Download Proposed study

Attracting e-learning consumers:
Examining the symbolic meaning and implications of presenting
instructors' pictures on e-learning web sites
Anat Rafaeli & Ofra Eagle
William Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering & Management
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Technion city, Haifa 32000
Anat Rafaeli
Ofra Eagle
Associate Professor
Graduate student
Head of Behavioral Sciences Program
Industrial Psychology
Work: 04-8294421
052-438347
Fax:
04-8235294
E-mail: [email protected]
[email protected]
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The World Wide Web is fast becoming the dominant medium of mass communication.
Large discussion groups, remote connectivity to computers, information sharing and
unlimited access to data bases are only some of its many utilities. During the last few years
many parties in the public and private sectors have come to realize the endless commercial
opportunities offered by the web, and have quickly based their presence in what has become
an online global market (Thirunarayanan & Perez-Pardo, 2001; Wigand & Benjamin, 1999).
E-retailing is defined as the sale of products and services to the consumer market over the
Internet, and has been referred to by various researchers as e-tailing, e-business and Business
to Consumer e-commerce (Kolesar & Galbrait, 2000; Wang & Head, 2001). The objective of
e-retailers is to complete product purchase transactions; however, the unique benefits that eretail transactions provide to consumers are in the performance of the service end of the eretailing experience (such as saved time and increased convenience) rather than in the
qualities of the purchased good itself, which can be obtained through alternative commercial
channels. Some have suggested, therefore that a more appropriate term may be e-service
rather than e-tailing (Kolesar & Galbrait, 2000; Wang & Head, 2001).
E-service is currently offered in a wide range of service industries, including banking,
fashion, tourism, education and health. Despite specific characteristics each service industry
has, some attributes are shared by all e-service providers. This commonality derives from the
unique quality of the web-based commercial environment, which presents retailers and
consumers with distinctive benefits and drawbacks compared to the traditional commercial
environment. Benefits include an unprecedented level of information availability, vast
exposure to numerous retailers, convenience of purchase processes, cost savings, unlimited
advertising channels and a potential to expand consumer base (Helander & Khalid, 2000;
Jarvenpaa & Tractinsky, 1999; Nielsen, 2000).
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A relatively new phenomenon within the e-service domain is e-learning. Having been
referred to by researchers as web-based education, distance learning and computer-based
education (Thirunarayanan & Perez-Pardo, 2001; Fry, 2001; Henry, 2001), it is defined as
"the appropriate application of the Internet, and Internet technologies, to support the delivery
and management of learning, skills and knowledge" (Henry, 2001 p. 250).
The e-learning industry has been developing extensively over the past 2-3 years, with
universities placing increasing emphasis on offering online courses and new e-learning
providers emerging (Henry, 2001; Karuppan, 2001; Thirunarayanan & Perez-Pardo, 2001).
Yet, empirical research as to the benefits of e-learning as well as its pitfalls remains limited
(Clarke & Hermers, 2001; Karuppan, 2001).
The challenge of e-service
Despite benefits proposed by the web-based commercial environment, few e-retailers
have succeeded in encouraging consumers to modify their current "shopping" habits, in favor
of Internet shopping. Convincing surfers to advance from "monitor shopping" to "actual
purchasing" and especially creating repeat-consumers has proven to be a challenge. On
average, only 5% of visitors to sites view themselves as customers and only 1.6% of all visits
actually result in purchases (Helander & Khalid, 2000; Jarvenpaa & Tractinsky, 1999;
Kolesar & Galbrait, 2000). Since e-retailers employ the Internet as their primary service
delivery medium, researchers analyze the qualitative characteristics which differentiate it
from the traditional commercial environment, in search of possible explanations for the
apparent reluctance of consumers to purchase e-retail offerings.
E-retailing takes place in a virtual environment hence, the purchase of e-retail offerings is
qualitatively different from traditional purchase processes and lacks some of its elements.
First, e-retailing purchases are characterized by a separation in space and time since payment
is performed before consumption and from a geographic distant location. In addition, visual
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and social cues are limited leading to a low level of tangibility and a reduced level of direct
personal interaction. Furthermore, information required for evaluation of service providers is
scant leading to a difficulty in construing retailers' expertise and credibility. Uncertainty
regarding the quality of offered products/services also exists as well as insecurity that
private/financial information will be kept confidential. All of the above are considered to be
the prerequisites of high levels of risk and low levels of trust perceived by e-retailing
potential consumers (Helander & Khalid, 2000; Jarvenpaa & Tractinsky, 1999; Kiesler et al.,
1984; Kolesar & Galbrait, 2000; Larocho et al., 2001; Riegelsberger & Sasse, 2000).
Due to the unique characteristics of the virtual e-service environment, e-retailers have a
specific challenge in providing certain service attributes that are important to consumers and
are more easily rendered in non-internet-based services (Kolesar & Galbrait, 2000). Many
possibilities have been suggested by researchers as measures for attracting consumers to eretailers' sites, raising the probability of purchase, and establishing a successful and lasting
relationship with customers (Kolesar & Galbrait, 2000; Papadopoulou et al., 2001). All of
which aim to influence customers' perceptions of the overall purchase experience, their
assessment of the service quality and their feelings about the potential risk in completing a
purchase.
Researchers claim that the most immediate element for evaluation in an e-retail
transaction is the appearance and performance of the web site thus they assert, the interface
design of an e-retail site is of major importance. Ergonomic researchers focus on functional
aspects of web sites' design, such as the ease and convenience of navigation and purchase, the
usefulness of information presented on the site, or the speed of pages' download, and more
(Helander & Khalid, 2000; Kolesar & Galbrait, 2000; Nickerson & Landauer, 1997; Nielsen,
2000; Papadopoulou et al., 2001). Other researchers focus on design elements that can create
a memorable experience, thereby encouraging the consumer to bypass search and evaluation
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of other service providers the next time the service is required, and raising the probability of
customers' revisit. One way this is done is by incorporating multimedia elements and
personalizing the interface to fit the consumer needs (Kolesar & Galbrait, 2000; Wang &
Head, 2001).
Researchers focusing on the need to create a positive purchase process have studied
visual and social cues that may influence customers' emotional response to an e-service
experience (Wang & Head, 2001). These researchers emphasize the importance of
establishing long-term relationships with customers as a key to customer retention and
customer loyalty (Papadopoulou et al., 2001). A specific cornerstone for a successful and
lasting relationship with customers is trust, which is found to largely determine customers'
future behavior and loyalty towards a service provider (Papadopoulou et al., 2001; Price &
Arnould, 1999; Sirdeshmukh et al., 2002).
In the virtual e-retailing environment there are limited means for strengthening
trustworthiness. A major line of research has concentrated on raising the trustworthiness of eretailers through re-embedding social cues into the e-service context. Such cues are said to
raise the perceived social presence of service providers and strengthen the anthropomorphic
attributes of web sites. One process, for example, incorporates mechanisms through which
consumers can interact with human service providers into internet exchanges (Kolesar &
Galbrait, 2000; Papadopoulou et al., 2001; Riegelsberger & Sasse, 2000). To illustrate, some
on-line travel agencies provide immediate telephone contact with human agents to visitors
wishing to hear a human voice.
A theoretical framework for analyzing the potential effect of web site design on
customers' behavior can be drawn from a theoretical model proposed by Rafaeli and VilnaiYavetz (2002). These researchers examine the mechanisms by which organizational artifacts
influence the behavior, attitudes and emotions of organizational constitutes. In this model an
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organizational artifact is anything created in the context of organizational activity, which has
a physical presence. The model suggests that organizational artifacts influence constituents'
emotions through their instrumentality, aesthetical and symbolic dimensions. Emotions
evoked by artifacts may be directed towards the artifact or the organization represented by it,
and may influence future interactions between the organization and its potential customers
(Rafaeli & Vilnai-Yavetz, 2002).
We contend that e-retailers' web sites are organizational artifacts, from which potential
consumers infer information regarding retailers' characteristics. Building on Rafaeli and
Vilnai-Yavetz (2002), sites need to be considered according to their instrumental, aesthetic
and symbolic dimensions. Previous research has examined instrumentality (Nielsen,2002) as
well as aesthetic issues (Jarvenpaa & Tractinsky, 1999). Some researchers have also analyzed
symbolic meanings attached to design elements 1 of e-retailers' web sites, with certain
elements arguably conveying information about service providers' characteristics, such as
their reputation, size and credibility (Helander & Khalid, 2000; Swaminathan et al., 1999).
Our focus here is on aspects of a web site that can, through symbolism, enhance the trust that
customers feel toward an e-service organization. Our specific context is e-learning services.
The challenge of e-learning
Attracting students to e-learning providers, calls for a different set of trust evoking
qualities than traditional face-to-face educational methods (Holley, 2002). As service
providers, the challenge faced by providers of e-learning is identical to the challenge of all eretailers: encouraging consumers to modify their current consumption habits in favor of
Internet consumption, by producing trust and appreciation for the advantages of Internetbased services (Clarke & Hermers, 2001; Fry, 2001; Hargis, 2001). Despite its advantages, elearning shares some of the pitfalls typifying all Internet-based services: limited visual and
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Such as color of interface, products' arrangement, number of links, number of visitors etc
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social cues, low level of tangibility, uncertainty as to the quality of the service that will be
provided, insecurity that private information will be kept confidential and uncertainty as to
the level of support available. The biggest challenge is compelling students to use a novel and
unique method of education that has not yet been thoroughly evaluated and with which they
have had no prior experience and are not yet familiar.
Studies found a substantial resistance to use of e-learning offerings, with customers
preferring traditional modes of education (Alexander, 2001; Fry, 2001; Henry, 2001; Holley,
2002; Morss, 1999). One of the causes for unsuccessful implementation of e-learning projects
was an over estimation of students' willingness to engage in higher-education e-learning
activities (Alexander, 2001). Because of such over estimation insufficient effort was invested
in attracting students to e-service facilities. Therefore, researchers concluded that successful
implementation of e-learning systems requires mechanisms that will make e-learning
attractive and compelling to its potential consumer audience (Henry, 2001; Holley, 2002) .
Since empirical research on e-learning is limited, recommendations as to the manner by
which e-learning providers should deal with these barriers have been limited, with practical
recommendations as to the optimal web design non existent. Nevertheless, building on
previous research on other organizational artifacts, and other e-service contexts, we can make
some preliminary suggestions. We essentially suggest that qualities of an e-learning site can
enhance the positive experiences of visitors to the site through influencing consumers'
emotions. Qualities of the site can establish the quality of the relationships experienced by
visitors through influencing levels of trustworthiness and service quality perceived. These
elements -- trustworthiness and service quality-- are in our view, of major importance due to
the unique character of e-learning services: the fact that feedback is provided to students
regarding their learning achievements, the importance of providing assistance and individual
attention to students, the sensitivity of information collected on students, which includes
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evaluation of their capabilities - all of which lead to greater importance of perceived
trustworthiness and service quality.
In short, we suggest that e-learning web sites should be analyzed as organizational
artifacts, while emphasizing their symbolic dimensions and effects on consumers' emotions,
attitudes and perceived experience. There are myriad symbolic aspects of e-learning sites that
are worthy of examination. Obviously, not all can be covered in one research effort. As a
point of departure we suggest one symbolic mechanism which may have a positive influence
on potential consumers -- the availability of pictures of instructors on a web site.
Symbolism of human pictures in e-learning sites
Faces and pictures of people are cognitively rich and hold great fascination for human
beings. They convey social and emotional information including individual identity, social
identity, expression, emotional state and gaze. People are cognitively wired to recognize and
remember faces. They scan the environment for familiar faces and imagine the identity of the
individual behind a stranger's face (Nass et al., 1998). Since faces have been found to draw
peoples' visual attention and facilitate the processing of stimuli appearing in faces'
surroundings (Hommel et al., 2001), it has been suggested that online environments
populated with faces may be intriguing and seem more sociable and friendly than a pure
textual space (Nass et al., 1998).
Therefore, we hypothesize that the presence of an instructor's face on an e-learning course
web site will serve as a powerful mechanism through which positive emotions will be
generated in consumers, the perceived social presence of the service provider will rise,
thereby reducing levels of alienation and risk, and raising levels of trustworthiness as well as
perceived service quality.
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Proposed study
To test these hypotheses an empirical study will be established within which subjects will
be presented with an assignment imitating a process of evaluation and registration to an elearning course. Subjects (students at the Technion and Haifa University) will be asked to
enroll in an e-learning course as part of their participation in regular classes. Students will be
provided a budget, which they will be able to use for acquiring e-learning services. Visiting
the site once will be presented as a requirement, but actual acquisition of learning through the
site will be presented as voluntary, with alternative means available through in-class tutorials.
Students visiting the site for the first time will be offered a choice between 2 web sites
offering the same course materials. The web sites will, however, vary in the presence/absence
of pictures of the instructors' and the teaching assistants' face on the web site2. Subjects will
be given a time-frame for visiting the sites, evaluating them and joining the course.
Dependent measures will be collected through access logs and on-line records.
Dependant variables will be the following3:
1. Final decision: selected e-learning course and service provider
2. Length of time during which each web site was visited, specifically duration of visit
in pages where pictures were presented
3. Emotional state following visit to each site
4. Perceived characteristics of each service provider and service quality it offers
(trustworthiness, quality, reputation, professionalism etc.)
5. Memory of details presented on pages incorporating pictures (in comparison to pages
without pictures)
2
Order effect will be controlled by randomizing experimental conditions, so that each time faces appear on a
different service provider's web site
3
Dependant variables will be measured using questionnaires and technical measures incorporated in the web
site
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The experiment will be carried out during 2002-2003 academic year. Subjects will
include Technion students and Haifa University students in two undergraduate classes.
Analysis of the data will provide empirical evidence as to the effects of pictures as a
mechanism for attracting potential e-learning consumers, and will provide insight as to the
processes underlying evaluation and purchase of e-learning services.
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