When Virtual Meets Value: The Role of AR Stimuli in Shaping Customer Engagement and Value Co‐Creation

Abstract

While augmented reality (AR) has become a prominent tool for creating immersive customer experiences, limited understanding exists of how interactive AR experiences transform consumers from passive product evaluators into active value co‐creators. Addressing this gap, this study investigates how AR interactivity is associated with consumers' value perceptions, customer engagement, and value co‐creation in the eyewear industry. Specifically, it examines the mediating roles of functional, emotional, social, epistemic, and informational values in the relationship between AR interactivity and customer engagement, while assessing whether self‐congruency and social influence moderate the relationship between customer engagement and value co‐creation. Utilizing PLS‐SEM, we analyzed data that was collected from 255 consumers who completed an AR‐enabled virtual try‐on task on the Lenskart AR app. Our research revealed that AR interactivity is positively associated with customer engagement, which, in turn, is positively associated with value co‐creation. Furthermore, functional, emotional, and epistemic values significantly mediate the relationship between AR interactivity and customer engagement, whereas social and informational values do not exhibit significant indirect effects. Notably, informational value remains a significant direct predictor of customer engagement despite its non‐significant mediating role. Finally, self‐congruency positively moderates the relationship between customer engagement and value co‐creation, whereas the moderating effect of social influence is not supported. The study advances AR research by demonstrating that the effectiveness of AR depends not merely on its technological capabilities but on consumers’ value interpretations of interactive experiences. It further enriches customer engagement literature by conceptualizing engagement as a reciprocal response to perceived value and contributes value co‐creation research by explaining how value realized through AR experiences is converted into collaborative consumer behavior.