User acceptance on conducting virtual communication in virtual world: case study in Iris Corporation Berhad / Norfadzilah Mohamad

A virtual world is a computer based virtual environment where users interact with it via avatars, which is a 2-dimentional (2D) or 3-dimentional (3D) graphical representative of themselves. Virtual worlds enable those who are not in geographic proximity to more easily connect, cooperate, and collaborate on projects in ways that imitate how we interact when physically proximate to each other. The aim of this study is to identify the factors that can affect employees' intention to use virtual world technology in conducting business operations and analyse the relationship of employees' intention to use virtual world technology with the identified factors. This research also was designed to test the theoretical relationship among perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, their attitude towards technology, performance expectancy and social norms with behavioral intention to use virtual technology for virtual communication in business operations. TAM model was used to achieve the objective. This research used quantitative approach where questionnaires were distributed to the respondents. A voluntary sample consisted of 69 respondents involved from three departments of IRIS Corporation Berhad. The finding proved the positive relationship between all constructs (perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, their attitude towards technology, performance expectancy and social norms) with intention to use the technology. It also revealed IRIS' employee willing to use virtual world to conduct virtual communication for business operation if the technology were to be introduce to the organization. The outcome from this study help the organization to identify employee's acceptance on the technology and avoid losses in resources.