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This research investigates the impact of learners' non-substantive responses in online course forums, referred to as online listening responses, on e-learning performance. A common type of response in online course forums, online listening responses consist of brief, non-substantive replies/comments (e.g. “agree,” “I see,” “thank you,” “me too”) and non-textual inputs (e.g. post-voting, emoticons) in online discussions. Extant literature on online forum participation focuses on learners' active participation with substantive inputs and overlooks online listening responses. This research, by contrast, stresses the value of online listening responses in e-learning and their heterogeneous effects across learner characteristics. It calls for recognition and encouragement from online instructors and online forum designers to support this activity.

The large-scale proprietary dataset comes from a leading MOOC (massive open online courses) platform in China. The dataset includes 68,126 records of learners in five MOOCs during 2014–2018. An ordinary least squares model is used to analyze the data and test the hypotheses.

Online listening responses in course forums, along with learners' substantive inputs, positively influence learner performance in online courses. The effects are heterogeneous across learner characteristics, being more prominent for early course registrants, learners with full-time jobs and learners with more e-learning experience, but weaker for female learners.

This research distinguishes learners' brief, non-substantive responses (online listening responses) and substantive inputs (online speaking) as two types of active participation in online forums and provides empirical evidence for the importance of online listening responses in e-learning. It contributes to online forum research by advancing the active-passive dichotomy of online forum participation to a nuanced classification of learner behaviors. It also adds to e-learning research by generating insights into the positive and heterogeneous value of learners' online listening responses to e-learning outcomes. Finally, it enriches online listening research by introducing and examining online listening responses, thereby providing a new avenue to probe online discussions and e-learning performance.

To investigate the presentation of self of participants in occupational online forums.

Interpretation of more than 300 profiles of participants to a banking‐related occupational online forum based on Goffman's seminal analysis of presentation of self and on the literature on mystification and fragmentation in virtual environments.

Contributors to the occupational online forum adopted one of several main categories of profiles. These categories differed in the degree of detail with which profiles were filled and showed that forum users chose a certain degree of mystification or de‐mystification for their profile. The presentation of self in the online occupational forum was related to the presentation in offline environments, such as in the workplace as well as to other online contexts, such as in electronic chats. The categories of profiles were also associated with strikingly different registration dates and number of posts per year and per contributor.

The research analyzed only the profiles of contributors to the online forum, but not their motivations or posts.

Employees and employers should hone their ability to present online information about themselves and to interpret the virtual image(s) others present.

This paper covers: grounded categorization of adopted fronts in occupational online forums; conceptualization of the presentation of self in online environments as related to the participation of multiple online and offline social contexts; identification of simultaneous processes of fragmentation and continuity at play in online forums through their participants' presentation of self.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of word-of-mouth (WOM) types, WOM valence, content types and discussion topics of user posts on online engagement in two channels of a consumption community. The posts are composed by users on the discussion forum and shared to the Facebook channel of the consumption community by the administrators.

The data for this study were obtained from a popular car consumption community in Vietnam. A total of 505 user posts on the discussion forum were manually coded and assigned to WOM types, valence and content characteristics. The online engagement metrics were measured by the number of views and replies on the discussion forum, and the number of likes, comments and shares on Facebook.

The results indicate that the WOM types and valence have a significant impact on online engagement and the popularity of posts on Facebook is associated with the number of views on a discussion forum. The content type and discussion topic partially influence some factors of the online engagement metrics.

The findings are helpful for consumption community administrators to understand and manage their users’ engagement. Moreover, it indirectly supports brands and companies, since the consumption communities also include sub-communities of particular brands and marketers cooperate with consumption communities for their social media marketing strategies.

This research contributes to the literature of online engagement in two aspects. First, this study examines the impact of WOM types and valence. Second, this is the first study investigating the effects of posts by users within an information flow from a discussion forum to Facebook.

This paper aims to explore the roles Web 2.0 applications play in niche cultures such as rock music diffusion.

This paper aims to examine the influence of online forums on fans of rock music and to validate the intermediating roles of the cognitive variables.

The results show that the three factors associated with innovation diffusion theory play different intermediating roles in the relationship between the stickiness of online forums (their ability to make users stay longer and return) and the levels of appreciation displayed by fans of rock music. While stickiness shows a significant positive impact on an individual's perception and image of a rock band, visibility has a significant negative influence on the individual's level of enthusiasm for the band.

Additional data and measures are required for in‐depth investigations of other cultural contexts.

The study could be helpful for determining the influence of online forums on rock music diffusion and for planning innovative promotions and sales strategies for rock bands. Moreover the findings could be applicable to the marketing and promotion of other niche culture items.

This study's originality lies in confirming the intermediating roles of the cognitive variables based on innovation diffusion theory between online forums' stickiness and appreciation of rock bands by using a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach and then by showing the opportunities and challenges provided by networking to rock music.

This paper aims to explore student teachers’ views related to the online academic support e-tools used under the COVID-19 lockdown.

Mapping a pragmatic research approach, an explanatory mixed methods design was used for the study.

Empirical evidence revealed that student teachers were satisfied and experienced the academic support tools as being positively applied to their online learning. Furthermore, it is reported that student teachers preferred the discussion forum as the most appropriate academic support e-tool in the course under coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown.

This exploratory pragmatic study extends the knowledge of the online academic support e-tools for an open distance e-learning (ODeL) context that was used under COVID-19 lockdown. This study provides additional evidence concerning a revised academic support frame for an ODeL online learning context. Research limitations: small sample size was used, and therefore caution must be applied, as the findings might not be transferable to a similar context. The current study has only examined a teacher education course and could not be generalised to similar conditions as those under COVID-19 lockdown. This exploratory research has raised many questions that require further investigation. More research is required to determine the efficacy of the academic support e-tools with regard to student learning in other online courses and contexts.

The student teachers that participated in this study were empowered to using the academic support e-tools to support them under COVID-19 lockdown. The discussion was mostly preferred academic supportive e-tool as an engaged, participatory and communicative platform for accelerated learning in the teaching methodology of economics course.

A noteworthy contribution was made in the design and testing of the reliability of methodological tools, which could be replicated in blended and ODeL contexts.

To explore an emerging area in internet practice that has implication for consumer marketers.

The paper integrates concepts including a range of recently published (1993‐2004) theoretical works and ongoing case developments in internet practice.

Provides information and action approaches to consumer marketers that may increase the success, providing want‐satisfying market offerings. Outlines the market research benefits of monitoring and participating in internet community forums and offers practical suggestions for maximizing their value in the marketing and marketing research. It also provides a series of tactics that consumer marketers may use to maximize the value of internet community forums for their firms.

The theoretical concepts that form the foundation of the paper appear to have a significant application to consumer marketing, but have not been tested empirically.

Uncovers a previously unrecognized source of direct consumer input and cooperation in the design and valuation of new products and the identification of emerging consumer wants.

This paper describes the nature and application of internet community forums to an important marketing process. It offers the potential of increasing marketing success by clearly and accurately identifying the wants of specific market segments.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate to which extent the concept of communities of practice (CoPs) can be applied to online communities and to explore how organizations can better utilize online social structures for their knowledge management practice.

A case study was used to examine an online community with the practice‐and‐identity framework that characterizes conventional CoPs. Qualitative data analysis was conducted primarily on 7,853 messages downloaded from the online community during a six week period.

The results showed how an online community could manifest the practice and identity characteristics of conventional CoPs as community members actively engaged in their shared practice and identity development while pursuing a joint enterprise. Research limitations/implications – The study was conducted in a single Chinese online community on traveling, which may limit the generalizability of the findings.

This study suggested how organizations can nurture online CoPs. In addition, a hierarchical model was proposed to help organizations identify the appropriate online social structure for their knowledge management purposes. Originality/value – This study empirically verified that CoPs can emerge from online communities and demonstrated that the concept of CoPs can be used to guide knowledge sharing and knowledge creation in online environments.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how online discussion can be used in work‐integrated learning as a vehicle for students to demonstrate their learning in the workplace and to facilitate collaborative learning where face‐to‐face classes are not feasible.

The paper evaluates the use of assessable online discussion in facilitating collaborative learning and scaffolding reflection in work placement subjects. It reviews the literature regarding the use of online discussion, particularly for work placement subjects, and evaluates the use of an online discussion forum in a case study subject in the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) undergraduate law course.

The paper suggests that assessable online discussion forums are appropriate to facilitate student collaboration and collaborative learning in work placement subjects.

The paper is original in its examination of the assessment of online discussion in a work‐integrated learning context.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of review group’s content-related and environment-associated attributes on information adoption intention of information readers. In addition, this study further investigates the effects of these determinants in different websites with different commercial attributes (i.e. online stores and third party forums).

This study used a structured online survey to collect data from an online store and a third party forum in China; totally 302 responses were collected.

The empirical results confirm that all of the five determinants significantly affect the information adoption intention of information readers. Furthermore, the authors found that four of the determinants have distinct effects in different websites.

The findings of this study validate the significant moderating role of website attributes in readers’ information processing. Information readers use distinct criteria to evaluate the received review information; electronic word-of-mouth determinants have varying effects on different websites with different commercial attributes.

To explore an emerging area in internet practice that has implications for new product developers.

The paper integrates concepts including a range of recently published (1993‐2004) theoretical works and ongoing case developments in internet practice.

Provides information and action approaches to new product developers that may increase the success and accuracy of resulting new products. Outlines the benefits of monitoring and participating in online consumer communities and offers practical suggestions for maximizing their value in the product development process.

The theoretical concepts that form the foundation of the paper appear to have a significant application to the product development process but have not been tested empirically.

Uncovers a previously unrecognized source of direct consumer input and cooperation in the design and valuation of new products.

This paper describes the nature and application of online consumer communities to an important marketing process. It offers the potential of improving the success of new products in the marketplace reducing significant waste.