가상현실(VR) 운동의 햅틱 피드백이 신체 소유감과 정서적 몰입에 미치는 영향

The Effects of Haptic Feedback on Body Ownership and Emotional Involvement in Virtual Reality(VR) Exercise

Background/Objectives: Virtual reality(VR) exercise enhances immersion and motivation, with haptic feedback providing critical sensory cues. Yet, its effects on body ownership and emotional involvement, as well as the moderating role of user characteristics, are not fully understood. This study investigates how haptic feedback shapes emotional involvement through body ownership and how self-efficacy moderates these relationships. Methods: A conceptual model was tested with survey data from 459 consumers who recently played VR sports games with haptic devices. Haptic feedback was modeled as the predictor, emotional involvement as the outcome, body ownership as mediator, and self-efficacy as moderator. Data were analyzed using SPSS, AMOS, and PROCESS macro. Results: Findings indicate that haptic feedback positively affects both body ownership and emotional involvement. Body ownership partially mediated the the relationship between haptic feedback and emotional involvement, while self-efficacy strengthened both the relationship between haptic feedback and body ownership and between haptic feedback and emotional involvement. The results also showed that users with higher self-efficacy experienced enhanced immersive effects as well as body ownership. Conclusion/Implications: This study extends embodiment theory by confirming the mediating role of body ownership, highlighting self-efficacy as a boundary condition. The results refine the sensory cue–embodiment–emotional response mechanism and suggest that VR designers can enhance user engagement by optimizing haptic cues and tailoring feedback intensity to users’ self-efficacy levels.