AUGMENTED REALITY AS ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION TOOL: A QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ON THE EARLY TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE

Plastic pollution is a growing global problem with negative environmental, health, economic and social consequences. Although the main cause is human activity, motivating environmentally friendly behavior is not easy: communicating about environmental problems poses many challenges because their causes and consequences are usually distant in time and space, so it is not easy for individuals to identify with them. Even if it is effective, it can be difficult, costly or dangerous to expose oneself to environmental hazards. An alternative solution could be augmented reality (AR) technology through which a person can virtually experience any environmental damage. The aim of this study is to investigate the early acceptance of this mode of environmental communication among potential end users, and for this purpose a focus group was conducted. The results of the study show that augmented reality has the potential to improve traditional forms of environmental communication and be accepted by potential end users. The analysis of the results also shows that awareness of the problem alone is not enough to change behavior, but the source of information (a person or an institution sending the message), social norms (opinions of close people), environmental regulations (such as price and availability of certain products), and situational factors (such as waste separation systems) also play an important role. The limitation of this research is the small sample, which is also a criticism of this method of data collection. Guidelines for future research include a larger sample and additional quantitative research to validate the results. This is the first study to examine the early adoption of augmented reality as a means of environmental communication and motivation for individual “green” behavior, which is also a scientific contribution of the paper. The study provides guidelines for the development and implementation of an environmental communication strategy.