“This Is So Cool”: A Phenomenological Study on Virtual Reality Novelty

Virtual reality (VR) technology often provides immersive experiences through which consumers can better understand how a product works or why they should invest in a product (Dennis, 2010). Consumers who use VR are often able to simulate authentic experiences that feel “real-life” (Diemer et al., 2015). VR experience has also been associated with the characteristics of immersion, presence, interactivity (Mutterlein, 2018), and vividness (Van Kerrebroeck et al., 2017). Novelty and first-time VR use have been investigated to some extent in research on education (Adams et al., 2009; Merchant et al., 2014), but VR novelty has not been studied in-depth in other disciplines. This study takes a phenomenological approach, which uses in-depth descriptions of participants’ experiences of a real-life phenomenon to understand those experiences better and lay the foundation for future studies (Cresswell & Poth, 2018). The research uses a sample of 27 participants who experienced VR for the first time and answered open-ended questions concerning that experience, in addition to demographic questions. Participants were given 30 minutes each to select from various VR games and YouTube 360 videos in their first-ever encounter with using a VR headset. In-depth field notes were taken during the experience by the researchers, and post-experience interview prompts for participants were based on previous studies on VR immersion and flow theory. This exploratory, phenomenological study provides three themes that emerged from the data: disorientation and immersion, surprise, and a gradual release on reality. Possibilities for future research and the addition of novelty to the technology acceptance model are discussed.