In recent years, with the advancement of virtual reality (VR) technology, research in related fields has gradually increased. As personal head-mounted display devices become more prevalent in the market, this study explores the phenomenon of integrating VR technology with online shopping from the consumer's perspective. The study focuses on consumers' acceptance of VR technology in online shopping and analyzes the types of virtual environments most likely to stimulate consumer purchase intention. Based on the SOR (Stimulus-Organism-Response) and TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) theories, a TAM-SOR integrated model was constructed. Taking into account influencing factors in the current online shopping environment, the model was built and tested using SPSS and AMOS to validate the hypotheses. Structural equation modeling and mediation effect analyses on the collected samples indicate that external stimulus variables in a VR shopping environment—such as flow experience, spatial presence, and entertainment—have a significant positive impact on purchase intention. Additionally, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness serve as chain mediators, enabling external stimulus variables to further influence consumer purchase intention through these mediating variables.

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented crises to societies and economies around the world and has brought drastic changes in the way consumers behave. Fashion business is one of the industries that has been significantly affected by Covid-19 as many consumers reduced their discretionary spending during the pandemic. While the world is entering the post-pandemic era and recovering from the pandemic, it is important to uncover and reflect on the reasons behind varying patterns of consumers’ coping behaviors associated with fashion shopping. However, current research on consumer fashion behavior during the pandemic primarily focuses on a particular type of shopping behavior, without addressing varying patterns of fashion consumption behaviors. In addition, most of these studies attributed such changes in behaviors to motivations toward protection against health-adverse threats based on the Protection Motivation Theory, which mostly focuses on protective behaviors and has limited power in understanding varying internal reasons toward various coping behaviors. Considering the varying adaptive and maladaptive patterns of fashion consumption behaviors observed in the market, it is important to address the psychological mechanism behind varying adaptive and maladaptive patterns of fashion consumption behaviors. Thus, drawing from the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework, this study aims to investigate how cognitive appraisal of threats affects the affective/emotional state of consumers and consequently their intention to engage in various coping behaviors in the context of fashion shopping. Specifically, this study aims to investigate how individuals’ cognitive appraisals on risks and uncertainty induce varying emotional feelings (i.e., fear, anxiety, and hope), which further leads to their decisions to engage in problem vs. emotion-focused coping through fashion shopping during the pandemic.