Factors influencing elders' intention to use a housing community: A virtual reality approach extending the theory of planned behaviour

The increased population size of the elderly calls upon researchers to address the consequences of the unparalleled demographic change and construct reassuring communities that would be accepted by the elderly. This research suggests and validates a new research model that investigates theoretical variables positively associated with the elders' behavioural intentions to use a proposed community by extending the theory of planned behaviour. 72 participants in the United Arab Emirates experienced a virtual reality tour of the proposed community and statistical tests were conducted on the data collected from the post-test questionnaires. Among a number of significant results, it was inferred that elders find the proposed community functional regardless of other people's influences and that the overall community functionality is positively correlated with the elder's intention to use the community (F(1,70)=122.527, p<.000) with an R2 of 0.636. Also, mobility in elderly houses is highly associated with elders' attitudes which also was strongly correlated with elders' intention to use the proposed communities (F(1,70)=1175.484, p<.000 with an R2 of 0.944). To increase the rate of elders' adoption of a residential facility, this research, among the first empirical research studies integrating the theory of planned behaviour and Virtual Reality models, provides the needed insights to construction managers and engineers.