Despite the increasing adoption of augmented reality (AR) in journalism, there is limited scholarly attention devoted to understanding its effects compared to traditional modalities. This study investigates user engagement with AR-enabled disaster news through a between-subjects experiment (N = 89), comparing AR, image, or text-only modalities. The results demonstrate that psychological responses to the technological affordances of AR (perceived vividness, interactivity, and novelty) did not mediate the effect of AR on physical presence. In addition, the positive indirect effect of AR on empathy was shown via physical presence. Furthermore, AR positively influenced intentions for news sharing through an increase in physical presence and empathy sequentially. These findings contribute to the growing body of research on immersive media in the journalism context, shedding light on the often-overlooked impact of AR compared to other leaner modalities, such as image or text.
AitamurtoTAymerich-FranchLSaldivarJ, et al. (2022) Examining augmented reality in journalism: presence, knowledge gain, and perceived visual authenticity. New Media & Society24(6): 1281–1302.
2.
AzumaRT (1997) A survey of augmented reality. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments6(4): 355–385.
3.
BalzarottiSCiceriMR (2014) News reports of catastrophes and viewers’ fear: Threat appraisal of positively versus negatively framed events. Media Psychology17(4): 357–377. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2013.826588
4.
Barreda-ÁngelesMAleix-GuillaumeSPereda-BañosA (2020) An “empathy machine” or a “just-for-the-fun-of-it” machine? Effects of immersion in nonfiction 360-video stories on empathy and enjoyment. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking23(10): 683–688.
5.
BertrandPGueganJRobieuxL, et al. (2018) Learning empathy through virtual reality: multiple strategies for training empathy-related abilities using body ownership illusions in embodied virtual reality. Frontiers in Robotics and AI5: 26.
6.
BrevesP (2020) Bringing people closer: the prosocial effects of immersive media on users’ attitudes and behavior. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly49(5): 1015–1034.
7.
ChenJVRuangsriSHaQ-A, et al. (2022) An experimental study of consumers’ impulse buying behaviour in augmented reality mobile shopping apps. Behaviour & Information Technology41(15): 3360–3381.
8.
CummingsJJTsay-VogelMCahillTJZhangL (2022) Effects of immersive storytelling on affective, cognitive, and associative empathy: The mediating role of presence. New Media & Society24(9): 2003–2026. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820986816
9.
DaftRLLengelRH (1986) Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design. Management Science32(5): 554–571.
10.
DaftRLLengelRHTrevinoLK (1987) Message equivocality, media selection, and manager performance: implications for information systems. MIS Quarterly11(3): 355–366.
11.
de la PeñaNWeilPLloberaJ, et al. (2010) Immersive journalism: immersive virtual reality for the first-person experience of news. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments19(4): 291–301.
12.
DraperJVKaberDBUsherJM (1998) Telepresence. Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society40(3): 354–375.
13.
EaglyAH (2009) The his and hers of prosocial behavior: an examination of the social psychology of gender. American Psychologist64(8): 644–658.
14.
FanXChaiZDengN, et al. (2020) Adoption of augmented reality in online retailing and consumers’ product attitude: a cognitive perspective. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services53: 101986.
15.
FeltonWMJacksonRE (2022) Presence: a review. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction38(1): 1–18.
16.
ForsterPPKarimpurHFiehlerK (2022) Why we should rethink our approach to embodiment and presence. Frontiers in Virtual Reality3: 838369.
17.
FoxmanMMarkowitzDMDavisDZ (2021) Defining empathy: interconnected discourses of virtual reality’s prosocial impact. New Media & Society23(8): 2167–2188.
18.
GoutierNde HaanYde BruinK, et al. (2021) From “cool observer” to ‘emotional participant’: the practice of immersive journalism. Journalism Studies22(12): 1648–1664.
19.
GreberHLechelerSAalderingL, et al. (2023) Feeling the news? The differential effects of immersive journalism on emotional response. Digital Journalism11(1): 39–60.
20.
GynnildAUskaliTJonesS, et al. (2020) What is immersive journalism. In: UskalTGynnildAJonesS, et al. (eds) Immersive Journalism as Storytelling. New York: Routledge, pp. 1–10.
21.
HayesAF (2017) Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: A Regression-Based Approach. New York: Guilford Publications.
22.
HerreraFBailensonJWeiszE, et al. (2018) Building long-term empathy: a large-scale comparison of traditional and virtual reality perspective-taking. PLoS ONE13(10): e0204494.
23.
HoustonJBSchraedleyMKWorleyME, et al. (2019) Disaster journalism: fostering citizen and community disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery, and resilience across the disaster cycle. Disasters43(3): 591–611.
JungSLeeJBioccaF, et al. (2019) Augmented reality in the health domain: projecting spatial augmented reality visualizations on a perceiver’s body for health communication effects. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking22(2): 142–150.
26.
KimDKoYJ (2019) The impact of virtual reality (VR) technology on sport spectators’ flow experience and satisfaction. Computers in Human Behavior93: 346–356.
27.
KimJHKimMParkM, et al. (2021) How interactivity and vividness influence consumer virtual reality shopping experience: the mediating role of telepresence. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing15(3): 502–525.
28.
KimJHKimMParkM, et al. (2023a) Immersive interactive technologies and virtual shopping experiences: differences in consumer perceptions between augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Telematics and Informatics77: 101936.
29.
KimSParkHKaderMS (2023b) How augmented reality can improve e-commerce website quality through interactivity and vividness: the moderating role of need for touch. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal27: 760–783.
30.
LavieNHirstAde FockertJW, et al. (2004) Load theory of selective attention and cognitive control. Journal of Experimental Psychology133(3): 339–354.
31.
LeeHMLiBJ (2023) So far yet so near: exploring the effects of immersion, presence, and psychological distance on empathy and prosocial behavior. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies176: 103042.
32.
LeeJJungSKimJW, et al. (2019) Applying spatial augmented reality to anti-smoking message: focusing on spatial presence, negative emotions, and threat appraisal. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction35(9): 751–760.
33.
LeeKM (2004) Presence, explicated. Communication Theory14(1): 27–50.
34.
LeeSLangA (2015) Redefining media content and structure in terms of available resources: toward a dynamic human-centric theory of communication. Communication Research42(5): 599–625.
35.
LiuBFFraustinoJDJinY (2015) How disaster information form, source, type, and prior disaster exposure affect public outcomes: jumping on the social media bandwagon?Journal of Applied Communication Research43(1): 44–65.
36.
LombardMDittonT (1997) At the heart of it all: the concept of presence. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication3(2): JCMC321.
37.
López-FaicanLJaenJ (2023) Design and evaluation of an augmented reality cyberphysical game for the development of empathic abilities. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies176: 103041.
38.
MilgramPTakemuraHUtsumiA, et al. (1995) Augmented reality: a class of displays on the reality-virtuality continuum. Telemanipulator and Telepresence Technologies2351: 197321.
39.
MorozovE (2013) To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly of Technological Solutionism. New York: Publicaffairs.
40.
OhSYBailensonJWeiszE, et al. (2016) Virtually old: embodied perspective taking and the reduction of ageism under threat. Computers in Human Behavior60: 398–410.
41.
PavlikJVBridgesF (2013) The emergence of augmented reality (AR) as a storytelling medium in journalism. Journalism & Communication Monographs15(1): 4–59.
Sánchez LawsAL (2020) Conceptualising Immersive Journalism. New York: Routledge.
44.
SchutteNSStilinovićEJ (2017) Facilitating empathy through virtual reality. Motivation and Emotion41(6): 708–712.
45.
ShihC (1998) Conceptualizing consumer experiences in cyberspace. European Journal of Marketing32(7/8): 655–663.
46.
SteffenJ HGaskinJEMeservyTOJenkinsJLWolmanI (2019) Framework of affordances for virtual reality and augmented reality. Journal of Management Information Systems36(3): 683–729. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2019.1628877
47.
SteffensM (2012) Covering disasters without becoming one. In: WilkinsLSteffensMThorsonE (eds) Reporting Disaster on Deadline. New York: Routledge, pp. 1–9.
StevensFTaberK (2021) The neuroscience of empathy and compassion in pro-social behavior. Neuropsychologia159: 107925.
50.
SunP-CChengHK (2007) The design of instructional multimedia in e-Learning: a media richness theory-based approach. Computers & Education49(3): 662–676.
51.
SundarSSKangJOpreanD (2017) Being there in the midst of the story: how immersive journalism affects our perceptions and cognitions. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking20(11): 672–682.
52.
ThorsonELangA (1992) The effects of television videographics and lecture familiarity on adult cardiac orienting responses and memory. Communication Research19(3): 346–369.
53.
TokunagaRS (2013) Engagement with novel virtual environments: the role of perceived novelty and flow in the development of the deficient self-regulation of internet use and media habits: novel virtual environments. Human Communication Research39(3): 365–393.
54.
Van DammeKAllADe MarezL, et al. (2019) 360° video journalism: experimental study on the effect of immersion on news experience and distant suffering. Journalism Studies20(14): 2053–2076.
55.
VerhulstIWoodsAWhittakerL, et al. (2021) Do VR and AR versions of an immersive cultural experience engender different user experiences?Computers in Human Behavior125: 106951.
56.
WangYKoEWangH (2022) Augmented reality (AR) app use in the beauty product industry and consumer purchase intention. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics34(1): 110–131.
57.
WuG (2005) The mediating role of perceived interactivity in the effect of actual interactivity on attitude toward the website. Journal of Interactive Advertising5(2): 29–39.
58.
WuS (2022) Journalism’s immersive shift: uncovering immersive journalism’s adherence to traditional news values, norms, routines and roles. Journalism Practice. Epub ahead of print 31 October. DOI: 10.1080/17512786.2022.2133779.
59.
WuXLaiIKW (2022) The use of 360-degree virtual tours to promote mountain walking tourism: stimulus–organism–response model. Information Technology & Tourism24(1): 85–107.
60.
XuDZhuangLDengX, et al. (2020) Media exposure, disaster experience, and risk perception of rural households in earthquake-stricken areas: evidence from rural China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health17(9): 3246.
61.
YaoyuneyongGFosterJJohnsonE, et al. (2016) Augmented reality marketing: consumer preferences and attitudes toward hypermedia print ads. Journal of Interactive Advertising16(1): 16–30.
62.
YimMY-CChuS-CSauerPL (2017) Is augmented reality technology an effective tool for e-commerce? An interactivity and vividness perspective. Journal of Interactive Marketing39: 89–103.
63.
YimMY-CCicchirilloVJDrumwrightME (2012) The impact of stereoscopic three-dimensional (3-D) advertising. Journal of Advertising41(2): 113–128.
64.
YooSDrumwrightMEPiscaracD (2023) Augmented reality and nonprofit marketing during the COVID-19 pandemic: AR factors that influence community participation and willingness to contribute to causes. Nonprofit Management and Leadership34(1): 81–106.
65.
YooS-CDrumwrightM (2018) Nonprofit fundraising with virtual reality. Nonprofit Management and Leadership29(1): 11–27.
