Impact of immersive virtual reality on environmental mental imagery, climate risk perception and attitudes towards mitigation behaviors

Imed Nouri; Rym Bouzaabia

doi:10.29333/ejosdr/16833

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Imed Nouri ¹ ^* , Rym Bouzaabia ²

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¹ Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences of Sousse, University of Sousse, TUNISIA² Institute oh Higher Business Studies of Sousse, University of Sousse, TUNISIA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the effect of immersive 360° VR video (vs. non-immersive) on environmental mental imagery, climate change risk perception and attitude towards climate change mitigation behaviors, incorporating climate skepticism as a moderator. A field experiment was conducted with 319 participants, using a between-subjects design to manipulate the level of immersion of a 360° video (immersive vs. non-immersive) illustrating the negative effects of climate change in Tunisia. The results show that immersive 360° VR video (vs. non immersive) increases significantly environmental mental imagery. They also reveal that environmental mental imagery positively influences climate change risk perception and attitude towards climate change mitigation behaviors, and that climate skepticism negatively moderates these relationships.

Keywords

immersive VR
environmental mental imagery
climate change risk perception
attitudes towards mitigation behaviors
climate skepticism

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EUR J SUSTAIN DEV RES, Volume 9, Issue 4, 2025, Article No: em0331

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejosdr/16833

Publication date: 01 Oct 2025

Online publication date: 29 Aug 2025

Article Views: 18

Article Downloads: 6

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How to cite this article

APA

Nouri, I., & Bouzaabia, R. (2025). Impact of immersive virtual reality on environmental mental imagery, climate risk perception and attitudes towards mitigation behaviors. European Journal of Sustainable Development Research, 9(4), em0331. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejosdr/16833

Vancouver

Nouri I, Bouzaabia R. Impact of immersive virtual reality on environmental mental imagery, climate risk perception and attitudes towards mitigation behaviors. EUR J SUSTAIN DEV RES. 2025;9(4):em0331. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejosdr/16833

AMA

Nouri I, Bouzaabia R. Impact of immersive virtual reality on environmental mental imagery, climate risk perception and attitudes towards mitigation behaviors. EUR J SUSTAIN DEV RES. 2025;9(4), em0331. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejosdr/16833

Chicago

Nouri, Imed, and Rym Bouzaabia. "Impact of immersive virtual reality on environmental mental imagery, climate risk perception and attitudes towards mitigation behaviors". European Journal of Sustainable Development Research 2025 9 no. 4 (2025): em0331. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejosdr/16833

Harvard

Nouri, I., and Bouzaabia, R. (2025). Impact of immersive virtual reality on environmental mental imagery, climate risk perception and attitudes towards mitigation behaviors. European Journal of Sustainable Development Research, 9(4), em0331. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejosdr/16833

MLA

Nouri, Imed et al. "Impact of immersive virtual reality on environmental mental imagery, climate risk perception and attitudes towards mitigation behaviors". European Journal of Sustainable Development Research, vol. 9, no. 4, 2025, em0331. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejosdr/16833