Investigating the Roles of Virtual Experience in Consumers' Online Purchasing Decisions

Prior research in the field of electronic commerce argued that virtual experience (VE) could facilitate consumer’s product learning by mitigating the constraints that resulted from the lack of direct experience in an online environment. However, little is known with respect to the effect of VE on consumer’s purchasing behaviour. This paper investigates two roles that VE plays in consumer’s purchasing decision. First, VE elicits consumer’s positive attitude toward a product. Second, VE boosts consumer’s purchasing intention only when consumers’ attitude toward the product is favourable. An empirical study was conducted and the data demonstrated support to the proposed model. This study contributes to academia by providing a parsimonious model explaining consumers’ irrational purchasing behaviours in the online context. Also this study contributes to practice by emphasizing that VE is a double sided sword that must be utilized appropriately in product demonstrations.