• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.188-205
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• 2023

Museums in modern society serve to a broader public than their early predecessors. In response to such transition, many art museums now open digital exhibitions to provide immersive experience and maximize user interaction. This study aims to find facilitators of mass popularity in the field of art by identifying the effect of specific features of digital exhibitions - animated image and storytelling description - on museum visitors' immersive experience and willingness-to-pay price premium (WTP). By performing an online-based two (art types: still image vs. animated image) by two (description types: informative description vs. storytelling description) experiment, we find that animated images and storytelling description enhance experiential value and imagery vividness, the two aspects of immersion, and WTP. Furthermore, the impact of digital exhibition on visitors' immersive experience and WTP is stronger when animated images and storytelling description are adopted together. This paper contributes to both IS literature and museum industry by identifying specific features and mechanism of digital exhibition that could enhance visitors' immersive art experience. By studying digital exhibition, which is not bound by physicality of artwork and exhibition space, this study also offers an empirical insight that advocate timely adoption of a "contactless" museum experience.