Avatar Exposure and Strategic Coordination in Virtual Reality: Evidence from a Threshold Public Goods Experiment

2026-01-05

arXiv.org

AI Summary

This study investigates how to facilitate effective coordination among geographically dispersed users in threshold-based collective actions, such as environmental decision-making, within digital platforms. Through a randomized controlled experiment in virtual reality (VR), the authors introduce a minimal-avatar pre-interaction phase coupled with a real-effort recycling task, integrated within a threshold public goods game framework. They demonstrate for the first time that even brief exposure to avatars significantly enhances co-presence and improves dyadic coordination efficiency. The findings reveal that VR presence is a stronger predictor of task performance than co-presence alone, and that avatar pre-interaction effectively reduces inefficient over-contribution beyond the provision threshold, thereby enhancing social welfare. This work establishes a causal pathway linking interface design features to collective action outcomes.

Technology Category

Game Theory and Economic Paradigms: Coordination and CollaborationHumans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous CharactersCognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction

Application Category

Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: The sharing economyResponsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomyUser Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience

Abstract

Digital platforms increasingly support collective action initiatives, yet coordinating geographically dispersed users through digital interfaces remains challenging, particularly in threshold settings where success requires critical mass participation. This study investigates how avatar-based social representation in Virtual Reality (VR) influences coordination in threshold collective action problems. Through a randomized controlled experiment with 188 participants organized in 94 pairs, we examine whether brief avatar exposure affects perceived co-presence and coordination outcomes in a two-player threshold public goods game implemented as a real-effort recycling task. We manipulate a single design feature: participants either briefly interact through avatars before the main task (Pre-Task Avatar treatment) or complete an equivalent activity individually without peer visibility (No Pre-Task Avatar treatment). Our findings reveal that minimal avatar exposure significantly increases perceived co-presence and improves strategic coordination, though not through increased contribution quantity. Participants exposed to peer avatars achieve higher social welfare by coordinating to avoid wasteful over-contribution beyond the threshold. Additionally, we identify VR presence-the sense of'being there'in the virtual environment-as a stronger predictor of task performance than co-presence itself. This research contributes to Information Systems theory by establishing causal pathways from specific design features to presence to coordination outcomes, demonstrates VR as a rigorous experimental methodology for IS research, and provides actionable insights for designing collaborative platforms supporting sustainability initiatives and threshold collective action problems.

Problem

• threshold public goods
• collective action
• virtual reality
• co-presence
• coordination

Innovation

• Virtual Reality
• Threshold Public Goods Game
• Avatar-based Social Representation
• Co-presence
• Presence