Influences of virtual reality on design creativity and design thinking

•VR has a significant and positive influence on the creative design process (particularly the design and planning, testing and modification, and thinking and sharing stages).•VR has moderate effects on the functional integrity, technical requirements, sophistication and esthetics, and originality and novelty of creative design outcomes.•VR users have comprehensive design thinking processes that transition smoothly from empathy to problem definition, creative ideation, prototyping, and testing and verification.