Using a virtual reality interview simulator to explore factors influencing people's behavior

Virtual reality interview simulator (VRIS) provides an effective and manageable approach for candidates prone to being very nervous during interviews, yet, the major anxiety-inducing elements remain unknown. During an interview, the anxiety levels, overall experience, and performance of interviewees might be affected by various circumstances. By analyzing electrodermal activity and questionnaire, we investigated the influence of five variables: (I) \textsc{Realism}; (II) \textsc{Question type}; (III) \textsc{Interviewer attitude}; (IV) \textsc {Timing}; and (V) \textsc{Preparation}. As such, an orthogonal design $L_8(4^1 \times 2^4)$ with eight experiments ($O A_8$ matrix) was implemented, in which 19 college students took part in the experiments. Considering the anxiety, overall experience, and performance of the interviewees, results indicate that \textsc{Type of Interview Questions} plays a major role; secondly, \textsc{Level of Realism}, \textsc{With or Without Preparation}, and \textsc{Interrogator's Attitude} all have some degree of influence; lastly, \textsc {Timed or Untimed Answers} have little to no impact. Specifically, professional inquiries elicited a greater degree of anxiety than personal ones among the categories of interview questions. This work contributes to our understanding of anxiety-stimulating factors during job interviews in virtual reality and provides cues for designing future VRIS.