Virtual Reality’s impact on Virtual World Brand Experience, Virtual World Brand Authenticity, and Purchase Intention: The Moderating Role of Technology Anxiety

This study investigates the psychological and experiential mechanisms through which virtual reality (VR) features influence consumer purchase intention in an emerging market. Grounded in the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework and flow theory, the research proposes an integrated model linking technical affordances (diagnosticity, telepresence) to brand outcomes via playfulness and virtual brand experience. Data collected from 553 Vietnamese consumers were analyzed using PLS-SEM. The results indicate that telepresence, perceived diagnosticity, and playfulness explain 50.5% of the variance in virtual world brand experience. While virtual brand experience and authenticity significantly predict purchase intention, the effect sizes are moderate (R2 = 20.8%), suggesting the influence of unmeasured external factors. Notably, technology anxiety acts as a moderator but yields counterintuitive findings: it strengthens the relationship between virtual brand authenticity and purchase intention, suggesting that anxious consumers rely more heavily on authenticity cues to mitigate uncertainty. The study contributes to the immersive marketing literature by clarifying the role of diagnostic utility and authenticity. However, limitations regarding the cross-sectional design and the specific market context (Vietnam) are acknowledged.