2021) Kinect Humanizing experience Youngco nsumer Humanizing digital a360◦ AR panorama - Technologyrea diness(Opti Greendestination brandlove(place Examine the antecedents andconsequencesofhumanizingt he

Studies ARtypes Theories Sample Method& context Customer experience Antecedents Mediators Moderators Outcomes Findings theory s experiences mism,innovativ eness) identity, affectiveattachment,c ompatibility) digital experience in a virtualtourismcontext

SpatialPr esenceTh eory consumer s experiment Localpre sence

- examinem e d i a characteristi cs (vividness andspatial accuracy) affectingthefeelingof localpresence

- examine consumer perceptions(arousal and perceiveddiagnosticity) affectingconsumer’s urge to buyimpulsively

Regulatorye ngagementt heory(RET), self- determinatio n theory,flowthe ory

Peopleab ove18,no priorexperi ence withthis ARapp survey Flow

AR attributes(int eractivity,inspir ation)

Flow experience stimulated byAR attributes can generatefavorable attitudes and trust,engagement, in turn, to cratebrand usage and brand attitudeand moderated by perceivedusefulness

Wanna Kicks andFitGlassesapps TAM customers online survey

Customere xperience(i nteractivity, vividness,p erceiveduse fulness,nov elty,sensee xperience,f eelexperienc e,actexperie nce,relateexp erience)

AR marketingactiv ities(entertain ment,interaction,tre ndiness,custom ization,WOM)

A conceptual model ofantecedents and outcomes ofcustomerengagement

Embodied cognitiontheo ry customers survey Customeri mmersion

Attitudetowar dsMARapps Personalinnov ativeness Behavioralintention

Antecedents of virtualcustomerimmersion

Most of previous AR technology-based studiesis only focused on technologicalfeatures (Bonettiet al., 2018; Yim & Park, 2019, Nikhashemiet al., 2021; Arghashi& Yuksel, 2022), such as vividness, interactivity, technology nolty, etc.Previousstudies(Bogicevicetal.,2021)havedemonstratedthatfeaturesofadvancedte chnologies play an important role in determine online customer experiences. Twopopulartechnologicalfeatures(namelyinteractivityandvividness),havebeenwidel y employed to explain the specific customer immersion in a great deal of AR,VR research (Yimet al., 2017) However, there is scant research from a digitalretailing perspective investigating the underlying psychological mechanisms howcustomer immersion can create through advanced technologies In response to thispaucityofknowledgeanddrawinguponthetheoryofembodiedcognition(Poushneh,

2021), this study investigates the impacts of technological embodimentand mental imagery that are the respective representative of bodily and mentalprocessesoccurwhenconsumersprocessdisplayinformation(e.g.,aboutproducts /brands)withinthetechnology- mediatedenvironmentsonfacilitatingcustomerimmersion.

Therearetwomainintegratedcharacteristicsofembodiment,consistingoftechnological andbodilyfeatures(Flaviánetal.,2019a;Orúsetal.,2021;Tussyadiahet al., 2018) By touching on a mobiphone’s camera, customer canvirtual try on and experience the products/services through MAR apps.

Customerscaninteractwithproducts/services(i e., e m b o d i m e n t ) t h e o n m o b i l e sc r e e n ba s e d onMARapps.Besides,they canimaginearepresentationintheirmemory tovisualize the products/services (i.e., mental imagery) Therefore, using MAR appsenable 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 canevaluate how products/services fit them personally similar to the experienced in therealworld(Sminketal.,2020;Yimetal.,2017).

Mental imagery refers to “a process by which visual information is represented inthe working memory” (Helleret al., 2019) In other words, mental imagery is a self-generated stimulationbased on customers‘mental processt h a t i m p a c t t h e i r a b i l i t y toimaginevisualinformationintheirworkingmemory.Mentalimageryc a n a ctivate stored information in the past and evoke prior experiences, create mentalimages in their mind using MAR apps (Park & Yoo, 2020) To author’s knowledge,previous studies usingembodied cognition theory in thecombination ofp h y s i c a l and mental traits still remains limited Therefore, this study investigated two crucialantecedents of customer immersion using MAR apps based on embodied cognitiontheory, consisting of embodiment and mental imagery with second-order constructsof each.

Inaddition,recentMARappsrelated-theories(Hilkenetal.,2018;Perannagari & Chakrabarti, 2019; Wanget al., 2021; Chenet al., 2022), such asTAM, flow theory, situated-cognition theoryhave been used separately in theirconceptual framework.

To my knowledge, the integration of embodied cognitiontheory and S-O-R framework to reveal the relationships of MAR apps- enhancedcustomerimmersionwithitsantecedentsandoutcomesremainsrareinrecentco nceptual framework The S–O–R framework explains the paradigm of how theroleofastimulus asanantecedentaffectsindividuals’internalorganismsandbehavioral responses (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974) In the model of this study,organismiscustomerimmersion.Stimuliconsistsofmentalimageryandpsychologicalem bodiment,whichinfluenceoncustomerimmersion (Table2.4)

- Situatedcognitio ntheory AR variables(Emb edding,Embodiment ,

(Javornik,2016) IKEAPlaceapp&w ebsite Theory ofInteractive MediaEffects (TIME) customers ARcharacteristics(A ugmentation,control, responsiveness)

017) AR-basedvs.web- basedRay-banand TISSOT habituation– tediumtheory

U.S students Interactivity,Vivi dness,Media novelty

(Poushnehet al.,2017) Ray-Banapp/website Equitytheory young consumers Augmentedreality features Retailuserexperience (Hilkenetal.,2

017) L’Oreal’sARvirtualm irror (web, app);MisterSpex (web/app) situatedcognitio ntheory students Simulatedphysicalc ontrol (SPC),Environmenta l embedding(EE)

RayBanapp/website Theory of bodyimage

USA students Media features(perceivedi nteractivity,mediairri tation,media novelty) productinvolvement

Environmentalembed ding(EE)andStimulatedph ysical control(SPC)

Customercreativit y, mental imagery,regulatory mode

(Kowalczuket al.,2021) IKEA Place AR appor the IKEA mobilewebsite gratification theory German students ARcharacteristicspro ductinformativenes s,system quality,,congruen ce,Interactivity)

Walks - French students ARtype(goal, location) PerceivedARapp experience (Barhorstet al.,

2021) Crimeswinebrand Flow theory consumers Interactivity, vividness,novelty Flow (Orúsetal.,

(J.V.Chenet al.,2021) ARmobileshopping apps(flowers) SpatialPresence

Theory consumers Vividness&Spacial accuracy Localpresence

OVJETARapp TAM Koreanstude nts System quality,information quality, servicequality

RayBanapp/website Theory of bodyimage

USA students Media features(perceivedi nteractivity,mediairri tation,media novelty) productinvolvement

TAM&TRA consumers AR attributes(Int eractivity, Vividness,Novelty)

(Nikhashemiet al.,2021) Atleast2ARapps(Ga p,IKEA, Amazon)

Malaysian customers AR quality,Interactivit y,Vividness,Novelt y

AR attributes(int eractivity,inspi ration)

S-O-R, Embodiedcognit iontheory customers Embodimentand mentalimagery

Asabovementioned,embodimentcanbeconsideredasthedegreeofintegration of the technology with the human body, it show that how the customers’brain represents theirbody (Flaviánet al.,,2020; Orúset al., 2021; Tussyadiahetal., 2018). Embodiment also is considered as the sense which those objects hasbecome “part of us” (Schettleret al.,, 2019) orthe set of sensations that integratedwith being inside, owning, and controlling a body (Kilteniet al., 2012.) Because ofnot touching product directly while shopping online, customers tend to experienceby bodily interaction (Gatteret al., 2022), it means that they feel like to own theirvirtual products through mobile’ camera, to be inside a bodyand to control thevirtualproducts.

Therearemulti- dimensionsofembodiment (Table2.5)including l o c a t i o n , ownership and agency (Flaviánet al., 2019a; Longoet al., 2008; Tussyadiahet al.,2018).Ownershiprefers to the feeling that the virtual product is part of customers’own body (Tussyadiahet al.,

2018) or feeling that the technological tool belongs tothe body (Flaviánet al., 2019a) Ownership (called affective embodiment) is one ofthe fundamental components of the embodiment of objects, it refers to a situationwhere an individual shows the same affective reactions for the object as for theirown body (Schettleret al., 2019).Locationrefers to the human feeling that thevirtual product and own body is the same place (Tussyadiahet al., 2018) Self- location(alsocalledspatialembodiment)involvescoincidencebetweentheplacement of the technological device and its equivalent in the body (Flaviánet al.,2019a).Agencyrefers to the feeling that customers can interact with and move thevirtualproducts/objects(Tussyadiahetal.,2018).Location(alsocalledmotorembodi ment)r e f e r s t o t h e s i t u a t i o n w h e r e a n o b j e c t o r t o o l “ i s p r o c e s s e d i n t h e same wayasapartofone’sbodyformotortasks”(Schettleretal.,2019).

Studies Context Theory Dimensions of embodiment Mediatingvariables Dependentvariables

Virtualen vironment situatedc ognitiont heory

Decision making; behavioralintentions,brand&a pplicationperception

Virtual tourism - 3 dimensions of embodiment:ownership;location& agency

-location andPossibleactions. presence Attitudechange andintention

- 3 dimensions of embodiment:ownership;location& agency

Virtual tourism SOR Uni-dimension of technicalembodiment (4 items)

Immersion, sensorystimulation engagement,Behavioralint entions

VR tourism theory oftechnolog icalmediatio n technologicalembodiment Emotionalreactions Psychological engagement andbehavioralengagement

VR/AR tourism - technological embodiment presence Intentiontobook

Thisstudy: MARapps S-O-R 3 dimensions of embodiment:ownership;location& agency

Therea r e v a r i o u s d e f i n i t i o n s of m e n t a l imagery I t is c o n s i d e r e d aso ne o f the cognitivemechanisms of information processingand as a quasi- perceptualexperience (Bogicevicet al., 2019, Park & Yoo, 2020), which is an experienceresembles perceptual experience, but which occurs by imagery-evoking stimuli, notbye x t e r n a l s t i m u l i ( T h o m a s , 1 9 9 9 ) a n d i t i s s i m i l a r t o a c t u a l s e n s o r y e x p e r i e n c e (Lvetal.,2020).

Inthisstudy,mentalimageryisa“mentalactivitythatvisualizesaconc eptor relationship” Imagery-evoking stimuli can assist consumers visualize mentalimages,impacttheirabilitytoimagineabouttheproducts;activatestoredinformation intheirmemory;evokepriorexperiences,thenhaveimpactsoncognitive, affective and behavioral responses, such as experience, positive emotion,attitudeandbehavioralintentions(Park&Yoo,2020).UsingMARappsasimage ry-evoking stimuli can provide more actively information about products tocustomers without directly touching, thus consumers can create mental images intheir mind for future consumption experiences Mental imagery is different frommental simulation (Walterset al.,2007, Lvet al., 2020).Mental simulationis aprocessinwhichcognitiveconstructionofscenarios,consumerscanusetext,pictures or other means to create mental images similar to real experience.Mentalimagerydoes not entail conscious representations of future consumptive situationsanditissimilartoactualsensoryexperience.

Mental imagery is a multidimensional construct, illustrated inTable

2.6.ConsistentwithBabinandBurns(1998),authorconceptualizementalimageryconsistsof threedimensions,namelyvividness,quantityandelaboration.Thevividness of mental imageryis considered as the quality of product representation(Yimet al., 2017) or“the clarity withw h i c h t h e i n d i v i d u a l e x p e r i e n c e s a n i m a g e and reflects its quality”(Gavilanet al., 2014) Vividness describeshow detailed,vibrant,c l e a r , v i v i d , w e l l - d e f i n e d a n d s h a r p m e n t a l i m a g e s a r e ( B a b i n & B u r n s ,

1998) and provide consumers mentally “try before you buy” experience, therebyresulting in enhanced longer memory about relevant information about products Inonline settings, augmented reality technology enables customers to enhance thevividness of their experience (Gonzálezet al., 2021).Quantity of mental imageryquality is the numbers of images in customers ’mind while processing information(Babin and Burns, 1998) During experience, customers can evoke images in theirmind how the products display on MAR apps.E l a b o r a t i o n o f m e n t a l i m a g e r yis“the activation of information in the production of mental images beyond what isprovidedbythestimulus”andcreatedbyestablishingintegrationsbetweeninformation providedandthatstoredinlong-termmemory(BabinandB u r n s , 1998) It means new information stored individual memory and is provided andactivatedby thestimulusininformationprocessing.Consumersbecomesmorefamiliar with previous images in their thoughts, knowledge and become deeperelaboration.

Studies Context Method Dimensionsofmental imagery

(vividness,paleness, quantity/ease,andlinks)

3 dimensions of mentalimagery: vividness,imageryquantity, imagery elaboration

Attitudestowards the adand the brand

4d i m e n s i o n s : vividne ss, quantity,valence, modality

4dimensions:vividness,qu antity,v a l e n c e , modality

Studies Context Method Dimensionsofmental imagery

(Gavilanet al, 2014) mobilea dvertising survey 3 dimensions of mentalimagery: vividness,imageryquantity, imagery elaboration cognitive, affective,beha vioral responses

15) e-retailing PLS,survey 2dimension of Mental imagery(elaborationandvivi dness)

(Haet al.,2019) social media survey Mental imagery (Quality

019) retailing experiment 2stagesofmentalimagery:AR configuration, AR transformation

(Bogicevicet al., 2019) tourism survey Mentalimagery(Quality&

Online shopping survey Mental imagery(Quality&

20) mobiles hopping survey mental imagery(Quality&

Attitude& Behavioral intention Thisstudy: Mentali magery survey 3 dimensions of mentalimagery: vividness,imageryquantity, imagery elaboration

Outcomesofvirtualcustomerimmersion

Attitude refer to a individual’s emotional feelings or opinions in order to do acertainbehavior(Ahmad&Abdulkarim,2019).AccordingtoRyanandD e c i (2000),hu manbehavioriscreatedby motivationof a i nd iv id ua l andattitudel ead behavioral intention Customers having positive attitude tend to willing to virtualtry-onMAR appsagain,inturn,leadtoreinforcetheirbehavioralintention,asuccess of MAR apps.As above analysis, being pleasant after experience on MARapps, customers will be behavioral responses(Qin et al, 2021a) Based on S-O- Rframework,attitudeandbehavioralintentionwereconsequencesofpositiveexperience, a psychological state adopting MAR apps (Pleyers & Poncin, 2020; Qinet al., 2021a).

In addition, previous studies revealed that customers’ attitude towardsAR technology plays a crucial role in determining and motivating their behavioralintentions both actual purchase and technology use (Qinet al., 2021a).MAR appscan provide more information for customers after virtual experience, they are morelikely to continue using these MAR apps with positive attitude and make purchasingdecisions Normally, customers prefer search products/services on their smartphoneover printed catalogs because of its convenience, then they tend to continue usingMAR apps and willing to recommend these apps to their family and friends if theyfelltheseMARappsinteresting(Xuetal.,2015).

Previous studies revealed the relationship of customer immersion and theirresponses (see Table 2.7).Almost studies explained these relationships based onTechnologyacceptancemodel(TAM),Theoryofreasonedaction(TRA),andStimuli- Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework (Daassi & Debbabi, 2021, Qin etal,2021b,Yimetal.,2017).

Studies Context Theory customere xperience

AR shopping S-O-R Hedonic,Utaria n,Informativene ssandEaseofUse

Debbabi, retailing - immersion AttitudetowardsAR,Int entiontoreuse

Studies Context Theory customere xperience

(Watsonet al.,2019) AR appretai ling

Thisstudy MARapps S-O-R Customeri mmersion Attitude&Behavioralint ention

Themoderatingrole of personalinnovativeness

There are two types of innovativeness, including innate innovativeness anddomain-specific innovativeness (Agarwal & Prasad, 1998; Kalinic & Marinkovic,2016) Innate innovativeness (namedly personal innovativeness) is personality trait,reflecting natural tendency to try out new information, stimuli or experience Thedomain-specific innovativeness is an individual tendency to learn or adopt newproducts/serviceswithaspecificinterest.

Personalinnovativeness,asanindividualtrait,isthewillingnessofanindividual to adopt new technology (Agarwal and Prasad, 1998; Kim and Choo,2021).C u s t o m e r s w i t h h i g h i n n o v a t i v e n e s s m i g h t b e m o r e p e r c e p t i o n s t o t r y o u t technology-based products (Faganet al., 2012), they are ready to spend more timeand more enjoyable experiencing MAR apps-based virtual products A person withhigh innovativeness has strong intentions towards MAR apps Individuals with highpersonal innovativeness can explore novelty to try on new technology to gain moreknowledgeabout products/services on MARapps Previous studies argued thatinnovators is easy to imagine, understand and get benefits from new technologies(Kreyetal.,2019).

Table2.8 Sumarize moderating variablesin thevirtualinvironment

Privacyco ncerns,Sty pe-of- processing

Decisionm aking;beha vioralintentio ns,brand&a pplication perception

Gender, age,sensationseeki ngtendency,per sonal innovativeness

Userexperi ence informationpriv acycontrol& trade- offbetween price and value

ARtourism AR applications features satisfaction Personal innovativeness

Insomecases,personaldifferencealsotendtoleadtheirdifferenttechnologyacceptance (Shih & Fan, 2013) Thus, customers with high innovativeness can lookout new interactive technologies to achieve their experience and thus they focus onnew technologies that can help them accomplish their tasks (see Table 2.8 ).Incontrast, customers with low cognitive innovativeness lack ability to imagine andinteract with new technologies as MAR apps, and thus they are insensitive to thefeaturesofnewtechnologies(Huang&Liao,2015).

Hypothesesandintegratedconceptualmodel

Theimpactofembodimentandcustomerimmersion

Embodiment is a multidimensional or uni-dimensional construct. Consistentwith Tussyadiahet al.(2018), author conceptualize embodiment consists of threedimensions, namely ownership, location and agency Using AR try-on applications,a user have the senses similar to that experienced in the real world, particularlyregarding their capacity to control (agency), to own (ownership) and to feel self-located (location) with their virtual products/objects in a digital environment Forexample, customers can then use MAR apps to helps them see, rather than onlyimaginehowthoseproducts/objectsrelatedinthesurroundings.AccordingtoTussyadia hetal.(2018), technology embodiment has theimpact ofe x p e r i e n c e when wearing AR glass in tourism setting Flaviánet al.(2021) also argued thatembodiment affects the customer experience in the hotel industry.As level ofembodimentincreases,thetechnologybecomespartoftheuser'sactionsandimprovesth eircapacity usingnewtechnology.EmergingtechnologiesasM A R apps are increasing the integration between the body and those devices Therefore,embodiment plays a crucial role in creating user’s immersion and this experienceallows users to better focus on the objects or pictures on smartphone’s camerascreen For instance, fully immersive MAR apps offer a sense of embodiment sinceusers see themselves as components of the virtual environment, feeling that picturesorobjectsonMARappsbelongtotheirownbodies(Flaviánetal.,2019a).

As above mentioned, embodiment can be considered the integrated impact ofthe technological devices on the human body (Flavián et al., 2019a; Orús et al.,2021; Tussyadiah et al., 2018). Embodiment consists of three dimensions, includingownership,location,andagency. (Flaviánetal.,2019a;Longoetal.,2008;Tussyadiah et al., 2018) Ownership represents the feeling that the virtual product ispart of customers’ own body. Location refers to the feeling that the virtual productand own body are located at the same place Agency refers to the feeling thatcustomers can interact with and move the virtual products/objects Using MARapplications, a user can try products on their own face or surroundings in real time(eg, make-up, furniture) These products can help providing consumers a 'try beforeyou 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 tofeelself- located(location)withtheirvirtualproducts/objectsinadigitalenvironment For example, customers can then use the AR try-on applications tohelps them see, rather than only imagine how those products/objects related in thesurroundings.Thus,authorproposed:

Theimpactofmentalimageryandcustomerimmersion

Mental imagery is “a process by which visual information is represented inthe working memory” (Helleret al., 2019) AR apps can provide the clear, detailedrepresentation of an image (namely imagery vividness) in combination of the realworld and virtual world (McLean and Wilson, 2019) Vividness is the quality ofproduct presentations (Yimet al., 2017) or “the clarity with which the individualexperiences an image and reflects its quality” (Gavilanet al., 2014) It also provideconsumers mentally “try before you buy” experience, thereby resulting in enhancedlongermemoryaboutrelevantinformationaboutproducts.Inonlinesettings,au gmented reality technology enables customers to enhance the vividness of theirexperience (Gonzálezet al., 2021) In addition, imagery quality is the numbers ofimagesincustomers’mindwhileprocessinginformation(BabinandBurns,1998).

Aftertry- onexperience,customerscanevokeimagesintheirmindhowt h e productsdisplayonmo bileARapps.Moreover,imageryelaborationis“theactivationofinformationintheprodu ctionofmentalimagesbeyondwhatisprovidedbythestimulus”byestablishingintegratio nsbetweeni n f o r m a t i o n provided and that stored in long-term memory (Babin and Burns, 1998) It meansnewinformationstoredindividualmemoryandactivatedbythestimulusininforma tion processing After virtual try-on experience throughAR apps as stimulievokedpreviousimages- relatedexperiences,usersbecomesmorefamiliarwithprevious images in their thoughts, knowledge and become deeper elaboration.Thus,inthisstudy,mentalimageryconsistsofthreecomponents,includingimagery vividness,imageryquantityandimageryelaboration(BabinandBurns,1998;Gavilanetal.,20 14).

Mental imagery playsa c r u c i a l r o l e i n i n f o r m a t i o n p r o c e s s i n g o f h u m a n brain (Park and Yoo, 2020) It also enables customers to have ability to imagine,actives t o r e d i n f o r m a t i o n a s m e n t a l i m a g e s i n w h i c h t h e y c a n m a k e pictures appear in their mind and then have an impact on cognitive, affective andbehavioral responses, such as experience, positive emotion, attitude and behavioralintention (Park & Yoo, 2020) In addition, Bogicevicet al., (2019) investigated thatmental imagery has an impact on sense of presence, which a psychological state isusingvirtualrealitytechnologyintourismsetting.Invirtuale n v i r o n m e n t , consu mers can not interact directly with physical products, their experience aboutthoseproductsisonlybasedonMARapps,somentalimageryc a n m a k e consum ers 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 usingmentalimagery inonlineretailsettingthatisanecessary informationintheirpurchase decisions For instance, MAR apps can support customers to evoke mentalimagesintheirmindhowtheproductsdisplay onsmartphone’camera,cu stomers become more immersive when the level of mental imagery increase and vice versa.Thus,thisstudydevelopedthefollowinghypothesis:

Personalinnovativenessmoderatestherelationshipsofcustomer

As above mentioned, personal innovativeness is an individual trait reflectingtheir willingness to try out new technology (Agarwal and Prasad,1998) A personwith high innovativeness has strong intentions to try on virtual technologies as ARmobile apps Previous studies argued that innovators are easy to image, understandand get benefits from new technologies (Kreyet al., 2019) Customers with highinnovativenesscanlookoutnewinteractivetechnologiestoa c h i e v e t h e i r experi ence and thus they focus on new technologies that can help them accomplishtheir tasks Therefore, customers with high personal innovativeness are ready tospend more time to interact bodily trying on AR apps-based products Based on thediscussion above, author expect personal innovativeness moderates the relationshipbetweenembodimentandcustomerimmersion.

A R a p p s P r e v i o u s s t u d i e s a r g u e d t h a t i n n o v a t o r s h a v i n g t h e ability to imagine in their mind, understand and get benefits from new technologies(Kreyet al., 2019).In contrast, customers with low cognitive innovativeness lackability to imagine in their brains, and thus they are insensitive to the features of newtechnologies(HuangandLiao,2015).Therefore,customerswithhigh(low)innovativenes s are (not) ready to spend more time to interact mentally by imaginingsomementalimagerywhiletryingonARapps- basedproducts.Basedonthediscussion above, author expect personal innovativeness moderates the relationshipbetweenmentalimageryandcustomerimmersion.

H4: Personal innovativeness moderates positively the relationship between mentalimageryandcustomerimmersionusingMARapps

Attitude&BehavioralintentiontowardsMARapps

Ase x p l a i n e d a b o v e , M A R a p p s e n h a n c e d - c u s t o m e r i m m e r s i o n p r e f e r s t o “humanpsychologicalstates,whichwereen gagedin,involvedwith,andengrossedincertainvirtualenvironment”(Yimeta l.,2017), MARappsen ha nced - cu st ome r immersionc a n l e a d a t t i t u d e a n d b e h a v i o r a l i n t e n t i o n T h u s , c u s t o m e r i m m e r s i o n canleadtobehavioralintentiontowardMARapps.Attitudinalr esponsetowardARappsi n t h e c u r r e n t s t u d y is c o n s i d e r e d a s c u s t o m e r s p o s i t i v e o r n e g a t i v e f e e l i n g s aboutu s i n g A R a p p s A s m e n t i o n e d a b o v e , c u s t o m e r i m m e r s i o n r e f e r t o individual’si n t e r n a l p s y c h o l o g i c a l s t a t e s , w h i c h w e r e e n g a g e d i n , i n v o l v e d w i t h , and engrossed in virtual environment (Yimet al.,2017), so customer immersion canleada t t i t u d i n a l a n d b e h a v i o r a l r e s p o n s e s T h u s , i n t e r n a l h u m a n s t a t e s c a n c r e a t e attitudet o w a r d M A R a p p s , t h e n l e a d t o b e h a v i o r a l i n t e n t i o n t o u s e M A R a p p s Thus,w e e x p e c t t h a t a t t i t u d i n a l r e s p o n s e m i g h t p l a y a n i n t e r m e d i a t e r o l e o f t h e relationship between customer immersion and behavioral intention to use AR apps:H3:CustomerimmersionhasapositiveimpactonattitudetowardsMARapps

For the latter, Yimet al.(2017) indicated that enjoyment as affective factor has animpactonintentiontousetechnology.AccordingtoKowalczuketal.(2021),immersion as affective factor has an direct impact on reuse intention toward ARapplications It means that during virtual experiencing MAR apps, customers canintendtoreuse

H5: Customer immersion has a positive impact on behavioral intention to useMARapps

Conceptualframeworkandhypotheses

H3: Personal innovativeness positively moderate theembodimentandcustomer immersionusingMARapps relationship between Suh& P r o p h e t , 2 0 1 8 ; H i l k e ne t a l ,2

H5:M A Ra p p s e n h a n c e d - c u s t o m e r i m m e r s i o n h a s a n customer’sattitude impacto n positive

(Daassi&Debbabi,2021,Ahmad&Abdulk arim,2019,Ahmad&Abdulkarim,2019;Yi metal.,2017)

Summary

In conclusion, the literature review of customer immersion of this study can beconsideredan promising aspectof technologically andmentally enabled- factorsaffecting on MAR apps based-customer immersion Also, this chapter analyzed theantecedents and consequences of customer immersion Besides, this study analyzedthe moderating role of personal innovativeness and research gaps mentioned inabove section In the final part of this chapter, author summarizes some hypothesesandintegratedconceptualmodel(see Table2.9andFigure2.3 ).

Firstly, this chapter describes some criteria for literature review and how to proposea conceptual model of MAR apps-enhanced customer immersion Next, researchsampling consists of sample size, data collection context, sampling method, time fordata collection and data collection procedure Scale measurement of embodiment,mentalimagery,customerimmersion,personalinnovativeness,attitudeandbeha vioral intention towards MAR apps were described in this chapter In addition,data analysis process describes reasons for choosing PLS-SEM software used fordata analysis as well as the ways how to evaluate measurement model, structuralmodelandtesthypothesesintheintegratedconceptualmodel,asfollows:

Researchsampling

Thesamplesize

Thisstudycarriedoutamethodofpurposivesamplingforanempiricalinvestigation. Becauseofcertainlimitations,purposivesamplingisapracticalapproach in which respondents focused on with specific characteristics to assistbetterforthesurvey(Chang&Chen,2021).Inthecurrentstudy,thetargetrespondent s should meet some criteria, as follows: (1) to ensure all the respondentscan clearly understand and evaluate MAR apps-related customer immersion, (2) toensuretheconsistencyofdatacollectionprocedureforallrespondents(e.g.,introductio ntodownload,virtualtry-onMARapps,c o m p l e t e s u r v e y 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 theresearchmodel However, Hairetal., (2010) argued that the ratiotodesigna sample size in marketing research is about a minimum of ten times of numbers ofpaths in the model of study (ratio 10:1).In the conceptual model of this study, thereare 6 paths, at least 60 samples The survey method in this study is a convenientmethod based on characteristics ofHo Chi Minh City population, the number ofsamples in the main study expected 450 sample size in order to ensure the reliabilityandreducesamplingerrors.

Data colletioncontext

Thedatasetwascollectedfrombothmaleandfemalecustomersusingsmartphones.These respondents are selected from specific areas of Ho Chi MinhCity, Vietnam because this is a commercial hub and a major center ofscience andtechnology inVietnam (Thuy, 2022) Besides, people in Ho Chi Minh City have thehighest average income per month compared to other regions of Vietnam (VietnamE-business Index, 2021), so they has conditions to access new technologies in theirexperience.

Thesamplingmethod

It was used was convenient sampling, which is non-probability sampling withthe equivalent proportions of male and female based on the ease of access to thesubjects who participated in the study (Cabero-Almenaraet al., 2019) In order totestsomecriteriaforthestudy’spurpose,participantswasaskeds c r e e n i n g questio ns (e.g the willingness and understandinginstructions, having any difficultyin using MAR apps, providing incomplete questionnaires (Rauschnabelet al., 2019,Jessenet al., 2020) After completing the survey questionnaires, respondents werereceivedasmallgiftfortheirparticipation(Flaviánetal.,2020).

MARapps usedinthestudy

Having developed by fashion and cosmetic companies in recent years, ARapplications provide for customers with high experiential appeal (Watsonet al.,2018) Especially, customers have been at home for weeks in lockdown in time ofthe COVID-19 pandemic, they have more time on their smart-phone such as virtualmake-up, glasses, watches, etc (Willemset al., 2021) When using mobile ARapplications, customers can interact with virtual products within customers’ ownphysicalspaceasiftheyarepartoftherealworld(Scholz&Smith,2016).Moreover,

AR technology can enable a more immersive product experience andgives users control over their experience (Hilkenet al., 2018) Author only selectedparticipants who have never used AR apps to avoid previous effects (Daassi

&Debbabi,2021).TwomobileARapps,namely“YouCamMakeup”,“FormexTryOn” were selected for this survey “YouCam Makeup” MAR app withmakeup products was applied in this study (Daassi & Debbabi, 2021) “Formex”MAR app do not have sex bias, which is male and female can virtual try-on invirtual environment (Qin, et al, 2021a, Song et al, 2019) These MAR apps werechosen to diversify respondents’ choice, to avoid sex bias (Rauschnabelet al., 2019,Daassi& D e b b a b i , 2 0 2 1 ) P r i o r s t u d i e s ( e g D a a s s i & D e b b a b i , 2 0

2 1 , P a r k a n d Yoo, 2020, Wanget al.,2021), most of these MAR apps was chosen for experimentstudies “YouCam Makeup” MAR app with lots of styles of lip colors, eye shadows,and eye lash (Daassi & Debbabi,

2021) In addition, “Formex TryOn” MAR appprovidesforcustomerswithtry- onexperienceonwatchestrapsandmodels(Songet al., 2019) This MAR app allows customers to virtual try on their wrist.Datacollection was conducted if respondents were willing to virtual try-on and answerthesurvey.

Time forcollectingdata

Time period for data collection was from August, 2020 until March,2021beforeCOVID-pandemicoutbreakinHoChiMinhCity.

Researchsettings

In current study, there are three steps for data collection consisting of introduction,letting participants experience on MAR apps, then completing the questionnaire,respectively andhavingtimebreakinfiveminutesamongsteps(Sung,2021).Firstly, participants were introduced the way how to experience MAR apps Then,they were required to download “YouCam Makeup”,

“Formex TryOn” MAR appson their smart-phone After that, some screening questions author were provided toparticipantstogainsomesuitablecriteria,suchasthewillingtofollowtheinstructions, experiencing MAR apps, providing the complete (Jessenet al., 2020;Rauschnabeletal.,2019).

Inthenextstep,respondentsweredistributedasurveyquestionnaire.Reviewers guide participants the ways to answer the questions in the questionnaire.There are two main parts in the survey questionnaire: screening questions, scalemeasurementanddemographic- basedgeneralinformation(seeAppendixXVI).Screeningquestionsaremultiple- choicequestions(e.g.theinstallationandusemobile apps, respondents’ willingness to download and try-on, the frequency ofMARapps- experience).Becauseofusingconveniencesampling,screeningquestions help eliminate confusion and reduce response bias (Mangione, 1995);Jessenetal.,2020).Aftercompletingthequestionnaire,participantswererec eiveda study credit for their participation (Flaviánet al., 2020) If participants need moretime for participation, they can be given extra time Data collectors were recruitedand trained to be suitable for the study’s purposes In order to motivate their datacollection, they also were given a financial incentive (Nikhashemiet al., 2021).Some screening questions were designed to control data collection biasto meet thecriteria(Shin & Jeong, 2021) After datac o l l e c t i o n , a u t h o r c o n t i n u e a n a l y z e d a t a andreporttheresultsfromimporteddatabase.

Researchmethod

Therearetwodesignwaysforquantitativemethodconsistingofsurveyandexperimentald esigns(Creswell,2014).Themainmethodinthisstudyi s quantitative method is applied to test and validate hypotheses in the conceptualmodel.Besides,authorusedqualitativemethodforreviewingpreviousstudies.

The pre-test study is used to refine scales or refine the measurement items forprecision and clarity (Churchill, 1979) by using feedback from expert and someyoungcustomers,pre- testscontructsretatedtoimmersiveexperienceinthequestionnaire The survey questionnaire is adopted from English and translated intoVietnamese language. Thus, it needs to pre-test with 30 respondents There are aDoctorofPhilosophy,twoPh.D.studentsinManagementandInternationalBusiness,se venstudentsinMarketing,InternationalBusiness,InformationTechnology,

Management, Accounting and Finance and 10 customers to ensureclarityofitems ofscales, procedure tovirtual try-onappsonsmart- phone,andtotest for potential problems (Qin et al., 2021a, Lee et al., 2006) After that, the authormade minor change to the questionnaire suitable for the context Because of thedifference from the culture, the level of economic development, so scales need to beadjustedsuitablefortheVietnamcontext.

The quantitative method aims to investigate the impacts of technology- enabledpsychological embodiment and mental imagery on customer immersion that in turnstimulatea t t i t u d i n a l a n d b e h a v i o u r a l r e s p o n s e s t o w a r d s M

A R a p p s a s t h e moderating role of personal innovativeness on the relationship between customerimmersion and its two precursors In doing so, the quantitative study was conductedtoexaminethesehypothesesinthe integratedconceptualmodelinthe study.

Scalemeasurement

Embodimentscale

In the first part of research model, the antecedents in the conceptual model areembodiment and mental imagery Embodiment is considered as “the integration ofthe technological devices into the human body” and “occurs when users embodytechnologyandallowingtheextendedbodiestointeractwiththew o r l d ” (Tuss yadiah et al., 2018; Flavián et al., 2019b).Embodiment is formed in threedimensions:ownership,location,andagency(Tussyadiahetal.,2018).Theembodi ment scale (see Table 3.1)was adapted from Tussyadiah, Jung,et al.(2018)with some minor adjustment Embodiment concept is viewed as a reflective second-order construct that include three sub-concepts, namely ownership, location andagency Ownership represents sensation of which is body’s parts Location refers tothe feeling that a consumer's self is located inside their avatar's body Agency referstothefeelingthatusercanhaveinteractionthe object(Tussyadiahetal.,2018).

In this study, the scale of ownership (five items), location (four items), agency

O4 – …it seems like that the image I can see based MARappsbelongtomysurroundingenvironment.

L3 – …itseems likethe image I see throughthe screen iseffectedbyMARappsdesigner.

A3–… itseemslike m yownsurrounding environment beco me realthroughMARapps.

Mentalimageryscale

Mental imagery refers to “a process by which visual information is represented inthe workingm e m o r y ” ( H e l l e r e t a l , 2 0 1 9 , B a b i n a n d

B u r n s , 1 9 9 8 ) M e n t a l i m a g e r y is a multi-dimensional construct, consisting of vividness, quantity, and elaboration(Babin and Burns, 1998; Gavilan et al., 2014) Vividness prefers to “the clarity withwhichtheindividualexperiencesanimageandreflectsitsquality”.Quantityprefers to“thenumbersofimagesincustomers’mindwhileprocessinginformation”.Elaboration prefers to “the activation of information in the production of mentalimagesbeyondwhatisprovidedbythestimulus”(BabinandBurns,1998).Similarly, mental imagery measured by Babin and Burns (1998)is a reflectivesecond- orderconstruct(see Table3.2 )wasmeasuredbythreesub- dimension,includingvividness(eightitems),imageryquantity(threeitems),andimagery elaboration(threeitems).

Customerimmersionscale

Customer immersion prefers to user’s “psychological state” described by feelingthemselves to be “absorbed in, involved with, and engrossed by virtual stimuli”(Yimetal.,2017;Georgiou&Kyza,2017).MARapps- enhancedimmersionconsistsofthreedimensionsofengagement,engrossmentandtotali mmersion(Georgiou & Kyza, 2017).Engagement prefers to users’ psychological state whichthey can “access the activity”, then they “invest time and effort to attend to theactivity”.Engrossmentpreferstousers’psychologicalstatewhichtheymaybeable to “become further involved with the activity” Total immersion, is the optimumlevel, users’ psychological state which they are totallya b s o r s e d a n d i m m e r s e d in virtual environment (Georgiou & Kyza, 2017) Focusing on customer immersionin the main part of this study, it was adapted from (Georgiou & Kyza, 2018), is areflective second-order construct with three sub-dimensions including engagement(eight items, e.g., “I liked the type of the activity”), engrossment (six items, e.g., “Ifinterrupted, I lookedforward to returning to the activity”) and total immersion(seven items, e.g., “The activity became the unique and only thought occupying mymind”) Thus, the measures of customer immersion was measurement through threedimensions (engagement, engrossment, and total immersion) based on the scale byGeorgiouandKyza(2018),formedbyeight,six,andsevenindicatorsrespectively(see

3 Insomecases, Ifelt Iwas attachedand in te rac t edwiththeobjectsMARappsd i r e c t l y

4 Afterinvolving MA R apps, I feltthatm yaction shadimpactsontheactivity

7 I felt that I forgot the timeand only pay attention tomyexperienceonMARapps

Attitudeandbehavioralintentionscale

Attitude toward MAR apps is an overall affective evaluation (of using MAR apps)thatcanrangefromextremelypositivetoextremelynegative.

(Childerseta l , 2001).BehavioralintentionregardingMARappsprefersto“thedegreeo f individual intention to engage in a particular behavior” using MAR apps (Davis etal., 1989) There are five items of attitude towards MAR apps and three items ofbehavioralintentionregardingMARappsmeasuredby(Reseetal.,2017).Participants wererequiredtoanswersthesequestionsinthequestionnairetounderstand their attitudes and behavioral intention usingM A R a p p s ( s e e Table3.4 ).

Personalinnovativenesssscale

Personal innovativeness, as an individual trait, is defined as the willingness of anindividual to adopt new technology (Agarwal & Prasad, 1998; Kim & Choo, 2021).Personalinnovativenessscalewasmeasuredby(Agarwal&Prasad,1998)consistingo ffouritems(e.g.,“Iliketoexperimentwithnewinformationtechnologies”) (see Table

3.4 ) Personal innovativeness plays a moderating role intherelationshipsbetweencustomer immersionanditsprecursors.

Attitudeto war d s MARa p p s (Re se et al.,2017)

1 IfI heard about anewinformation technology, Iwouldlo okfor waystoexperimentwithit.

Controlvariables’scales

Almostscalesinthisstudy wereadoptedfrom previousresearches,socontrolvariables were used toreduce systematic errors in processofd a t a c o l l e c t i o n a n d dataanalysis.Inretailsector,somecontrolvariablesoftenwererelatedtodemograph ic variables such as education, age, income, etc (Deshwal, 2016) In thisstudy,control variables including education, age, privacy concern, and gender wereanalysed.Thesecontrolvariablesisusedtotestitsimpactsonbehavioralinten tion towardsMARapps(Rauschnabel&Ro,2016,Moore&McElroy,2 0 1 2 , Venkatesh,et al.,2003).

Data analysisprocedure

Themeasurementmodelassessment

PLS-SEMisusedtovalidatethemeasurementscalesoftheconstructsbyperforming reliability and validity analyses In the conceptual model, there arenotonlyfirst- orderconstructs(e.g.,personalinnovativeness,attitude,behavioralintention towards MAR apps) but also second-order constructs (i.e., embodiment,mental imagery, immersion) According to (Sarstedtet al., 2019), there are twoprominentapproachesinanalysisthesecond- orderconstructsinthemodel,includingtherepeatedindicatorsandthetwo-stageapproach.

In particular, “repeated indicators approach produces smaller biases” in analyzingthe secon-order constructs in measurement model Therefore, reflective- reflectivetype of the repeated indicators approach was conducted to validate the measurementmodels(Sarstedtetal.,2019).

In the first step of the measurement model (see Figure 3-1 ) was analysis internalconsistency,consistingofOuterloadings,compositereliability( C R ) , i t e m l oadings.Inaddition,convergentvalidity(includingindicatorreliabilitya n d averagevar ianceextracted)anddiscriminantvalidityofuni- dimensionalconstructs(e.g.,p e r s o n a l i n n o v a t i v e n e s s , a t t i t u d e , b e h a v i o r a l i n t e n t i o n t o w a r d s

Step 4: Assess the hypotheses in the conceptual model (P-value, results of hypotheses)

Step 3: Evaluate the strength of the relationships (R2 values)

Step 2: Test the structural model relationships (F 2 and Q2 values)

MAR apps) and all indicators of the lower-order dimensions of the second- orderconstructs were evaluated For example, when a immersion construct consists ofthreelower- ordercomponentsincludingengagement,engrossmentandtotalimmersion, each measured with indicators, the immersion was measured with thesame indicators as the lower-order components (e.g., engagement, engrossment, andtotal immersion).In the second step, dimensions satisfied criteria in the first stagewere considered as indicators for their second-order constructs, representing theirloadings.Forinstance,ownership,location,andagencybecameindicatorsofembodi ment.

Atfirst,themeasurementmodelistestedthroughthecriteriaofcompositereliability(CR), averagevarianceextract(AVE),comparingthesquarerootofextractedvariance(AVE)wi thcoefficientcorrelationtoevaluatediscriminantvalidity,crossloadingandHeterotrait-

Before evaluating structural model (see Figure 3.2 ), collinearity issues need to betested by variance inflation factor (VIF) Next, the significance and relevance of thestructural relationship is tested by f 2 values Besides, structural model was assessedby coefficient of determination (R 2 ) According to Cohen, (1998), R 2 value forendogenous latent variables are assessed as follows:0.02(very weak), 0.02 –

0.16(weak),0.16–0.26(moderate),andR 2 >0.26(substantial).Next,testingmoderating effects on the relationships among variables in theresearch model.Finally,thehypothesesinthe conceptual modelistestedandanalyzed.

Thestructuralmodelassessment

FIRST STAGE: PROPOSING CONCEPTUAL MODEL& DATA COLLECTION

STEP 1: LITERATURE REVIEW STEP 2: RESEARCH GAPS STEP 3: HYPOTHESES OF THE CONCEPTUAL MODEL STEP 4: QUESTIONAIRE&SURVEY

STEP 1: ASSESS COLLINEARITY& COMMON METHOD BIAS STEP 2: THE SIGNIFICANCE AND RELEVANCE OF THE STRUCTURAL MODEL RELATIONSHIPS

STEP 3: THE STRENGTH OF THE RELATIONSHIPS

STEP 4: THE HYPOTHESES IN THE CONCEPTUAL MODEL

STEP 1:ASSESS THE INDICATOR RELIABILITY STEP 2: ASSESS THE INTERNAL CONSISTENCY STEP 3: ASSESS THE CONVERGENT VALIDITY STEP 4: ASSESS THE DISCRIMINANT VALIDITY

Commonmethodbias(CMB)

Beforegatheringdata,thequestionnairewasdesignedwitheasy-to-understandquestions for respondents Moreover, their personal information and answers alsowere promised to protect carefully This study used a multi- respondent approachwith more than three hundreds respondents and Likert scales, thus it is necessary totest common method bias(Podsakoffet al., 2003) Bias means that no respondentshad responded, these responses would have changed the overall results” (Creswell,2014), thusresponse bias has an negative effects on survey estimates In otherwords,commonmethodbiascasesoccurinsurveyifthequestionnairesareanswered by the same respondents (Qinet al., 2021a) There are three techniques toexaminecommonmethodbias,includingHarman’ssinglefactortest,varianceinflationfact ors,andthemarkervariablemethod(Qinetal.,2021a).

Firstly ,“Harman’ssinglefactortest”shouldbeappliedtoexaminec o m m o n method bias before assess measurement model According to (Podsakoffet al.,2003), without choosing any rotation method, the variance of each factor should notexceedthe threshold value of 50 per cent of the total variance That means

“themaximum variance explained by the unrotated factors” is less than 50 percent of thetotalvariance.

Secondly , all variance inflation factor values is applied to examine multicollinearityand an effective alternative for testing CMB in the conceptual model (Kock, 2015).Variance inflation factor (VIF) is “a measure of the amount of multicollinearity in aset of multiple regression variables” If all VIF values are less than or equal thethreshold value of 3.3, it means the conceptual model is free from common methodbias(Kock,2015).

Thirdly, the marker variable method is used to test common method bias

(Kock,2015; Williamset al., 2010) The marker-variable method shows that the correlationbetweenc o n s t r u c ts i n t h e c u r r e n t m o d e l a n d t h e s e l e c t e d m a r k e r v a r i a b l e I n t h i s technique, a construct being largely independent to other constructs in the model ischosen as a marker Thirdly, the results of the data analysis showed that there werenoextremelyhighbivariatecorrelationsbetweenconstructs(r