Virtual reality as a tool for environmental conservation and fundraising

Abstract

Anecdotal evidence from philanthropic fundraisers shows that virtual reality (VR) technology increases empathy and can influence people toward pro-environmental behavior. Non-profit organizations are increasingly marketing their causes using virtual reality and they report increased donations when VR technology is employed. In VR, users are immersed in situations intended to feel more like the real world through technology, such as 360˚video viewed through 3D headsets that block out visual and auditory distractions. The framing of the message as either positive or negative has long shown to have an effect on behavior, although consensus on the impact of framing has not been reached in relation to encouraging contributions to public goods. This paper focuses on field experiments used to investigate the effects of varying degrees of visual immersion and positive versus negative message framing on respondents' contributions to a conservation charity. Participants were exposed to a five-minute underwater film about coral reefs and the importance of protecting them. We employed a 2x2 experimental design using 3D head-mounted displays comparing 360˚film footage vs. unidirectional film and a positive message vs. a negative message. After watching the film, each participant completed a short questionnaire and had the opportunity to donate to a marine conservation charity.

Tourist willingness to pay for local green hotel certification

“…In order to design the bid structure for nightly price premiums for the survey, we drew on previous revealed preference donation studies conducted by the authors in Gili Trawangan [ 23 , 62 ] and knowledge of other voluntary donations for environmental conservation solicited on the island. In addition, following the procedure described by Champ et al, [ 55 ], we conducted a pilot test with 50 randomly sampled tourists employing an open-ended question wherein participants were provided with the following scenario and question:…”

Informational Nudges to Encourage Pro-environmental Behavior: Examining Differences in Message Framing and Human Interaction

“…For example, in a virtual reality-based intervention, it was tested whether gain or loss framing was more influential in provoking respondents to be willing to donate money and time for biodiversity conservation organizations (Nelson et al, 2020). The authors found that the negatively framed audio together with 360°virtual reality video resulted in more money donated, but only in the context of tourists that were immediately impacted by the health of the natural resource-which in this case happened to be coral reefs.…”

“…The authors found that the negatively framed audio together with 360°virtual reality video resulted in more money donated, but only in the context of tourists that were immediately impacted by the health of the natural resource-which in this case happened to be coral reefs. Respondents' behavioral attitudes were not a significant indicator for their behavior (Nelson et al, 2020). Ahn et al (2015) conducted a virtual experiment with a visual framing (instead of semantic framing) in which subjects were exposed to either cutting (negative) or planting (positive) a tree in an animation.…”

“…Environmental attitudes are an often-studied component of behavioral intentions, and, less so, of actual observed behavior (Heimlich and Ardoin, 2008). Correlations between attitudes and actual behavior have been proven to be weak (Kollmuss and Agyeman, 2002;Masud et al, 2015;Nelson et al, 2020). Additionally, the type of informational framing is thought to influence decisions but the success of the frame is dependent not only on what is said, but how it's said at specific points of a person's decision stage (i.e., early stage of determining whether an issue is problematic based on its personal risk/costs or the later stage of establishing intention to act) (Entman, 1993;Cheng et al, 2011).…”

“…Consequently, while the type and availability of information should continue to be studied, how this information is being communicated also needs to be further examined (Kennedy et al, 2009;Cheng et al, 2011). This includes the framing of how information is communicated both verbally and visually (Nelson et al, 2019;Nelson et al, 2020).…”