Use Virtual Reality to Enhance Intercultural Sensitivity: A Randomised Parallel Longitudinal Study

Prior studies suggest that emotional empathy is one of the components of intercultural sensitivity - the affective dimension under the concept of intercultural communication competence. Based on existing theories and findings, this paper reports a randomised parallel longitudinal study investigating the use of virtual reality (VR) exposure to enhance intercultural sensitivity. A total of 80 participants (36 females and 44 males) joined the study and were included in the data analysis. The participants were randomly assigned to the VR group, the video group, and the control group. Their intercultural sensitivity was measured three times: one week before the exposure (T₁), right after the exposure (T₂), and three weeks after the exposure (T₃). The results suggested that (1) the intercultural sensitivity of the VR group was significantly enhanced in both within-subject comparisons and between-subject comparisons, (2) there were no significant differences in intercultural sensitivity between the VR group and the video group at T₂, but the VR group retained the enhancement better at T₃, and (3) the sense of presence and emotional empathy well predicted the change in intercultural sensitivity of the VR group. The results, together with the participants' feedback and comments, provide new insights into the practice of using VR for intercultural sensitivity training and encourage future research on exploring the contributing factors of the results.