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In the modern workplace, effective leadership development programs are essential to meet the evolving demands of organizations and employees. This research proposal aims to investigate the effectiveness of Virtual Reality (VR) as a novel method for leadership and management training compared to traditional approaches. Traditional training methods often suffer from limited engagement, retention, and high costs. VR technology offers an immersive and customizable platform for training, potentially addressing these limitations.
The research design includes a sample of 40 managers, divided into two groups: a control group receiving traditional video-based training and a treatment group undergoing VR-based training. The study assesses leadership skill improvement through pre- and post-training scores provided by team members and evaluates participants’ perceptions immediately after training. The research questions and hypotheses focus on whether VR-based training yields higher experience scores and improves leadership skills over six months.
By exploring these questions, this research aims to provide valuable insights into the potential benefits of VR leadership training, offering recommendations for organizations to adapt and optimize their leadership development programs. However, it is important to acknowledge potential confounding variables and limitations in the study, including the perspective of subordinates and workplace-specific factors.
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Conventional leadership development programs such as leadership retreats or annual training modules can be costly and inaccessible to many organizations. Furthermore, these conventional approaches often suffer from issues such as limited engagement, retention, and lack of applicability in real-world scenarios. There is a growing trend in some organizations to adopt a novel approach by providing leadership and management training through readily available VR headsets, allowing employees to engage in brief, 15-30 minute simulation sessions more frequently or as needed throughout the year.
The primary focus of this research proposal is to investigate whether this emerging trend of utilizing VR-based training methods results in noticeable improvements in leadership and management skills among employees compared to traditional methods. This investigation is essential to address the increasing demand for more effective training approaches that align with the modern work environment and the changing expectations of employees. To measure the impact and effectiveness of VR-based leadership training, the research will employ a “leadership score” methodology to assess the outcomes and benefits of this novel approach.
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Virtual Reality
Virtual reality (VR) allows users to be in a 3D space created by computer models (Lin et al. 2017). VR expands on purely visual interactions with computers to diverse and complex interactions where users are able to imitate making choices in the natural world. Due to its immersive nature, users can, as in the real world, apply perceptual experience and cognitive processing ability to interact with a simulated environment (Douglas et al., 2013). Modern VR is easily accessible through commercially available hardware, and software is continuously updated and developed (Anthes et al., 2016) to expand the VR domain.
Traditional Leadership Training
Leadership training has been defined as programs that are designed to systematically develop and enhance a leader’s knowledge, skills, abilities, and other components (Lacerenza et al., 2017). In 2015, organizations spent approximately $1,252 per employee on training, with a majority of this allocated to leadership training (Ho, 2016). A meta analysis of leadership training design evaluated that for a leadership training to be most effective, it should incorporate practice and occur face-to-face, rather than be self-administered (Lacerenza et al., 2017). Leadership training should be tailored to the organization’s desired criterion, and does not benefit from a one-size fits all approach (Lacerenza et al., 2017). While effective leadership training regiments exist, these often take the form of costly and time-consuming retreats, expert-led panels or intensive skills training (Schwartz et al., 2014). Few options are available for organizations who seek to effectively train their leaders in a more economical way.
VR as an effective training method
Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have been proposed to address the limitations of traditional leadership training techniques. Adults typically only retain 10% of what they learn in lectures compared to about 67% when learning by doing (Gurdjian et al.). Additionally, traditional programs often fail to effectively transfer off-site training protocols into real-world situations, as well as provide individualized training for niche roles. Using VR as a tool in new leadership training acumen would provide solutions to these above issues, allowing individuals to experience tailored real-world scenarios in a practical and efficient manner. Modern VR allows the viewer to become immersed in each scenario without the perception of technological mediation (Alcañiz et al.). Studies have shown that engagement with VR improved “remembering” performance relative to traditional methods, as VR experiences more closely imitate learning-by-experience methods (Allcoat and Mühlenen). VR simulations can be endlessly customized to the learning goals of each organization Furthermore, VR can be combined with wearable technology to analyze psycho-physiological signals (Alcañiz et al.), providing qualitative data on leadership competencies. Further research may be done to identify such psycho-physiological signals in already effective leaders, contributing to the studies of what makes a great leader. Due to its versatility and transparency, utilizing VR as a training method allows organizations to develop customized training programs that are dynamic, complex and realistic.
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40 participants who operate in a leadership capacity will be randomly selected and divided into 2 groups of 20. One group will be the control group that takes the traditional video-based leadership training, and the other will be the treatment group that takes the VR-based leadership training. Before and after the training regimen, members of their team will be asked to give their leaders a subjective “leadership score” out of 10 points. By doing so, we will evaluate the participants’ leadership skill improvement before and after the training, as well as compare scores between the two training types. After the training, participants will answer a short survey to evaluate their perception towards their training program, their leadership skills improvement, and their learning retention after six months. The metric of performances in our studies are the difference in overall experience score, change of leadership score and learning retention score in a span of 6 months.
Research questions:
The null hypothesis is mean(score VR) > mean(score TR)
The alternative hypothesis is mean(score VR) <= mean(score TR)
The effect size for this hypothesis is (VR – TR). A meaningful effect size is when Cohen’s d (mean VR – mean TR)/s is around 0.8 or higher, where s is a pooled measure of the standard deviation.
H0: mean(pre_score VR – post_score VR) > mean(pre_score VI – post_score VI);
HA: <=The effect size for this hypothesis is (diff)/s
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The population of interest are managers who work in an organization setting that normally need to participate in leadership training when entering the organization. These managers lead a project or department that has more than or equal to 5 members on his/her team. These managers, when entering the organization, are required by the company to take a uniform leadership program that includes general leadership skill training and specific work procedure/culture training related to the company.
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The study will collaborate with organizations that provide manager leadership training programs. The study will invite managers who have not engaged or participated in any form of leadership training program provided by their organization, and have been leading a team of at least 5 individuals for at least 3 months. The sample selection would reduce the differences between participants’ background knowledge about leadership skills and company procedures.
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The company that the study collaborated with will send out a general invitation to all the managers who are working in the company who haven’t participated in the company training programs. The study assumes that more than 40 managers will accept the invitation, which allows the study to select the samples from the managers who agreed to take the training program designed. The study will invite participants from two groups to participate in leadership training programs in an in-person setting. This ensures that participants in both samples would receive the same level of supervision and support throughout the training session. To prevent participants from interacting and sharing information during the training process, the participants will take their training program independently. The controlled group takes the traditional video-based leadership training, and the treatment group takes the VR-based leadership training. Both training programs will be designed by the study with the supervision of the company. The collaboration will ensure that the training programs cover the information and knowledge usually covered by the company’s training program. The time length for taking both training programs are similar to the company’s previous leadership training program, as the managers do not have much time outside of daily projects. The study also takes ethical consideration into account: The study understands the potential psychological impact which some participants might experience discomfort during VR training. Some participants might not have previous experience with VR technology and VR technology usage. Therefore, consent from participants in the VR training group is required, and specific instruction of how to use the VR headset is given before the program starts. During the training process, supervision is given to monitor the training program and provide support.
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To investigate whether VR based leadership programs yield more favorable feedback from participants, we will conduct surveys right after the training program to collect their perspectives towards the program they participated in. The survey questions include a set of binary questions to examine whether they have a positive training experience. The proposed sample questions can be found in the appendix section.
Additionally, to measure the efficacy of the training program at the behavioral level, 5 members of the participants’ team will be recruited to give their leaders numeric “leadership scores” using a 1-10 scale. Participants will be scored before training and 6 months after training to evaluate behavioral improvement.
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In this study, we aim to investigate the impact of leadership training on participants’ leadership performance after six months as well as the participants’ overall experience in the leadership training program. We employed multifaceted surveys that focus on two primary dependent variables. The first one is leadership score, which is measured through the surveys upon 5 employees per participant. The leadership score is derived from averaging their ratings in 4 dimensions including awareness, problem solving, communication and resolving conflicts. To calculate the score for each participant, we determine the average of scores provided by 5 employees associated with that participant. The other dependent variable is a composite score, which is an average of 8 binary variables such as satisfaction, immersion, and effectiveness, indicating participants’ perception. The proposed surveys mentioned here are included in the appendix section.
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The participants will be divided into two groups. A control group of 20 participants will be enrolled in a traditional video-based leadership program and a treatment group of 20 participants will take a VR-based leadership training program.
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There are no other variables under consideration in the scope of this study.
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To address our first research question, we will employ a one-sided two-sample t-tests to assess whether the difference between two groups in improvement of leadership score are significant. Given our directional hypothesis that the VR group participants would outperform the video-based group, it is appropriate to use a one-sided two-sample t-test to compare the means between two groups. For the second research question, we will apply a one-sided two-sample t-test to evaluate the significance of difference in perception/experience between the two training programs. Just as the first research question, we have a directional hypothesis indicating the VR-based program will receive more favorable ratings than the traditional video-based one. Thus, we choose a one-sided two-sample t-test to compare the means between these two groups.
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This study has two samples, each sample has a sample size of 20 participants. The reason for selecting two samples is that the study wants to discover the effectiveness of new VR training leadership program compared to traditional video-based training program to answer the two research questions stated. As mentioned in the Sample Selection section, the reason to select 20 participants using stratified sampling for each group is to make sure the sample is representative of the entire population. The study understands that in most organizations, managers or team leaders are located on different levels of the organizational hierarchy. The study collects data from both the participants and the team members who work for the participants, leading to a total of 200 team members who will provide numeric responses for analysis. Therefore, the size of the response which the study will receive also allows the study to discover the significance of the statistics.
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If VR-based leadership training does not yield higher experience scores than video-based leadership training, we would recommend amending the VR training module based on the feedback received from the survey. VR’s benefit is its endless customizability, so we would encourage organizations to change the training module as needed. If the VR training does yield higher experience scores, we would encourage organizations to incorporate VR training into their leadership curriculum. If VR training does not yield higher improved leadership skills over 6 months, we would refer back to the previously taken survey if there was any indication that the participants did not understand or incorporate the concepts that were taught in the simulation. If it does yield higher improved leadership skills, we would conduct further research to understand which aspect of the training (method of delivery, materials, etc.) resonated most with the participants, to contribute to the design of future training.
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Though we employed stratified sampling to diversity samples, it is important to recognize the potential confounding variables such as prior leadership experience, distinct workplace cultures, individual job roles may impact the outcomes. Also, since the employees who rate their leaders in this study are their subordinates, it might cause specific limitations due to this relationship. Subordinates may be reluctant to provide candid scores of their leaders, leading to a potential bias in the ratings. Additionally, the lack of evaluations from peers and supervisors could lead to incompleteness in measuring participants’ leadership score. It is essential to acknowledge the leadership skill in this study mainly reflects the subordinate perspective. Therefore, the results should be interpreted in the context of these limitations.
Survey A - Pre-training and post-training leadership score
On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is “poor”, 10 is “excellent”, Please rate your leader’s skill in leadership awareness. Please rate your leader’s skill in problem-solving. Please rate your leader’s skill in resolving conflicts. Please rate your leader’s skill in communication.
Survey B - Perception on the VR training method (binary)
Compared to the conventional training style, do you think VR training is more effective in developing leadership skills? (yes/no) After undergoing VR training, do you think you obtained more positive feedback from your team members? (yes/no) Do you find VR-based training more interesting and immersive than the conventional training style? (yes/no) Do you think the training content or scenarios are close to actual challenges? (yes/no) Do you think the training content or scenarios are tailored to your individual capabilities? (yes/no) Do you think 15-30 minutes of training time is appropriate? (yes/no) Do you feel free to make mistakes in the VR training environment and learn from them? (yes/no) Would you recommend the VR training system to others in your team or organization? (yes/no)
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