Cognitive Absorption: An Empirical Examination of 3-D Immersive Virtual World Users

The purpose of this conceptual replication study is to validate the cognitive absorption construct and the model proposed by Agarwal and Karahanna (2000) in the context of 3-D immersive virtual worlds. For this the original scale items were adapted to the new context, and the model was tested with the data collected from 307 customers of a large technology firm who voluntarily participated in a knowledge sharing activity in Second Life, a 3D virtual world platform. Overall, the replication results support the original model in the new setting – customers of a service firm involved in real life knowledge sharing activity in Second Life. Similar to the original study, this study finds that cognitive absorption positively influences perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. In addition, unlike the original study, this replication study also finds support for positive relationship between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness.