Purpose

The usage of augmented reality (AR) in online shopping websites provides a “try-on” experience for consumers. AR technology combines the virtual and real world. Previous studies have addressed AR usage’s benefits to consumers’ online shopping experience. However, this study aims to explore the dark side of AR usage in consumers’ online purchasing process.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conduct six experiments to examine whether AR usage leads to adverse effects on consumers’ purchase intention and explain the mechanism of its dark side.

Findings

The result shows that AR usage in online shopping websites reduces consumers’ purchase intention. The authors further reveal that the usage of AR leads to more vital psychological ownership of the product, and psychological ownership positively relates to cognitive conflict. Cognitive conflict explains the negative influence of AR usage on purchase intention.

Originality/value

First, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the impact of embedded AR function of websites on consumers’ decision-making process. Also, it is the first study on the application of AR in a real shopping scene, which makes the study of AR close to reality. Second, psychological ownership is introduced in this study. Although there are many types of research on psychological ownership, few scholars have explored it in AR research. Third, most studies stress the advantages of using AR during purchase; this research demonstrates that embedding AR function in a shopping website may negatively affect purchase intention.

中文翻译：

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客户在线购买中使用 AR 的阴暗面

目的

增强现实 (AR) 在在线购物网站中的使用为消费者提供了“试穿”体验。AR技术结合了虚拟世界和现实世界。之前的研究已经解决了 AR 使用对消费者在线购物体验的好处。然而，本研究旨在探索消费者在线购买过程中 AR 使用的阴暗面。

设计/方法/途径

作者进行了六个实验来检查 AR 的使用是否会对消费者的购买意愿产生不利影响，并解释其阴暗面的机制。

发现

结果表明，AR 在在线购物网站中的使用降低了消费者的购买意愿。作者进一步揭示了 AR 的使用导致了对产品更重要的心理所有权，而心理所有权与认知冲突正相关。认知冲突解释了 AR 使用对购买意愿的负面影响。

原创性/价值

首先，据作者所知，这是第一项探讨网站嵌入式 AR 功能对消费者决策过程影响的研究。同时，也是首次将AR应用于真实购物场景的研究，使得AR的研究更加贴近现实。其次，本研究引入了心理所有权。尽管关于心理所有权的研究种类繁多，但很少有学者在AR研究中对其进行探索。第三，大多数研究都强调在购买过程中使用 AR 的优势；这项研究表明，在购物网站中嵌入 AR 功能可能会对购买意愿产生负面影响。