Virtual Reality Head-Mounted Display (VR-HMD) is increasingly being used as a tool to improve sport performance. Recent studies showed that VR-HMD is well accepted by athletes, before a first use, to improve their sport performance. But if athletes accept the VR-HMD but their coaches do not, there is a risk that the VR-HMD will never be used despite its benefits. Consequently, the aim of the present study was to assess coaches’ acceptance of VR-HMD prior to first use, to highlight potential initial psychological blockages. The study sample included 239 French coaches training competitive athletes from different sports and different levels of competition (departmental-regional, national, international). Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), coaches filled out a questionnaire assessing perceived usefulness of the VR-HMD for coaching, perceived usefulness for athletes, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, job relevance, and intention to use. The results of the structural equation modelling highlighted that all the previous variables (except perceived ease of use) were positive predictors of coaches’ intention to use the VR-HMD. The results of the one-sample t-tests showed that VR-HMD was well accepted by coaches before a first use, with scores of all the TAM variables significantly higher than the mean of the Likert scale for the full sample and for each level of competition (except for departmental-regional coaches). Before a first effective use, no issues of non-acceptance have been identified for the use of VR-HMD by coaches for sport performance optimization purposes.
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