REDUCING FOOD WASTE WITH VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) TRAINING - A PROTOTYPE AND A/B-TEST IN AN ONLINE EXPERIMENT

Abstract

Food waste is an important issue in the global warming debate. In this study, a virtual reality (VR) application was built from the insights and requirements of a focus group. The VR prototype was then validated using A/B-testing in an online experiment due to COVID-19 restrictions. VR is considered suitable for transferring information and building awareness regarding the topic of food waste. However, it is necessary to maintain the right balance between an informative and a serious gaming application. VR scenarios that people enjoy using have positive learning effects. Furthermore, scenarios that feature gamification elements are rated more highly regarding intention to use, which, in turn, benefits learning.