Information & Management 56 (2019) 103153

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Information & Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/im

Does “Being There” Matter? The Impact of Web-Based and Virtual World’s T
Shopping Experiences on Consumer Purchase Attitudes
Elizabeth White Bakera, , Geoffrey S. Hubonab, Mark Sritec
⁎

a
Cameron School of Business, University of North Carolina – Wilmington, 601 S. College Road, Wilmington, NC, 28403-5611, United States
b
Texas A&M International University, United States
c
Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, United States

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: The use of virtual worlds as an emerging technology is already having a significant impact on business to
e-Shopping consumer commerce and on corporate Internet retailing strategies. This research investigates consumer behavior
Virtual worlds in e-commerce retail environments, particularly with respect to consumer attitudes toward using virtual world’s
Social Presence shopping compared to web-based, online shopping for real-world items. We investigate two forms of presence,
Telepresence
perceived social presence and telepresence, and their effect on attitudes toward e-commerce, attitudes that
Trust
Enjoyment
ultimately influence the consumer's intention to shop using a particular e-commerce environment. Key im-
Consumer attitude plications of this research for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

1. Introduction
The only compelling reason for businesses and organizations to in-
vest in virtual worlds is if these environments can be shown to add
business value to the enterprise. Virtual worlds are fundamentally im-
mersive because of the higher levels of perceptual engagement and the
capability of richer social interactions [1]. A large perceived benefit of
using virtual worlds is the ability to interact and collaborate online
[2,3]. Several areas of electronic collaboration and mediation, in-
cluding virtual world’s team work [4–6] and virtual world’s educational
endeavors [7–10], have demonstrated significant value to the organi-
zations that have adopted virtual world’s technologies. Further, it has
been demonstrated that organizational learning is facilitated by various
forms of interpersonal “play” made possible by the digital representa-
tions of people, objects, and processes in virtual worlds [11]. One sig-
nificant trend in Internet consumer behavior relates to the initial stage
adoption and diffusion of virtual world’s environments for e-commerce.
Examples of this type of virtual world’s real commerce include Deutsche
Post World Net, which offers virtual cards that are subsequently de-
livered as real postcards, and a US electronics retailer that uses its
flagship store in Second Life, the most frequented virtual world’s e-
commerce environment open to the public, to sell real-life items that
are subsequently shipped to the user's home [12]. Virtual reality en-
vironments provide further functionality and interactivity, and offer
remedies to existing limitations of web-based e-commerce transactions,
such as the lack of face-to-face interaction and direct product contact
[13,14]. This higher level of engagement and interactivity in virtual
worlds is a form of intense involvement often referred to as “flow” [15],
which has been shown to lead to positive outcomes for virtual world’s
visitors, including satisfaction and loyalty.
Users who participate in virtual world’s buy and sell virtual pro-
ducts, virtual goods, virtual properties, and other virtual items, in-
cluding trading into and out of virtual world’s currencies per se [16].
More and more retailers are experimenting with three-dimensional
store web presences to increase the retailer's visibility and sales, both
online and offline [17]. While some firms were successful in setting up
an e-commerce endeavor in a virtual world [18], many were not able to
attract customers to their stores in early virtual world’s efforts [19].
Moreover, other studies have indicated the difficulty of conveying the
value of real-life brands in virtual worlds, and particularly in Second
Life [20]. However, at least one recent study has shown the utility of
“cyber-mavens,” highly knowledgeable consumers who disseminate
generalized marketplace information, to promote the trials of new
products in virtual worlds [21]. In one study of avatars' physical ac-
tivities in Second Life, it was found that avatars in commercial trans-
action regions, for the buying and selling of virtual goods, were more
physically active than avatars in help-supporting regions, such as for
seeking and offering help [22].
Even in light of the infancy of the efforts, the rapid development of
virtual world’s technology and virtual reality experiences for the end

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: bakere@uncw.edu (E. White Baker).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2019.02.008
Received 11 December 2017; Received in revised form 22 February 2019; Accepted 25 February 2019
Available online 28 February 2019
0378-7206/ © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
E. White Baker, et al.
user have led to the revenues of virtual worlds reaching $6 billion in
2012 [23]. However, in spite of the fast growth of investment, revenue,
and user numbers, unique challenges to sustained economic activities in
virtual worlds, such as the selling of goods and services, have been
identified, including how to retain customers, and the differential rates
of adopting virtual world’s technology in non-Western Nations, such as
China, potentially a huge market [24].
As the popularity and technological advancement of virtual world
and virtual reality technologies grows, companies are taking further
advantage of the e-shopping channels as possibilities for e-commerce.
Virtual reality technologies are those that work to immerse the user in a
virtual world, very similar to the aim of virtual world's technology, yet
incorporating a more pronounced sensory experience using specialized
hardware to enhance a user's feeling of actually “being there” in the
virtual world [25,26]. Current examples include Facebook's Oculus,
Samsung's Gear VR, and Google's Cardboard. Virtual worlds afford the
potential of richer, more robust consumer interactivity with products
and store environments, compared to web-based e-commerce sites. De
Vries, Jager, Tijssen, and Zandstra [27] reported that higher inter-
activity promoted ownership feelings and product valuations in a 3D
online grocery shopping experiment. Krasonikolakis, Vrechopoulos,
and Pouloudi [36] compared consumers' store selection criteria in on-
line versus virtual worlds (Second Life) environments. They reported
that “Core Store Features” and “Security and Privacy” are the most
important store selection factors in virtual worlds and sales amounts are
predicted by the frequency of visiting and time spent within virtual
world’s stores.
While virtual reality is not a broadly diffused technology, it is very
well-positioned for investment as a shopping channel. Goldman Sachs
estimates that in a base case of virtual reality adoption for the retail
sector alone, virtual reality revenues in 2020 are to be $500 M US with
9.5 M users, growing to $1.6B US in revenue with 32 M users in 2025, a
300% increase during that period [28]. Virtual worlds, a stable tech-
nology with significant adoption [29], share many of the characteristics
of virtual reality that when studied can give insight into consumer 3D e-
commerce attitudes. Given the huge potential of virtual worlds and
virtual reality as e-commerce retailing environments offering unique
experiences compared to web-based environments, 3D e-commerce
environments are expected to be important business platforms
[12,30,31].
Shopping in virtual world’s environments for real items that con-
sumers buy for themselves is becoming more popular among consumers
[12]. Here, the possibility of virtually experiencing products before
purchase is likely to lead to more favorable attitudes and higher pur-
chase intentions due to higher object interactivity [32,33]. An early
study on advertising effects on consumer behavior found substantial
evidence that when users feel a “sense of being” in a mediated en-
vironment, they are more likely to be persuaded to purchase or use
products presented by the mediated environment [34]. Research into
brand crossovers from virtual world’s environments to real life shows
that real-life brands that establish a virtual presence are more likely to
be remembered in the real world [35]. There is evidence of a continued
uptake of virtual world’s shopping in the future, as virtual world’s
shopping environments come to exploit what consumers value most in
e-commerce and in shopping in general: enhanced engagement, both
with products and services [36] and with other shoppers [37]. More
specifically, customers seek engagement through the provision of in-
formation on related products and services and through increased
communication capability about the products and services offered [38].
Accordingly, it becomes essential that IS researchers gain a thorough
understanding of virtual world’s consumer behaviors beyond what we
have already established pertaining to web-based e-commerce sites and
inform practitioners with clear guidelines on how to design compelling
virtual world’s shopping environments [36,39]. Hassouneh and
Brengman [40] note that retailing in virtual worlds is considered an
evolution of the traditional web store, with concomitant advantages,
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Information & Management 56 (2019) 103153
such as the realism and interactivity, that offers an improved shopping
experience for the customer. To this end, they compiled a compre-
hensive typology of virtual store “atmospherics,” or virtual store buying
environmental characteristics, that produce emotional effects in the
buyer to enhance his/her purchase probability. Chen, Liao, Chen, and
Liu [41] demonstrated the importance of social interactions in re-
commending virtual goods for purchase. Jung and Pawlowski [42]
examined the goals that users seek through virtual consumption, re-
porting that amusement, decorative activity, self-expression, and sociali-
zation are the predominant goals driving virtual consumption in Second
Life. Mäntymäki and Salo [43] researched why teens spend real money
in virtual worlds, reporting that benefits of a premium user account,
decoration, status, and boosted enjoyment of the user experience to be the
most common reasons.
The literature on website-based e-commerce related to online
shopping attitude is robust, with many notable studies demonstrating
the impact that various antecedents have on an e-shopper's attitude and
behavioral intention [44]. However, these studies do not incorporate
the additional factors that might impact e-shopping adoption in virtual
worlds, or in other e-shopping environments that leverage having a
shopper feel physically present in the shopping environment virtually,
such as virtual reality environments. The key difference between web-
based and virtual world-based e-commerce rests in the concept of
presence, specifically social presence and telepresence. The term “tel-
epresence” was first introduced by Marvin Minsky [45], as the degree to
which a user feels “transported” via a virtual “tele-porting system.” In
more recent years, telepresence has been used as a term descriptive of
the sense of being “transported” by a new technology. With respect to
virtual worlds, this construct describes the sense of actually being
present within the virtual world's interactive environment and is often
modeled as an antecedent variable of other components of the user's
experience in that environment [46].
E-commerce web sites incorporate perceived social presence, where
the shopping site conveys a feeling of human contact, sociability, and
sensitivity in the attempt to approximate the in-store consumer ex-
perience [47]. Alternatively, virtual world’s shopping incorporates
perceived social presence in addition to telepresence, where the en-
vironment induces the disappearance of mediation, where both the
medium (the software-based environment) and the surrounding phy-
sical environment disappear from the user's phenomenal awareness
[48]. Our primary research objective is to better understand underlying
consumer behavior in virtual world’s retail environments, particularly
with respect to consumer attitudes and acceptance of virtual world’s
shopping, contrasted with web-based online shopping. Although the use
of 3D web design has been examined in the e-commerce context [49] as
a proxy for enhanced user experience in 3D and immersing a consumer
in the environment with augmented reality technology [50], this is
among the first studies to directly compare web-based e-commerce
environments and virtual world’s e-commerce environments and the
antecedents to examine user attitudes toward e-commerce involving
real-world’s items, as opposed to virtual world’s items [51].
The primary theoretical contribution of this study is the addition of
telepresence as an antecedent to online shopping attitude when in-
vestigating the potential of virtual world’s shopping channel adoption
or any potential 3D e-commerce shopping channel where telepresence
might be a significant factor, including virtual reality shopping chan-
nels. Papagiannidis, Pantano, See-To, Dennis and Bourlakis [50] con-
ducted an experiment comparing users' perceptions of a 2D online
clothing store with an enhanced 3D immersive virtual store. They
modeled a “simulated experience” construct as a surrogate for tele-
presence, finding that the simulated experience in the 3D environment
is more conducive of engagement and enjoyment, in turn, leading to
greater purchase intention. The dimension of presence known as tele-
presence is the key differentiating factor between 2D web-based e-
commerce shopping site experiences and 3D internet e-commerce ex-
periences, inclusive of virtual worlds and virtual reality. Without this
E. White Baker, et al.
additional antecedent incorporated into theoretical models of online
shopping attitude, current models do not provide sufficient insight into
the factors that influence shopping attitudes in these new channels. The
development of this model directly addresses the impact of presence,
both perceived social presence and telepresence, on trust, enjoyment,
and perceived usefulness, antecedents of users' intention to purchase in
an e-commerce environment, within different e-commerce environ-
ments. By incorporating telepresence into the nomological net of e-
commerce antecedents, virtual world’s e-commerce environments can
be compared to web-based e-commerce shopping environments, giving
critical insights into how virtual world’s technology can change retail
organizations, online retail sales strategies, and the e-commerce en-
vironments themselves [52], and how this technology will affect in-
dividual consumer behavior [53]. Additionally, the model we present
will provide researchers investigating these 3D shopping channels a
theoretical basis for further investigations.
Finally, using this model to compare web-based and virtual world’s
e-commerce environments provides practitioners relevant insights into
what aspects must be considered with developing a virtual world’s store
presence that differ from the web-based store presence that an orga-
nization already has developed, following on the work of Dionisio et al
[54] and Hassouneh and Brengman [51]. The results of this study give
companies and designers some insight into how best to position their
virtual world’s presence in light of the significant investments that are
currently being made in virtual world’s environments and virtual reality
technologies, where shopping is a central activity [55].
2. Theoretical Foundations
2.1. Perceived Social Presence and Telepresence
The sensation of immersion, such as that encountered in virtual
worlds, has been previously confirmed as an antecedent condition to
both social presence and telepresence [56]. Broadly, presence is defined
as the sensation that a manifestly mediated experience is not perceived
as mediated, with virtual objects experienced as actual objects
[31,48,57]. While presence has other characterizations in research in
different academic fields, Ijsselsteijn et al. [58] collapsed the multi-
dimensionality of presence from six to two constructs: social and phy-
sical presence, with the intersection of the two called co-presence. In
information systems research, both telepresence and social presence
have been often studied with respect to their importance to systems
adoption [31]. With this research's focus on contrasting web-based
shopping environments versus virtual world’s shopping environments
influence consumers' attitudes toward e-commerce, we focus on two
key factors that would be likely to have the most impact within our
research context: perceived social presence and telepresence.
“Flow” is a form of intense involvement directly related to the in-
teractivity of virtual worlds [15]. Flow is an affect-based response to
intense involvement that promotes high psychological engagement and
often leads to positive outcomes for virtual world’s visitors, including
learning, satisfaction, and loyalty [15]. The “presence” aspect of flow
relevant to this research is the concept of telepresence, given that this
work compares web-based e-commerce environments to those in virtual
worlds. Virtual world’s environments have the added aspect of presence
– telepresence – that web-based e-commerce systems do not have. The
overall effect fostered by telepresence in a virtual world's store is to
engender the sense of actually being present in the store, which, in turn,
elevates the importance of the effects of physical presence, and po-
tentially social presence as well [34,57,59]. Additionally, telepresence
is the extent to which one feels present in the mediated environment
rather than in the immediate physical environment [59–61]. A virtual
world’s communication medium increases the interactivity and vivid-
ness of user interaction as compared to a web-based medium by offering
a greater number of movements in the virtual world’s space, a sense of
contact or touch, and sounds that stimulate those in the real
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Information & Management 56 (2019) 103153
environment [50]. Therefore, an e-commerce shopper will likely have
an enhanced sense of telepresence in the virtual world’s shopping en-
vironment. Telepresence is fostered by a greater degree by the virtual
world’s e-commerce sites compared to web-based e-commerce sites
and, thus, is an integral part of our research model. Comparing the
effects of the web-based e-commerce shopping attitudes model to those
of the virtual world’s e-commerce shopping attitudes model will pro-
vide insight into which aspects of the e-commerce environment en-
hance adoption, focusing on the aspects of a virtual world’s environ-
ment found as a significant enhancement over the web-based e-
commerce model.
Social presence theory regards social presence as a quality inherent
in a communication medium, widely varying among these media [62],
with social presence defined as the extent to which a medium allows
users to experience others as being psychologically present [48]. The
theory of social presence posits that a medium's social effects are
principally caused by the degree of social presence that it affords to its
users [62]. The increased social presence of a medium leads to a more
focused perception of the person with whom one is interacting, by
conveying a feeling of human contact, sociability, and sensitivity
[47,63,64]. By adopting this perspective of perceived social presence,
we can add our findings to those of other studies of web-based and
virtual world’s-based e-commerce environments [65–68] in in-
vestigating the impact of perceived social presence on the commonly
studied antecedents to consumers' attitudes toward e-commerce and
how its impact differs between the two environments.
3. Research Model and Hypotheses
Prior research into antecedents to e-commerce and to virtual world’s
purchasing behavioral intentions is vast and often presents conflicting
findings. Bleize and Antheunis [69] performed a meta-analysis of fac-
tors in the literature influencing purchasing intent in virtual worlds and
reported that perceived enjoyment, social influence, customization, and
ease of use are the important factors, as well as beliefs and attitudes.
Mäntymäki and Salo [70] builds on the Unified Theory of Acceptance
and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model to examine the influence of
perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, social presence, and per-
ceived ease of use (among other variables) on purchasing intent in
social virtual worlds. Ahmad and Abdulkarim [71] performed an ex-
perimental study investigating the factors that impact the intention to
use, or not use, Second Life. They report that a positive “flow” ex-
perience with virtual world’s positively influences attitudes toward
virtual worlds, which, in turn, influences intention to use virtual
worlds. What is notable about the Ahmad and Abdulkarim [71] model
is the integration of several prominent theoretical streams, including
TAM, Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) Embodied Social Presence
theory, Flow theory, and Jungian personality theory. Cox, Guzman,
Cromer, and Bagui [72] and Cox [73] both examined the effects of
virtual world’s skills, attitudes, and subjective norms on intentions to pur-
chase in virtual worlds, drawing from both TRA and Flow for theoretical
underpinnings. Piyathasanan et al. [74] examined social presence, social
capital, flow experience, and situational involvement as key drivers of the
virtual world’s experience, finding that these variables positively in-
fluence perceptions of both economic and social value and, in turn,
loyalty, in both the real and virtual worlds.
Ingham et al. [44] performed a meta-analytic review on studies of e-
shopping acceptance and found that while there were varied findings
across the studies, there was an improved model over TAM to describe
e-commerce success, which they termed TAM with attitude. The TAM
with attitude model [44] is an adaptation of the TRA to the field of IS.
While extensive studies have confirmed the robustness of TAM, several
studies have also pointed out limitations of the model. Attempts to
extend TAM to address its limitations have primarily taken one of four
approaches, including examining antecedents and moderators of per-
ceived usefulness and perceived ease of use (new exogenous
E. White Baker, et al.
mechanisms) [75]. We look to extend the TAM with attitude model by
looking at how the individual-level contextual factor of technology
attributes impacts this baseline behavioral intention model to create
this new model, a multi-level investigation approach suggested by
Venkatesh et al. [75] as a future research direction for enriching ac-
ceptance and usage models. Thus, we add the antecedents of perceived
social presence and telepresence to the factors of perceived ease of use,
perceived usefulness, trust, and enjoyment to investigate the impact on
user's attitude toward e-shopping comparing two differing technology
contexts (web-based e-commerce sites and virtual world’s e-commerce
sites). It is particularly germane to investigate how the levels of per-
ceived social presence and telepresence impact the overall shopping
experience in both web-based and virtual world’s e-commerce en-
vironments [14,76], where shoppers desire socially rich and function-
ally convenient experiences within the context of e-commerce user
adoption models. Including telepresence as an antecedent for e-com-
merce shopping attitudes allows investigation into the potential im-
pacts of a virtual world’s e-commerce shopping environment on e-
shopping attitudes in contrast to a web-based e-commerce environ-
ment.
3.1. Attitude as endogenous variable
In this investigation, attitude is chosen as the dependent variable
rather than behavior intention, which the Ingham et al. [44] model
uses. Three reasons prompted this model modification. First, this in-
vestigation utilizes a controlled experimental design with directly in-
dicated e-shopping sites to evaluate. Participants were told exactly
which sites to purchase from. As such, asking respondents to indicate
their behavioral intention, such as their likelihood to purchase from or
return to a mandated shopping site, might not be appropriate or rea-
listic, particularly with respect to the virtual world’s shopping site [37].
Second, behavioral intention (for example, to purchase) is most often
used as a surrogate for actual behavior (to purchase). In this study, all
respondents did actually engage in purchasing behavior; thus, cap-
turing “behavioral intention” (to purchase) would be redundant and
unnecessary. Rather, it is more realistic to solicit perceptions of atti-
tude, as a predisposition to influence shopping behavior in other in-
stances. Third, attitude is particularly relevant to the consumer deci-
sion-making context. In the domain of consumer online shopping
adoption, several researchers have found positive and significant im-
pacts of attitude on intention [77–79,80]. Additionally, attitude has
been shown to correlate well with behavioral intention when adoption
is voluntary [81], as it would be in e-shopping. These reasons support
the usage of attitude as the endogenous variable rather than behavioral
intention.
3.2. Risk
Risk was not included in our model for reasons similar to those
underpinning the exclusion of behavioral intention. The experimental
design directing the participants specifically where to shop makes any
measure of risk problematic to interpret. Rather, we follow the lead of
studies investigating the link between trust and risk, which find trust is
an antecedent of risk: The greater the trust in the e-shop, the less the
perceived risk (see Pavlou)[82]. Thus, we did not include risk in our
antecedent model and rely on future investigations to assess risk. For a
comprehensive discussion of research on trust in virtual worlds, please
see Zhang et al. [83]. Our research model is presented in Fig. 1 below.
3.3. Impact of Perceived Social Presence on Perceived Usefulness
Extensive research has been conducted on social presence and its
impact on online shopping [67,84–86]. Both web-based e-commerce
environments and virtual reality environments employ social presence
to entice shoppers to their sites. In this context, perceived social
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Information & Management 56 (2019) 103153
Fig. 1. Research Model for both Web-based (Hxa) and Virtual World’s (Hxb)
Environments.
presence reflects giving the consumer a sense of warmth. Because users
make a psychological connection between this human warmth using a
communication medium and the medium's usefulness across a range of
communication tasks [87,88], we expect that perceived social presence
will be positively related to perceived usefulness. Prior studies have
investigated and established the relationship between perceived social
presence and perceived usefulness in the web-based e-commerce en-
vironment [66,89,90]. With respect to the effect of telepresence on
perceived usefulness, there are conflicting findings. Increasing levels of
telepresence have shown to have a positive effect on perceived use-
fulness in a web-based environment [91], while in a social network
context, it was found to be not significant [92]. By engendering the
state of flow, the virtual world’s environment would be expected to
have an increased level of perceived social presence compared to a web-
based e-commerce environment. Thus, we hypothesize:
H1a. Increasing levels of perceived social presence will have a positive
impact on the perceived usefulness of online shopping in a web-based e-
commerce environment.
H1b. Increasing levels of perceived social presence will have a positive
impact on the perceived usefulness of online shopping in a virtual
world’s e-commerce environment.
H1c. The impact of perceived social presence on perceived usefulness
will be greater in the virtual world’s environment than in the web-based
environment.
3.4. Impact of Telepresence on Perceived Usefulness
The effect of telepresence on perceived usefulness mirrors that of
the effect of perceived social presence on perceived usefulness, with
conflicting findings in the literature [91,92]. In our model, we expect
the more conservative finding that telepresence will not be significant
in the web-based environment. When investigating the virtual world’s
environment, we expect that increased levels of telepresence and, thus,
the greater levels of perceived social presence (H1b), would have a
greater impact on perceived usefulness in a virtual world’s environment
over a web-based environment. However, this relationship might also
be impacted by spatial memory confusion [93], where interfaces with
higher dimensions are less efficient for the user.
H2a. Increasing levels of telepresence will have no impact on the
perceived usefulness of online shopping in a web-based e-commerce
environment.
H2b. Increasing levels of telepresence will have a positive impact on
the perceived usefulness of online shopping in a virtual world’s e-
commerce environment.
E. White Baker, et al.
H2c. The impact of telepresence on perceived usefulness will be greater
in the virtual world’s environment than in the web-based environment.
3.5. Impact of TAM Constructs on Attitudes toward Online Shopping
TAM studies in the context of web-based e-commerce have con-
sistently shown that perceived ease of use influences perceived use-
fulness, which, in turn, affects user attitudes and intentions [44]. This
theory has also been shown to apply in the broader context of virtual
world’s adoption [94]. To contrast attitudes toward a web-based e-
commerce environment with those toward a virtual world’s e-com-
merce store, including these TAM constructs, elucidates the impact of
the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the e-commerce
environment on a user's attitude toward each shopping environment.
From a theoretical perspective, we see no support for the dimension-
ality of the environment having a significant differentiating impact on
the TAM constructs. Thus, we hypothesize:
H3a. Increasing levels of perceived ease of use will have a positive
impact on the perceived usefulness of online shopping in a web-based e-
commerce environment.
H3b. Increasing levels of perceived ease of use will have a positive
impact on the perceived usefulness of online shopping in a virtual
world’s environment.
H3c. The impact of perceived ease of use on perceived usefulness will
show no significant difference between the web-based environment and
the virtual world’s environment.
H4a. Increasing levels of perceived usefulness will have a positive
impact on attitudes toward online shopping in a web-based e-commerce
environment.
H4b. Increasing levels of perceived usefulness will have a positive
impact on attitudes toward online shopping in a virtual world’s
environment.
H4c. The impact of perceived usefulness on attitudes toward online
shopping will show no significant difference between the web-based
environment and the virtual world’s environment.
3.6. Impact of Perceived Social Presence on Trust
Gefen and Straub [95] in their investigation of eServices confirmed
that perceived social presence was a necessary condition for the de-
velopment of trust. The greater the sense of social presence, the harder
it is to act in an untrustworthy manner. Similarly, Srivastava and
Chandra [96] examined and confirmed the influences of social presence
on institutional trust-building factors that, in turn, promote consumer
trust. As a result, a site with increased levels of perceived social pre-
sence was likely to facilitate deeper trust among the consumers [85,97].
One might anticipate that the telepresence aspect of a virtual world’s e-
commerce environment would elicit feelings of being more personal to
a shopper than a web-based site, and therefore, consumers would be
expected to feel more certain about these vendors and have more
confidence in their online transactions with these vendors. Yet, factors
of web site quality and vendor reputation that build consumer trust in a
web-based environment might not be sufficient to overcome the nega-
tive perceptions that users often have about the safety of the virtual
world’s environment [98]. Thus, we hypothesize:
H5a. Increasing levels of perceived social presence will have a positive
impact on trust in online shopping in a web-based e-commerce
environment.
H5b. Increasing levels of perceived social presence will have a positive
impact on trust in online shopping in a virtual world’s e-commerce
environment.
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Information & Management 56 (2019) 103153
H5c. The impact of perceived social presence on trust will show no
significant difference in the virtual world’s environment and in the web-
based environment.
3.7. Impact of Trust on Attitudes toward Online Shopping
Subsequently, consumer trust in a company's website has been
shown to positively affect a consumer's attitude toward the company
and ultimately the behavioral intention to buy from that firm
[67,99,100]. When investigating the virtual world’s environment, we
expect that increased levels of telepresence, and thus the greater levels
of perceived social presence (H1b), would have a greater impact on
trust in virtual world’s environments than in web-based environments.
Thus, we hypothesize:
H6a. Increasing levels of trust will have a positive impact on attitudes
toward online shopping in a web-based environment.
H6b. Increasing levels of trust will have a positive impact on attitudes
toward online shopping in a virtual world’s environment.
H6c. The impact of trust on attitudes toward online shopping will be
greater in a virtual world’s environment than in a web-based
environment.
3.8. Impact of Perceived Social Presence on Enjoyment
One of the most significant impacts of social presence is enjoyment
[57,101]. When users feel an e-commerce site is warm and inviting,
they will enjoy the shopping experience more than shopping at a site
with lower levels of perceived social presence [102,103]. When en-
joyment is investigated as a key component of flow, several studies
have shown that increased perceived social presence has a positive
impact on enjoyment [65,67]. Therefore, we hypothesize:
H7a. Increasing levels of perceived social presence will have a positive
impact on the enjoyment in online shopping in a web-based
environment.
H7b. Increasing levels of perceived social presence will have a positive
impact on the enjoyment in online shopping in a virtual world’s
environment.
H7c. The impact of perceived social presence on enjoyment will be
greater in the virtual world’s environment than in the web-based
environment.
3.9. Impact of Enjoyment on Attitudes toward Online Shopping
Enjoyment is particularly relevant to this study with respect to the
nature of the e-commerce environment’s impact on whether or not the
user has a positive attitude toward shopping in that particular en-
vironment. As a result, these studies among others [for example,
[77,80]] have indicated that enjoyment has a positive impact on con-
sumer attitudes toward e-commerce websites, while Yim et al. [104]
show that enjoyment has a positive impact on consumer attitudes in a
virtual world’s environment. Therefore, we hypothesize:
H8a. Increasing levels of enjoyment will have a positive impact on
attitudes toward online shopping in a web-based environment.
H8b. Increasing levels of enjoyment will have a positive impact on
attitudes toward online shopping in a virtual world’s environment.
H8c. The impact of enjoyment on attitudes toward online shopping will
be greater in the virtual world’s environment than in the web-based
environment.
E. White Baker, et al. Information & Management 56 (2019) 103153

3.10. Impact of Telepresence on Trust Table 1

Demographic Information for Respondents (N = 237).
The impact of telepresence on trust is hypothesized to differ be- Gender
tween the two environments. In a web-based environment, we would
not expect telepresence to have a significant impact on trust, based on Female 92 (38.8%) Male 145 (61.2%)
our hypothesis that telepresence is not engendered in a web-based en-
Age Hours per Week in Virtual World
vironment [34]. In a virtual world’s environment, we would expect that 18-29 147 (62.3%) 0-5 135 (57.0%)
telepresence would have a significant impact on trust [105]. Prior re- 30-39 30 (12.7%) 6-10 20 (8.4%)
search has found that physical telepresence had a significant impact on 40-49 33 (14.0%) 11-20 18 (7.6%)
trust and attitude with respect to e-commerce [56,106]. Therefore, we 50-59 23 (9.7%) 21-30 31 (13.1%)
60-66 3 (1.3%) > 30 33 (13.9%)
hypothesize:
Hours per Week on Internet Why shop on the Internet? (Answer all that
H9a. Increasing levels of telepresence will have no impact on trust in apply)
0-5 24 (10.1%) Convenience 215 (91%)
online shopping in a web-based environment. 6-10 44 (18.6%) Product/Service 103 (43%)
11-20 67 (28.3%) Better Price 141 (59%)
H9b. Increasing levels of telepresence will have a positive impact on
21-30 43 (18.1%) Curiosity 69 (29%)
trust in online shopping in a virtual world’s environment. > 30 59 (24.9%)
H9c. The impact of telepresence on trust in online shopping will be
greater in the virtual world’s environment than in the web-based
4.2. Experimental procedure
environment.

3.11. Impact of Telepresence on Enjoyment
When shopping in a virtual world, consumers who experience a
heightened sense of telepresence are so immersed in the environment
that they have little attention to concentrate elsewhere. Results of
empirical studies show significant positive effects of increased vividness
and interactivity on the development of a sense of telepresence
[107,108]. These consumers are less likely to sense the separation be-
tween themselves and the virtual environment and, thus, reach a state
of enjoyment. These consumers are consequently more likely to be sa-
tisfied with the virtual world’s e-commerce experience [109]. This
suggests that shoppers in a virtual reality environment, with the in-
creased level of telepresence, might have a higher level of satisfaction
than with a web-based, e-commerce environment. Recent studies de-
monstrated this impact of telepresence on enjoyment, when enjoyment
was studied as an aspect of flow [65,110]. Therefore, we hypothesize:
H10a. Increasing levels of telepresence will have no impact on
enjoyment in online shopping in a web-based environment.
H10b. Increasing levels of telepresence will have a positive impact on
enjoyment in online shopping in a virtual world's environment.
H10c. The impact of telepresence on enjoyment in online shopping will
be greater in the virtual world's environment than in the web-based
environment.
4. Research Methods
4.1. Research participants
The hypothesized relationships presented in Fig. 1 are empirically
examined through a survey of 237 online shoppers, each of whom made
a purchase at a virtual world’s clothing store (RFrye) in Second Life,
and who subsequently made an additional purchase at a web-based e-
commerce clothing store (Land’s End). This provided a total of 474
observations using a convenience sampling approach. Ninety-two re-
spondents were identified as female (38.8%), and 145 were identified
as male (61.2%). The age range for the participants spanned from 18 to
66, with the majority falling into the 18-29 age group (62.0%). The
individuals generally spent more than 10 h a week on the Internet
(71.3%), although not a significant amount of this time in a virtual
world’s environment, with 57.0% responding that they spent between 0
and 5 h in-world. The detailed demographic information for re-
spondents is presented in Table 1.
Clothing retail sites were chosen for this study for their familiarity
in terms of items available for purchase and the clear nature of pur-
chasing a good online. Online shoppers with less experience in virtual
worlds were given instructions on how to create an avatar and navigate
the environment, after which they followed the same survey procedure
as the more experienced virtual world’s users. Appendix A presents the
survey questions, which correspond to the measurement items for each
latent construct in the research model and the literature source for each
item. The wording of each item was modified such that the phrase
“Second Life vendor site” or “Internet e-commerce site,” as appropriate,
was substituted for the term “website” in the original survey items.
With the exception of these substitutions, the wording of this survey
items is virtually identical to the wording of the original studies' survey
items.
Each participant was provided with a gift certificate in Linden
dollars to purchase any clothing apparel of their choice at Rfrye. After
purchasing their item(s) of choice at Rfrye, they were directed to an
online survey that solicited their responses to the measurement item
questions for the constructs specified in Appendix A. They responded to
each individual survey item using a 7-point Likert Scale (1 = strongly
disagree to 7 = strongly agree). Next, each participant was provided a
second gift certificate in US dollars to purchase an item of clothing on
the Land's End e-commerce site. After purchasing their item(s) at Land's
End, they were again directed to the relevant survey regarding their
shopping perceptions. When they successfully completed the second
survey, they were given an additional gift certificate to spend at any
retailer as a reward for finishing the experiment. At the end of the re-
spondent's participation, each had completed two identical surveys
assessing their shopping perceptions: one reflecting their experience
with the virtual world’s (RFrye) store and the second reflecting their
experience with the e-commerce clothing (Land's End) site. Each par-
ticipant also responded to demographic questions regarding their
gender, age, and relative usage of virtual worlds and the Internet.
Participants were also asked, in free-form text boxes, to state their
reasons for shopping on the Internet. A summary of these responses is
given in Table 1.
5. Results
The nomological network hypothesized in Fig. 1 is analyzed using
partial least squares (PLS)-based structural equation modeling (SEM).
Specifically, SmartPLS [111] is employed as the SEM tool to analyze the
properties of structural and measurement models'. The choice of PLS
was driven by the exploratory nature of the research model. The aim is
to maximize the variance explained by the constructs in the overall, ad-

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E. White Baker, et al. Information & Management 56 (2019) 103153

Table 2 in their corresponding row and column, supporting the discriminant

Measurement Model Factor Loadings. validity of our scales. We do note, however, that the cross-construct
Web-Based Environment Virtual World’s Environment intercorrelation between enjoyment and attitude in the web-based en-
vironment is 0.78 and between trust and attitude in the virtual world’s
ATT1 0.93 0.95 model is 0.85.
ATT2 0.95 0.94
We tested convergent validity using SmartPLS by extracting the
ATT3 0.94 0.95
ENJ1 0.92 0.88
factor and cross loadings of all indicator items to their respective latent
ENJ2 0.85 0.86 constructs. These results, presented in Tables 5a and 5b, indicate that
ENJ3 0.94 0.95 all items loaded on their respective construct from a lower bound of
ENJ4 0.89 0.92 0.80 to an upper bound of 0.95, and more highly on their respective
EOU1 0.91 0.91
construct than on any other. The loadings and cross loadings of the
EOU2 0.92 0.92
EOU3 0.87 0.86 items in the constructs and the highly significant T-statistic for each
EOU4 0.89 0.91 individual item loading (at p < 0.001) both confirm the convergent
PSP1 0.93 0.90 validity of these indicators as representing distinct latent constructs.
PSP2 0.96 0.90
PSP3 0.96 0.93
PU1 0.85 0.85
PU2 0.91 0.89
6.1. The Structural Model
PU3 0.91 0.91
PU4 0.90 0.91 Figs. 2 and 3 depict the structural model results for the web-based
TEL1 0.80 0.81 environment model and the virtual world’s environment model,
TEL2 0.80 0.81
showing the beta values of the path coefficients, their significance le-
TEL3 0.89 0.89
TEL4 0.70 0.70 vels, and R2 values. Appendix B gives the descriptive statistics for both
TRST1 0.87 0.91 structural models. Viewing the results exclusively from the web-based
TRST2 0.87 0.90 environment data (Fig. 2), it can be noted that all path coefficients are
TRST3 0.82 0.90
positive and significant, except for the three paths emanating from
TRST4 0.89 0.90
telepresence to perceived usefulness, trust, and enjoyment. This is
evidence that telepresence has less of an impact (or rather, no impact)
hoc model [112]. In assessing the between-group differences with re- on the downstream latent constructs when purchasing on a website.
spect to the web-based and virtual world’s environments, we follow This is consistent with prior literature on antecedents to web-based e-
Qureshi and Compeau's [113] decision tree to use the parametric ap- commerce shopping attitudes.
proach [114]. This involves estimating model parameters for each In the structural model for the virtual world’s environment, per-
group separately using PLS, then performing a between-group test of ceived social presence did exhibit positive influences on perceived use-
significance across the groups e.g., [115]. fulness (beta = 0.12, p < 0.05, hypothesis H1), trust (beta = 0.30,
p < 0.001, hypothesis H5), and enjoyment (beta = 0.39, p < 0.001,
hypothesis H7). Interestingly, telepresence did not exhibit significant
6. The Measurement Model direct positive influences on perceived usefulness (beta = -0.05, hy-
pothesis H2). However, telepresence did have a positive direct influence
Table 2 presents the factor loadings for the measurement model on both trust (beta = 0.13, p < 0.05, hypothesis H9) and enjoyment
based on the web-based e-commerce environment and on the virtual (beta = 0.28, p < 0.001, hypothesis H10). Perceived social presence and
world's observations. All of the factor loadings were statistically sig- telepresence together accounted for 30.9% of the explained variance (R2)
nificant at p < 0.001. Each measurement item loaded on its respective in enjoyment and 13.9% of the explained variance (R2) in trust. Also, as
latent constructs from a lower bound of 0.80 to an upper bound of 0.96. expected, perceived ease of use had a strong positive impact on perceived
Reliability results for the two measurement models are presented in usefulness (beta = 0.70, p < 0.001, hypothesis H3). Finally, perceived
Table 3. The data indicate that the measures are robust in terms of their usefulness (beta = 0.16, p < 0.01, hypothesis H4), trust (beta = 0.65,
internal consistency reliability as indexed by the composite reliability. p < 0.001, hypothesis H6), and enjoyment (beta = 0.19, p < 0.001,
The composite reliabilities of the different measures range from 0.88 to hypothesis H8) each exhibited positive influences on attitude, as ex-
0.97, which exceed the recommended threshold value of 0.70 [116]. In pected. The direct influences of perceived usefulness, trust, and enjoyment,
addition, consistent with the guidelines of Fornell and Larcker [117], together with the indirect influences of perceived ease of use, perceived
the average variance extracted (AVE) for each measure well exceeds social presence, and telepresence, accounted for 77.9% of the explained
0.50. Specifically, the AVEs range from 0.64 to 0.90. Table 4 reports the variance (R2) in attitude.
results of testing the discriminant validity of the two measurement To further validate whether there is an interaction (e.g., a moder-
scales. The elements in the matrix diagonals, representing the square ating effect) of the e-commerce environment (virtual world versus web-
roots of the AVEs, are greater in all cases than the off-diagonal elements based) with respect to the impact of telepresence on perceived

Table 3
Reliability Assessment of the Measurement Models.
Web-Based Model Virtual World’s Model

Constructs Composite Reliability AVE R2 Alpha Composite Reliability AVE R2 Alpha

Perceived Ease of Use 0.94 0.81 0.92 0.94 0.81 0.92

Perceived Social Presence 0.97 0.90 0.95 0.94 0.83 0.90
Telepresence 0.88 0.64 0.81 0.88 0.65 0.82
Perceived Usefulness 0.94 0.80 0.543 0.92 0.94 0.79 0.596 0.91
Trust 0.92 0.75 0.130 0.89 0.95 0.81 0.139 0.92
Enjoyment 0.95 0.81 0.383 0.92 0.95 0.82 0.309 0.92
Attitude 0.96 0.89 0.729 0.94 0.96 0.90 0.779 0.94

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E. White Baker, et al. Information & Management 56 (2019) 103153

Table 4
Discriminant Validity (Intercorrelations) of Variable Constructs in Web-Based and Virtual World’s Environment.
Web-Based Model Virtual World’s Model

Latent Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1. Perceived Ease of Use .90 .90

2. Social Presence .24 .95 .43 .91
3. Telepresence .01 .47 .80 .25 .38 .80
4. Perceived Usefulness .73 .23 -.03 .89 .76 .43 .27 .89
5. Trust .45 .36 .18 .49 .86 .63 .35 .25 .65 .90
6. Enjoyment .54 .61 .38 .44 .63 .90 .65 .49 .43 .62 .52 .90
7. Attitude .58 .48 .29 .57 .74 .78 .94 .72 .38 .31 .70 .85 .63 .95

Table 5a Table 5b
Factor Loadings (Bolded) and Cross Loadings in Web-Based Model. Factor Loadings (Bolded) and Cross Loadings in Virtual World’s Model
ATT ENJ PEOU PSP PU TEL TRUST ATT ENJ PEOU PSP PU TEL TRUST

ATT1 0.93 0.75 0.63 0.44 0.57 0.23 0.75 ATT1 0.95 0.60 0.73 0.40 0.68 0.28 0.84
ATT2 0.95 0.74 0.47 0.47 0.46 0.31 0.65 ATT2 0.94 0.62 0.65 0.36 0.64 0.34 0.77
ATT3 0.94 0.71 0.54 0.44 0.56 0.29 0.67 ATT3 0.95 0.56 0.66 0.31 0.66 0.25 0.81
ENJ1 0.73 0.92 0.48 0.56 0.40 0.35 0.57 ENJ1 0.54 0.88 0.55 0.42 0.53 0.35 0.43
ENJ2 0.55 0.85 0.27 0.58 0.24 0.42 0.48 ENJ2 0.39 0.86 0.43 0.46 0.46 0.41 0.30
ENJ3 0.76 0.94 0.55 0.55 0.44 0.32 0.61 ENJ3 0.60 0.95 0.63 0.44 0.59 0.39 0.50
ENJ4 0.63 0.89 0.54 0.45 0.50 0.33 0.57 ENJ4 0.69 0.92 0.69 0.46 0.64 0.39 0.60
EOU1 0.56 0.48 0.91 0.26 0.67 0.01 0.37 EOU1 0.66 0.59 0.91 0.42 0.68 0.26 0.57
EOU2 0.52 0.48 0.92 0.18 0.67 −0.01 0.39 EOU2 0.65 0.52 0.92 0.33 0.69 0.21 0.56
EOU3 0.44 0.41 0.87 0.16 0.61 −0.04 0.36 EOU3 0.58 0.59 0.86 0.39 0.67 0.18 0.51
EOU4 0.58 0.56 0.89 0.24 0.67 0.06 0.49 EOU4 0.69 0.62 0.91 0.40 0.70 0.25 0.63
PSP1 0.40 0.52 0.17 0.93 0.18 0.41 0.31 PSP1 0.26 0.37 0.31 0.90 0.31 0.34 0.26
PSP2 0.48 0.63 0.22 0.96 0.22 0.46 0.37 PSP2 0.24 0.44 0.32 0.90 0.34 0.28 0.23
PSP3 0.48 0.58 0.28 0.96 0.26 0.45 0.35 PSP3 0.48 0.51 0.50 0.93 0.50 0.41 0.44
PU1 0.61 0.48 0.79 0.22 0.85 0.01 0.49 PU1 0.70 0.63 0.78 0.39 0.85 0.28 0.65
PU2 0.45 0.35 0.58 0.19 0.91 −0.04 0.39 PU2 0.56 0.51 0.60 0.35 0.89 0.19 0.51
PU3 0.43 0.31 0.57 0.19 0.91 −0.05 0.38 PU3 0.58 0.50 0.64 0.41 0.91 0.24 0.53
PU4 0.49 0.39 0.62 0.22 0.90 −0.03 0.47 PU4 0.63 0.55 0.67 0.38 0.91 0.24 0.61
TEL1 0.19 0.25 −0.04 0.36 −0.07 0.80 0.13 TEL1 0.21 0.31 0.16 0.31 0.18 0.81 0.18
TEL2 0.16 0.23 −0.02 0.29 −0.03 0.80 0.10 TEL2 0.08 0.29 0.08 0.25 0.11 0.81 0.06
TEL3 0.33 0.42 0.07 0.50 0.01 0.89 0.21 TEL3 0.38 0.45 0.32 0.38 0.32 0.89 0.32
TEL4 0.20 0.25 −0.03 0.27 −0.04 0.70 0.11 TEL4 0.20 0.25 0.16 0.23 0.17 0.70 0.12
TRST1 0.56 0.47 0.31 0.20 0.36 0.09 0.87 TRST1 0.75 0.48 0.53 0.26 0.54 0.22 0.91
TRST2 0.55 0.44 0.31 0.19 0.37 0.11 0.87 TRST2 0.75 0.42 0.52 0.25 0.54 0.20 0.90
TRST3 0.60 0.58 0.30 0.47 0.37 0.26 0.82 TRST3 0.73 0.44 0.54 0.37 0.61 0.20 0.90
TRST4 0.78 0.64 0.56 0.34 0.55 0.15 0.89 TRST4 0.82 0.53 0.67 0.39 0.65 0.25 0.90

usefulness, trust, or enjoyment, group comparisons of the differences in

the beta coefficients along these three corresponding paths (e.g., virtual
world’s beta coefficient minus web-based beta coefficient) were con-
ducted as described by Chin [112] and exemplified by Keil et al. [118].
Because of differences in the variances across samples, a Smith–Sat-
terthwait (S-S) test would be a more rigorous approach compared to a t-
test to examine the differences in the significance across the two sam-
ples. Of the 10 paths in the model, only two were found to be sig-
nificantly different across the two groups. The direction of the differ-
ences (< or >) that can be determined by comparing the estimated
coefficients from the two groups is presented in Table 6.
The impact of trust on attitudes toward e-commerce was impacted
positively by higher levels of telepresence if the e-commerce environ-
ment was a virtual world, than if it were the Internet. The impact of
enjoyment on attitudes toward e-commerce was also significant when
comparing the two environments; however, the impact was found to be Fig. 2. Structural Model Path Coefficients and R2 Values for Web-Based
in the opposite direction of that hypothesized. The virtual world’s data Environment.
(alone) was tested for moderating effects of telepresence on perceived
social presence with respect to perceived usefulness, trust, and enjoy-
on enjoyment. Table 7 presents a summary of the original hypotheses
ment (see Fig. 4). There was a negative moderating effect of tele-
and the respective findings.
presence with respect to the impact of perceived social presence on
We tested for our findings for common method bias. Because
enjoyment for individuals who purchased an item of clothing in the
Harman's one-factor test is increasingly contested for its ability to detect
virtual world. In other words, perceived social presence had a positive
common method bias [119], an additional test was performed sug-
impact (beta = 0.25, p < 0.001) on enjoyment, but increasing levels of
gested by Pavlou et al. [120]. In their test, the construct correlation
telepresence mitigated the positive impact of perceived social presence
matrix as calculated by PLS (reported in Table 4) is examined to

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attitudes toward e-commerce [121]. Additionally, this study is con-

Fig. 3. Structural Model Path Coefficients and R2 Values for Virtual World’s
Environment.
Table 6
Significant Comparison Paths between the Models.
Path Web-Based Direction Virtual World’s
Model Model
Enjoyment →Attitude .48 (.080) *** > .19 (.084) ***
Trust → Attitude .34 (.090) *** < .65 (.074) ***
Path coefficient is significant at: ***p < .001
One-tailed tests were performed as the direction of differences was hypothesized
Numbers in parenthesis are the standard errors
Fig. 4. Telepresence Moderating Perceived Social Presence with Respect to
Enjoyment in Virtual World’s Environment.
determine whether any constructs correlate extremely high (greater
than .90). In the present case, none of the constructs were so highly
correlated. This finding indicated that common method bias was not a
problem.
7. Discussion
The findings demonstrate that the nomological networks that apply
to web-based e-commerce and virtual world’s e-commerce are similar,
with the primary distinction between the two being the construct of
telepresence having an impact in the virtual world's environment and
not being experienced by the shopper in the web-based environment.
Greater levels of trust and enjoyment fostered improved attitudes to-
ward shopping in both the web-based and virtual world’s environments
(Figs. 2 and 3), consistent with other studies which showed that in-
teraction richness with the product and the ability to seek advice from
another entity on the product had a positive impact on consumers'
sistent with prior studies that have shown that e-commerce environ-
ments that mitigate perceived uncertainty (e.g., reduce perceived risk
and enhance trust) lead to greater adoption [36,120]. The impact of
trust on attitudes toward e-commerce shopping is greater in the virtual
world’s environment than in the web-based environment, reinforcing
the enhanced importance of instilling trust in the virtual world’s en-
vironment, as well as the actual storefront in which the consumer will
be shopping.
This study provides empirical evidence to validate Ingham et al's
[44] TAM with attitude model and supports the inclusion of factors
related to presence as having an effect on attitudes toward online
shopping. The findings were revealing with respect to the added effect
of telepresence on perceived usefulness, trust, and enjoyment in the
virtual world’s environment. While the structural model path loadings
in the virtual world’s shopping environment (Fig. 3) indicated that
telepresence did not have significant direct effects on perceived use-
fulness, there was clear evidence that the effects of telepresence on trust
and enjoyment were mediated by perceived social presence (Fig. 4). In
this sample of electronic shoppers, increased levels of perceived social
presence lead to increased levels of perceived usefulness, trust, and
enjoyment, but an increased sense of telepresence also indirectly af-
fected two of these constructs, as mediated by perceived social pre-
sence.
7.1. Implications for Research
The most significant theoretical contribution of this study is ex-
tending established models of attitudes toward virtual world’s e-com-
merce in contrast to web-based e-commerce shopping experiences, with
the base model of antecedents of attitudes toward e-commerce being
the meta-analysis of Ingham et al [44]. Animesh et al. [65] established
the impact of environmental stimuli on a consumer's virtual experience,
and this study shows that perceived usefulness, trust, and enjoyment
are mediators of virtual experience on attitudes, which are known to
have a direct influence on intention to purchase. Additionally, the
concept and impact of “flow” is confirmed to be composed of two in-
dependent and distinct constructs in virtual world’s e-commerce: tele-
presence and enjoyment, supporting the findings of Nah et al. [110].
Flow has been studied in web-based e-commerce settings and found to
be nonsignificant [122]; yet, when flow is studied in a virtual world’s e-
commerce setting, flow is found to have a significant impact on user
attitudes and intention to purchase [110]. Our study corroborates these
findings. Thus, the e-commerce experience in a web-based environment
versus a virtual world's environment varies only with the addition of
telepresence.
Applying Baron and Kenny's [123] rubric to the data from this study
indicates that perceived social presence completely mediates the effect
of telepresence on trust and enjoyment in a virtual world’s environ-
ment, but not on perceived usefulness. Specifically, telepresence has
direct and significant effects on both trust (beta = 0.13, p < 0.05) and
on enjoyment (beta = 0.28, p < 0.001) when the effects of perceived
social presence on these two variables are controlled. However, the
introduction of perceived social presence as a mediator renders the
direct effect of telepresence on trust as nonsignificant (H9 is not sup-
ported). Increased levels of telepresence (for example, in virtual worlds)
do positively impact the trust of buyers and the enjoyment they ex-
perience, which, in turn, can positively impact buyers' attitudes.
Schultze and Leahy [124] found evidence of the avatar-self relationship
being integrated in virtual worlds, where the avatar acts as a “virtual
me” and is invisible, an important aspect of engaging virtual world’s e-
commerce consumers in shopping for real products for themselves. In
terms of research, this (mediated) finding underscores the importance
of continuing to investigate the impact of telepresence on behaviors of
shoppers of virtual world, in spite of the lack of direct effects of tele-
presence on perceived usefulness reported in Fig. 3.

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Table 7
Summary of Findings.
HYPOTHESES Web-Based Model Comparison Virtual World’s Model

H1: Increasing levels of perceived social presence will have a positive impact Yes: (β = 0.11, n.s. Yes: (β = 0.12,
on the perceived usefulness of online shopping. p < 0.01) p < 0.05)
Supported Not supported Supported
H2: Increasing levels of telepresence will have a positive impact on the No: (β = -0.08, n.s.) n.s. No: (β = 0.05, n.s.)
perceived usefulness of online shopping. Supported Not Supported Not Supported
H3: Increasing levels of perceived ease of use will have a positive impact on the Yes: (β = 0.71, n.s. Yes: (β = 0.70,
perceived usefulness of online shopping. p < 0.001) p < 0.001)
Supported Supported Supported
H4: Increasing levels of perceived usefulness will have a positive impact on Yes: (β = 0.19, n.s. Yes: (β = 0.16,
attitudes toward online shopping. p < 0.01) p < 0.01)
Supported Supported Supported
H5: Increasing levels of perceived social presence will have a positive impact Yes: (β = 0.35, n.s. Yes: (β = 0.30,
on trust in online shopping. p < 0.001) p < 0.001)
Supported Supported Supported
H6: Increasing levels of trust will have a positive impact on attitudes toward Yes: (β = 0.34, < (Significant) Yes: (β = 0.65,
online shopping. p < 0.001) p < 0.001)
Supported Supported Supported
H7: Increasing levels of perceived social presence will have a positive impact Yes: (β = 0.56, n.s. Yes: (β = 0.39,
on the enjoyment in online shopping. p < 0.001) p < 0.001)
Supported Not Supported Supported
H8: Increasing levels of enjoyment will have a positive impact on attitudes Yes: (β = 0.48, > (Significant in opposite direction than Yes: (β = 0.19,
toward online shopping. p < 0.001) hypothesized) p < 0.001)
Supported Not Supported Supported
H9: Increasing levels of telepresence will have a positive impact on trust in No: (β = 0.02, n.s.) n.s. Yes: (β = 0.13,
online shopping. p < 0.05)
Supported Not Supported Supported
H10: Increasing levels of telepresence will have a positive impact on the No: (β = 0.12, n.s.) n.s. Yes: (β = 0.28,
enjoyment in online shopping. p < 0.001)
Supported Not Supported Supported

Notably, these findings do not indicate that this increased perceived
social presence alone accounts for the shoppers' attitude toward virtual
world’s e-commerce. Countering the positive effect of increased per-
ceived social presence is a negative impact on perceived usefulness
when using the virtual world’s e-commerce site. Although the negative
impact of the virtual world’s environment was not statistically sig-
nificant over the web-based environment, virtual world’s shoppers did
not find the environment to be easier to use than the web-based e-
commerce venue. In the open-ended questions asked at the end of our
survey, novice virtual world’s environment respondents expressed
frustration in using the interface, potentially indicating that shoppers
find this virtual world’s environment to be more difficult to use than a
web-based e-commerce site when shopping online. The impact of in-
creasing telepresence mitigating the positive impact of perceived social
presence on enjoyment is the result of the consumer experiencing dif-
ficulties using the virtual world's environment, an important finding for
researchers and practitioners alike.
7.2. Implications for Practice
The primary contribution of this research to practitioners is to
provide insight into consumer experiences in virtual world’s environ-
ments to IS strategists responsible for B2C e-commerce channels. Our
findings provide guidance to e-commerce shopping channel strategists
and designers with information on what is important to consider when
building a 3D shopping channel presence, whether that is in virtual
worlds, augmented reality, or virtual reality. We find that there are
additional, different factors that impact a user's e-commerce shopping
attitude in a virtual world’s' shopping channel when compared to that
in a 2D, web-based e-commerce shopping channel.
We find that enjoyment has a much more significant impact on web-
based e-commerce attitudes than in virtual world's e-commerce atti-
tudes, the result of telepresence having an impact on enjoyment in the
virtual world's model and not the web-based e-commerce model. Thus,
practitioners focusing on 3D shopping channel experiences do not
necessarily need to focus on enjoyment as specifically as they do in 2D
web-based e-commerce stores. The challenge for retailers in virtual
world’s environments is that while shoppers find the telepresence as-
pect of virtual worlds do not directly impact perceived usefulness, in-
creased telepresence mitigates the increase in perceived social presence
toward increased enjoyment of the experience. While a virtual world’s
environment can bring shoppers closer to the in-store experience
through increased perceived social presence and indirectly through
telepresence, the difficulties of using a virtual world's environment
impacted the shopping experience negatively.
Looking at the findings from the virtual model alone, greater tele-
presence leads to greater enjoyment and trust in the shopping experi-
ence, which is not so in the web-based environment. This is a signal to
practitioners that investments in 3D shopping channel experiences are
likely to pay off in terms of increased positive e-commerce shopper at-
titudes in those channels. Adding the feeling of “being there” increases
enjoyment and trust in the platform. In addition, when comparing the
two models of e-commerce shopper attitudes, we find that for virtual
world’s shopping channel, greater trust leads to a more positive attitude
toward e-shopping, more so than in a web-based shopping channel. This
indicates to practitioners that resources need to be focused on experi-
ences that will engender trust in shoppers. This has historically been a
problem for virtual worlds, such as Second Life, and it could persist in
virtual reality shopping environments if attention is not paid to the issue.
In addition to providing insights into virtual world's e-commerce,
the findings of this research could also be applied more generally to
virtual reality e-commerce environments, another e-commerce channel
where telepresence is a significant aspect of presence. North and North
[125] discuss how two types of virtual reality, traditional virtual reality
environments and immersive visualization environments, have dimen-
sions of telepresence. As virtual reality becomes more important as a
driver of commerce revenues for real products, these findings become
increasingly significant for practitioners, as the findings apply to any 3D
e-commerce shopping experience where telepresence is a significant
factor in the model.

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E. White Baker, et al. Information & Management 56 (2019) 103153

7.3. Limitations applying counterbalancing in future studies.

A sequencing effect could be a potential weakness in this design,

8. Conclusion
with all the respondents having completed the Rfrye survey, then the
Land's End survey. The need for this progression was to be able to
The continued investigation of virtual world’s e-commerce is critical
perform a tutorial with those who were less familiar with the virtual
to understand the factors that underlie consumer behavior in these
world’s environment and lacked the basic skills to maneuver in the site
emerging retail environments and to better understand consumer atti-
and subsequently make informed survey responses on their shopping
tudes toward shopping in virtual worlds. This study finds that the in-
experience. For sequence effects to have an impact on responses, there
creased sense of telepresence experienced by virtual world’s shoppers in
must be a primacy effect, a recency effect, or serial effects present
comparison to a web-based e-commerce environment has a positive
[126]. The primacy effect does not exist in this study, as each re-
effect on their perceived social presence. As virtual worlds gain more
spondent filled out the environment's survey, either Internet e-com-
popularity and present more retailing opportunities, the utilization of
merce site or virtual world’s site, after each shopping experience. There
this so-called “mixed reality,” where consumers shop in a virtual
was little potential for remembering the first environment better to
world’s environment to buy real-world products for their person, may
impact scores, as the respondents were asked about each environment
provide advantages afforded by the intersection of virtual world and
individually after the task set. This same logic holds for the recency
real-world characteristics. Specifically, the use of mixed reality may
effect, as there was no difference in remembering the most recent en-
serve to drive consumer behavior toward virtual world’s e-commerce
vironment better. Serial effects could have an impact, yet respondents
because of the levels of enhanced perceived social presence and sub-
were never asked about the other environment during the completion
sequently enjoyment and trust provided by increased levels of tele-
of the survey for the current environment, leaving no explicit scenario
presence.
in the survey where there could be comparison. Thus, in this study,
As consumers gain familiarity with mixed reality e-commerce
sequence effects are unlikely to be significant.
through virtual world’s shopping experiences, the sense of complexity
One limitation of the study is that we used only one virtual world’s
and lack of utility of virtual world’s shopping environments may di-
site and one e-commerce retailer in this research. Consequently, gen-
minish, and consumers may engage more frequently in this type of
eralizability is limited. Further research using several different web
shopping behavior. Companies that participate in the early adopter
sites and virtual world’s stores should be pursued to gain additional
stage of this technological advance will be best positioned to take ad-
insight into these phenomena. Another limitation involves the fact that
vantage of the presumed acceleration of virtual world’s e-commerce
task order was not randomized in the study. Respondents went to the
activity that is sure to follow when consumer acceptance and legal is-
web-based environment first, then the virtual world’s environment to
sues catch up with the technological opportunities inherent in this en-
answer the survey. While the user's tendency to feel more comfortable
hanced form of e-commerce.
on later tasks and less comfortable on earlier tasks might be an issue,
the potential for a lurking effect is lessened as the experience level in
the web-based environment (the first task set) for respondents was 9. Declarations of Interest
much higher than the experience level in the virtual world’s environ-
ment (the second task set). This order effect threat can be mitigated by None.

Appendix A

Latent Construct Items for Participant Survey

Construct Item Citation

Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU)

PEOU1 The [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] was easy to use for product assessment. [80,100]
PEOU2 I could quickly find the information I needed on the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site].
PEOU3 The [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] was a user-friendly site.
PEOU4 My interaction with the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] was clear and understandable.
Perceived Usefulness (PU)
PU1 The [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] provided good quality information. [128,129]
PU2 The [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] improved my performance in assessing product features.
PU3 The [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] increased my effectiveness in assessing product features.
PU4 The [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] was useful for assessing product features.
Enjoyment (ENJ)
ENJ1 I found my visit to the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] to be interesting. [127,122]
ENJ2 I found my visit to the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] to be entertaining.
ENJ3 I found my visit to the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] to be enjoyable.
ENJ4 I found my visit to the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] to be pleasant.
Trust (TRST)
TRST1 I felt that the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] was honest. [66]
TRST2 I felt that the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] was trustworthy.
TRST3 I felt that the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] cared for customers.
TRST4 I felt that the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] provided me with good service.
Perceived Social Presence (PSP)
PSP1 There was a sense of human contact on the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site]. [95]
PSP2 There was a sense of sociability on the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site].
PSP3 There was a sense of human warmth on the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site].
Telepresence (TEL)

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E. White Baker, et al. Information & Management 56 (2019) 103153

TEL1 I forget about my immediate surroundings when I am on the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site]. [34]
TEL2 Browsing the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] often makes me forget where I am.
TEL3 After browsing the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site], I feel like I come back to the “real world” after a journey.
TEL4 Using a [virtual world/web site] creates a new world for me, and this world suddenly disappears when I stop using it.
Attitude (ATT)
ATT1 I had positive feelings about buying a product from the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site]. [80,130]
ATT2 The thought of buying a product from the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site] was appealing to me.
ATT3 It was a good idea to buy a product from the [Second Life vendor site/Internet e-commerce site].

Appendix B

Descriptive Statistics for Structural Model

Web-Based Model Virtual World’s Model

Construct Mean Variance Mean Variance

Telepresence 3.353 3.394 3.860 3.373

PSP 3.403 3.497 4.024 3.061
PEOU 5.718 2.023 4.748 3.288
PU 5.270 1.839 4.399 2.448
Enjoyment 5.071 2.429 5.350 2.584
Trust 5.882 1.449 5.101 2.703
Attitude 5.716 1.997 4.812 3.855

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Elizabeth White Baker is currently Associate Professor in the Cameron School of
Business, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, USA. Her current
research interests include strategic decision systems, cybersecurity, and the technology
impact on mergers and acquisitions. She also studies examining the influence of in-
dividual beliefs and characteristics on the use of information technology. Her work ap-
pears in Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Information Systems Journal,
Communications of the AIS, Information Technology & People, and IEEE Transactions on
Engineering Management.
Geoffrey S Hubona is currently Associate Professor of MIS in the A.R. Sanchez, Jr. School
of Business, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, TX, USA. His current research
interests include research methodology issues and cross-cultural studies of MIS topics. He
has also published studies pertaining to technology acceptance issues. His work has ap-
peared in MIS Quarterly, Industrial Management & Data Systems, IEEE Transactions on
Systems, Man and Cybernetics – Part A, Information & Management, Information
Technology & People, ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, ACM SIGMIS
Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems, Journal of Global
Information Management, International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction,
and International Journal of Human-Computer Studies.
Mark Srite is currently an Associate Professor in the Lubar School of Business at the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Dr. Srite’s research is focused in the areas of tech-
nology acceptance across national cultures and strategic issues in enterprise systems
adoption. He has published in Management Information Systems Quarterly, the Journal of
Management Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, Information & Management,
IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, and elsewhere.