Bittersweet Virtual Reality Collaboration: Necessary and Sufficient Conditions

The spread of COVID-19 has led to new challenges on organizations of every size. This also affects collaboration, which since then has had to be more digital than ever. While traditional collaboration tools, such as video- and audioconferences have reached their limits in terms of interactive and flexible collaboration, the development of multi-user virtual reality (VR) technology is introducing new possibilities. We investigate which conditions have an impact on the intention to collaborate in VR environments. To this end, we conducted a multi-user VR experiment and then interviewed participants individually and in focus groups on their collaboration behaviors. We were able to identify technological-, task-, and user-related conditions, which could be distinguished in necessary and sufficient conditions. Our research has helped to create evaluation opportunities to determine what conditions should be met to foster collaboration in VR.