Media richness and user acceptance of Second Life

Abstract

Second Life is a 3-D multi user virtual environment and is used as a platform for education by many institutions around the world. It offers a variety of communication channels to perform academic activities for both distance and on-campus education. As such, Second Life provides an excellent platform to test the implications of media richness theory (MRT). This paper aims at examining the media richness of Second Life and its impact on the user acceptance. Media Richness Theory and Technology Acceptance Model have been used as its theoretical basis. PLS approach is used to test the hypothesised relationships. Our study results suggest that Second Life is highly rich medium and is capable of promoting effective communication among its users. We found that media richness has a direct positive effect on the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of Second Life which in turn leads to actual usage. Some implications of our findings are discussed and ideas for future research are also presented.