Continuous Usage Intention Toward Interactive Mixed Reality Technologies

Introduction

Recently, several studies have been conducted by researchers and scientists on the virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) technologies by showing their practical significance, innovative features and application purposes in many different industries (e.g., Bonetti, Warnaby, & Quinn, 2018; Freeman et al., 2017). As a result, these technologies have enticed the attention of entrepreneurs, financiers, gamers, and the general community (Castelvecchi, 2016). Consequently, huge funds, trades, and investments are being carried out by big tech organizations to advance and profit on such innovations (e.g., Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Sony, etc.) (Castelvecchi, 2016).

It has been reported in the Information Systems (IS) discipline that such technologies are the next “big thing” or “stepping stone” in technological innovation since the rise of the internet (e.g., Cipresso, Giglioli, Raya, & Riva, 2018). In 2017, the AR-VR-MR industry has been estimated to generate in the next two to three years around 2.9$ billion to 61.5$ billion worth of sales and revenues (Superdata Research, 2017). Nevertheless, more recent reports by Fortune (2019) and TheAppSolutions (2019) reported that because of the poor quality of content, bad design, and/or low technical development standards, tech organizations within the “digital reality” industry have started to lag. Hence, users are losing interest to remain involved and to continue using these types of technologies. Because of such radical and unexpected outcomes, it would be interesting to empirically investigate if such challenges may be linked to an inadequate design of a specific characteristic of interactive technologies. This research attempts to do so.

Through the theoretical lens of perceived characteristics of innovations (PCI) framework, the current research empirically examines i) whether users’ perceptions of the characteristics of interactive technologies (i.e., interactivity, hypertextuality, modality, connectivity, virtuality) were related to their involvement with MR technologies, which in turn were related to their intention to continue using them; ii) the moderating influence of uses’ digital literacy on the users’ perceptions of the characteristics of interactive technologies and user involvement relationships; and iii) the moderating influence of users’ digital literacy on the link between user involvement and intention to continuously use MR technologies. To test the twelve proposed hypotheses, an e-survey questionnaire was implemented by surveying 268 active users of MR technologies across the US.

The importance and relevance of this research are two-fold and equally contribute to creating new knowledge for the existing body of literature and building awareness for tech organizations. First, to the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first empirical study to investigate the effects of perceived characteristics of interactive MR technologies on user perception or behavior. In comparison to other types of emerging technologies (e.g., AR or VR), MR technology has been recently introduced to the research community which makes it a hardly explored topic. Therefore, the empirical findings of this research can add substantial value and content to the existing body of literature. Second, the current research exposes a possible flaw in the design and functionality of a certain type of characteristics of interactive technologies (i.e., hypertextuality). The research further suggests for augmenting the role of another - but similar - type of a technology characteristic (i.e., intertextuality). As such, the research attempts to raise awareness for tech organizations that are losing competitive advantage in this cutting-edge industry, and thus guide them in discovering new grounds for further developing their technological products and services.

The rest of this research is structured as follows: the next section expands on the concepts of digital realities and user involvement. Then, the research presents arguments for the proposed research model and the hypotheses development preceded by the PCI theoretical perspective. This is followed by the section on the research methodology. Finally, the authors elaborate on the findings and conclude with implications for future research.