TY - JOUR

T1 - Investigating the value of immersive virtual reality tools for organizational training: An applied international study in the biotech industry

AU - Baceviciute, Sarune

AU - Cordoba, Ainara Lopez

AU - Wismer, Philip

AU - Jensen, Tine Vitved

AU - Klausen, Mikkel

AU - Makransky, Guido

PY - 2022/4

Y1 - 2022/4

N2 - BackgroundImmersive virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used in organizational training interventions. However, few studies have systematically investigated VR compared to standard training methods in actual organizational contexts.ObjectivesThe focus of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a VR simulation for training professionals in the biotech industry. Aligning training needs to unique media affordances, the study designed an immersive story-based VR simulation for training customer-facing employees on a new product and tested it in an international biotech company.MethodsThe system was evaluated by comparing its effectiveness to a traditional video presentation with the same content in a randomized between subjects experiment. The sample consisted of 95 employees across three locations: Brazil, Denmark, and USA.ResultsThe VR simulation group performed better than the video presentation group on the outcomes of conceptual knowledge (d = 0.41) spatial knowledge (d = 0.61), transfer intentions (d = 0.57), enjoyment (d = 1.74), self-efficacy (d = 0.68), perceived learning (d = 0.89), personal value (d = 0.83), and organizational value (d = 0.82), but no significant difference was found for factual knowledge (d = −0.10).ImplicationsResults suggest that VR simulations can be effective across cultures in organizational training interventions. VR is specifically effective when the goals of the training are to increase conceptual and spatial understanding as well as enjoyment, and self-efficacy, but not factual knowledge. Furthermore, employees report higher levels of perceived learning, personal and organizational value and transfer intentions after VR training compared to standard video-based training.

AB - BackgroundImmersive virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used in organizational training interventions. However, few studies have systematically investigated VR compared to standard training methods in actual organizational contexts.ObjectivesThe focus of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a VR simulation for training professionals in the biotech industry. Aligning training needs to unique media affordances, the study designed an immersive story-based VR simulation for training customer-facing employees on a new product and tested it in an international biotech company.MethodsThe system was evaluated by comparing its effectiveness to a traditional video presentation with the same content in a randomized between subjects experiment. The sample consisted of 95 employees across three locations: Brazil, Denmark, and USA.ResultsThe VR simulation group performed better than the video presentation group on the outcomes of conceptual knowledge (d = 0.41) spatial knowledge (d = 0.61), transfer intentions (d = 0.57), enjoyment (d = 1.74), self-efficacy (d = 0.68), perceived learning (d = 0.89), personal value (d = 0.83), and organizational value (d = 0.82), but no significant difference was found for factual knowledge (d = −0.10).ImplicationsResults suggest that VR simulations can be effective across cultures in organizational training interventions. VR is specifically effective when the goals of the training are to increase conceptual and spatial understanding as well as enjoyment, and self-efficacy, but not factual knowledge. Furthermore, employees report higher levels of perceived learning, personal and organizational value and transfer intentions after VR training compared to standard video-based training.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - conceptual knowledge

KW - organizational psychology

KW - spatial knowledge

KW - training

KW - virtual reality

U2 - 10.1111/jcal.12630

DO - 10.1111/jcal.12630

M3 - Journal article

VL - 38

SP - 470

EP - 487

JO - Journal of Computer Assisted Learning

JF - Journal of Computer Assisted Learning

SN - 0266-4909

IS - 2

ER -