A Mechanism of Building Value Co-creation Intention in the Augmented Reality Shopping Environment

Purpose – Helping consumers actively participate and act as co-creators of value is critical to the success of technology-based services. This study focuses on an augmented reality (AR) technology e-commerce scenario to explore the influencing factors and mechanisms related to consumer value co-creation intention. Design/Methodology/Approach – Based on the S-O-R framework and flow theory, we integrated factors to suggest and examine a research model with technical characteristics of augmented reality (interactivity and vividness) as external variables (stimuli), shopper psychological factors (organism) including flow experience, and value co-creation intention (response). A questionnaire survey was conducted on 318 Chinese consumers that had experienced AR shopping, and survey data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS. Findings – Results show that both interactivity and vividness positively affected telepresence, flow, and mental imagery, which directly and indirectly enhanced consumer value co-creation intention. Research Implications – The results confirm the relationships among technical characteristics, consumer experience factors, and value co-creation intentions in the AR shopping environment. In addition to expanding existing theoretical achievements, this paper also provides practical implications for AR-related industries and shopping platform managers. This study will provide a foundation for future research by increasing the understanding of value co-creation in the augmented reality shopping environment, and provide implications for promoting consumer participation.