Comparing Perceptions of Performance Across Virtual Reality, Video Conferencing, and Face-to-Face Collaborations

As Computer Mediated Communications (CMCs) advance, businesses have sought alternatives to face-to-face (F2F) meetings to increase productivity for geographically dispersed teams while saving time and money. However, critical differences between CMCs and F2F impact multiple aspects of communication performance. In order to investigate these variations, the current research investigated the communication effectiveness in three distinct scenarios: video conferencing (VC), virtual reality (VR), and face-to-face (F2F). The study involved an electrical circuit repair task and the administration of multiple surveys to gather data from a total of 104 participants, focusing on four dependent variables: shared situational awareness, usability, mental workload, and performance confidence. For all the variables, results showed significantly better scores in VR and F2F conditions than in VC, but there was no significant difference between the VR and F2F conditions. These findings can inform technology developers in improving communication performance in computer mediated contexts, especially by using VR.