Investigating the Effect of Contextual Information in Virtual Backgrounds on Impression Formation in Videoconferencing

Abstract

When communicating over videoconferencing, people selectively manage their online presentation to obtain a good impression by adding filters or changing virtual backgrounds. When applying virtual background, the influence of augmented contextual information in the virtual background on impression formation is unclear yet. Therefore, this study examines whether and how contextual cues in virtual backgrounds affect impression formation in video-mediated communication (VMC). With an online survey (N=64) and controlled experiment (N=58), we demonstrate that contextual information on virtual backgrounds significantly changed the perceived credibility toward remote counterparts from viewers’ viewpoints before having interactions. However, such effect was not found after having interactions, possibly due to the reduced ambiguity about the counterpart after the interaction. Further analysis revealed that people misassociate their unpreferred virtual backgrounds with their counterparts’ credibility. We discuss the possible effects of viewing contextual information in virtual backgrounds on impression formation through VMC.