Virtual humans as co-workers: A novel methodology to study peer effects

• Published in: Journal of behavioral and experimental economics Vol. 78; pp. 17 - 29
• Main Authors: Gürerk, Özgür, Bönsch, Andrea, Kittsteiner, Thomas, Staffeldt, Andreas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01-02-2019
• Subjects: Immersive virtual environment; Peer effects; Real effort; Reflection problem; Virtual human; Virtual reality; Immersive virtual environment; Reflection problem; Peer effects; Virtual reality; Real effort; M50; C91; Virtual human; J24
• ISSN: 2214-8043; 2214-8051
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2018.11.003

•In an immersive virtual environment, we embed a virtual human (VH) as co-worker.•Human subjects perform a sorting task observing a low or highly productive VH.•Competitive subjects perform better when working with a highly productive peer.•Using hand and head-tracking data, we define a measure of careful work.•We investigate the extent to which careful work affects performance.
We introduce a novel methodology to study peer effects. Using virtual reality technology, we create a naturalistic work setting in an immersive virtual environment where we embed a computer-generated virtual human as the co-worker of a human subject, both performing a sorting task at a conveyor belt. In our setup, subjects observe the virtual peer, while the virtual human is not observing them. In two treatments, human subjects observe either a low productive or a highly productive virtual peer. We find that human subjects rate their presence feeling of “being there” in the immersive virtual environment as natural. Subjects also recognize that virtual peers in our two treatments showed different productivities. We do not find a general treatment effect on productivity. However, we find that competitive subjects display higher performance when they are in the presence of a highly productive peer - compared to when they observe a low productive peer. We use tracking data to learn about the subjects’ body movements. Analyzing hand and head data, we show that competitive subjects are more careful in the sorting task than non-competitive subjects. We also discuss some VR related methodological issues.