Immersive Virtual Environments in Information Systems Research: A Review of Objects and Approaches

Innovations in the underlying technologies of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality solutions have moved immersive virtual environments from sci-fi movies to a phenomenon of great societal impact. The last decade has seen use cases that ranges into gaming, education, health care, construction and retail. Paralleling the growing practical relevance, immersive virtual environments has also attracted interested from the research community in general and in par- ticular within the field of information systems. Although this proliferation of research has the potential to significantly improve our understanding of immersive virtual environments and their impact on individual, groups, organizations and society at large, absent is the necessary step of consolidating extant research efforts. With the objective to make an inventory that can guide further investigation, we review research on immersive virtual environments in the in-formation systems discipline through a scientometric analysis of the object of study and the research approach. We identify and analyse 120 articles, published in information systems journals and conference proceedings. We find an unbalanced inquiry, with an overwhelming focus on the individual in the context of gaming (virtual worlds) and education, which resonates poorly with the more recently reported wider societal impact. We therefore end by call-ing for research on immersive virtual environments in which the broader social implications of the maturing technology are brought to the forefront of research.