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1 – 10 of over 8000Jens Hogreve and Andrea Beierlein
The authors explore the outcomes of health-care professionals' participation in a vendor-hosted online community by combining qualitative and quantitative data collected in two…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors explore the outcomes of health-care professionals' participation in a vendor-hosted online community by combining qualitative and quantitative data collected in two separate studies. The authors aim to shed light on the potential value outcomes of community participation covering the reduction of service costs by professionals' community participation.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors explore the outcomes of health-care professionals' participation in a vendor-hosted online community by combining qualitative and quantitative data collected in two separate studies. The authors also introduce GABEK® as a unique method of qualitative empirical content analysis. In the quantitative study, the authors refer to customer survey data and transactional data.
Findings
The results show that participation in online communities by professionals emerges as a dual concept, consisting of both help-seeking and help-providing behaviors. These behaviors in turn facilitate the creation of economic and relational value, as well as influencing the perceived usefulness of the online community, resulting in higher satisfaction with the community among the participating professionals. Customer survey data and transactional data were gathered from a major medical equipment vendor hosting an online community, and those data confirm that participation also decreases service support costs to professionals by reducing the number of necessary service visits by the vendor's service technicians.
Practical implications
The resulting model of participation and corresponding benefits in an online community for health-care professionals reflects and informs current developments in the health care industry.
Originality/value
The combination of qualitative as well as quantitative studies relying on the data of a world leading medical equipment vendor hosting an online community provides unique and innovative insights into participation and value creation within B2B communities.
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This study examined how likeminded Facebook comments with incivility and without supporting evidence influence readers' evaluations of the commenter and online political…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examined how likeminded Facebook comments with incivility and without supporting evidence influence readers' evaluations of the commenter and online political participation intention. This study also investigated whether the indirect effect of exposure to uncivil comments and comments without evidence on online political participation through evaluations of the commenters is contingent on the strength of partisanship.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a 2 (uncivil comments vs civil comments) × 2 (comments without supporting evidence vs comments with supporting evidence) factorial design with a scenario about reading similar viewpoints about the gun control issue in Facebook comments.
Findings
The results showed that compared to exposure to civil agreeing comments, exposure to uncivil likeminded comments resulted in higher levels of negative evaluations of the commenters, which in turn decreased willingness to participate in political activities online. Exposure to comments without evidence led to more negative evaluations of the commenters, but it did not significantly influence online political participation. In addition, the strength of partisanship did not significantly moderate the indirect effect of exposure to uncivil comments and comments without evidence on online political participation through evaluations of the commenters.
Originality/value
Although previous studies have demonstrated the significant effects of incivility and reasoned argument, little is known about whether and how people evaluate ingroup members' comments that are uncivil and lacking reasoned arguments. Most of these studies have examined incivility in political contexts, but few have extended the context to the effect of likeminded comments, especially when the comments are uncivil and lack supporting evidence. The current study aims to fill this gap in the literature.
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Qin Chen, Jiahua Jin and Xiangbin Yan
Since the success of online communities depend on physicians' participation, understanding factors that influence community participation and content contribution are critical for…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the success of online communities depend on physicians' participation, understanding factors that influence community participation and content contribution are critical for online health communities (OHCs). Drawing on the self-determination theory (SDT), an empirical model was proposed to explore the effects of social returns and economic returns on physicians' community participation, private content contribution and public content contribution, and the moderating effect of their online seniority. This paper aims to address these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical data of 4,343 physicians were collected from a Chinese OHC, and ordinary least squares (OLS) and negative binomial regression models were employed to verify the proposed theoretical model.
Findings
The authors’ results indicate that both social and economic returns have a positive effect on physicians' community participation and private content contribution, and their online seniority strengthens the positive effects of economic returns on community participation and private content contribution.
Originality/value
The authors’ research extends physicians' community participation by dividing content contribution into private and public, and enhances our understanding of the determinants of physicians' participation in OHCs by exploring the effects of social and economic returns, as well as the moderating effect of online seniority. Their findings contribute to the literature on e-Health and user participation, and provide management implications for OHC managers.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-11-2021-0615/
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Abstract
Purpose
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.
Design/methodology/approach
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.
Findings
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.
Originality/value
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.
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Atousa Noei and Mohammad Akbari
In online shopping, there is often a risk due to the inability to check the products. As a result, it can reduce the impact of factors affecting the intention to buy online, which…
Abstract
Purpose
In online shopping, there is often a risk due to the inability to check the products. As a result, it can reduce the impact of factors affecting the intention to buy online, which is a significant point in e-commerce. The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of the evidence and the perceived usefulness of a store site on the existing risk and online participation of customers for online shopping.
Design/methodology/approach
The statistical population of this research is people who have had the experience of online shopping at the Digikala store. The research method was descriptive-survey and the samples were randomly selected. A questionnaire was also used to collect information. Structural and statistical analysis of the model was done by SmartPLS3 software.
Findings
In this research, the authors found that the perceived usefulness (benefits of the site) has a favorable effect on the online participation of customers. It can also reduce the risk of online shopping. This research suggests good ways to increase sales to those who have a store site. The present research provides useful findings for those who sell their products online.
Originality/value
This research specifically examines the interaction of customers with sellers and can be a help for progress in e-commerce. In this study, perceived risk and participation as mediating variables, information and perceived usefulness on the site as independent variables and online shopping intention a dependent variables. This research was done about Digikala's online store. The results were obtained with the participation of customers in completing the questionnaire. Then the theoretical model and the background of the research are examined and then the hypotheses are evaluated according to the statistical results and finally, the research results and limitations are stated.
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Manyang Zhang, Han Yang, Zhijun Yan and Lin Jia
Doctor–medical institution collaboration (DMIC) services are an emerging service mode in focal online health communities (OHCs). This new service mode is anticipated to affect…
Abstract
Purpose
Doctor–medical institution collaboration (DMIC) services are an emerging service mode in focal online health communities (OHCs). This new service mode is anticipated to affect user satisfaction and doctors' engagement behaviors. However, whether and how DMIC occurs is still ambiguous because the topic is rarely examined. To bridge this gap, this study explores doctors' participation in DMIC services and its effects on their online performance, as well as its effect on patients' evaluation of them on OHC platforms.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors propose hypotheses based on structural holes theory. A unique dataset obtained from one of the most popular OHCs in China is used to test the hypotheses, and difference-in-differences estimation is adopted to test the causality of the relationship.
Findings
The results demonstrate that providing DMIC services improves doctors' online consultation performance and patients' evaluations of them but has no significant effect on doctors' knowledge-sharing performance on OHC platforms. Doctors' knowledge-sharing performance and consultation performance mediate the relationship between participation in DMIC services and patients' evaluation of doctors. Regarding doctors' participation in DMIC services, its impact on doctors' consultation performance and patients' evaluation of them is weaker for doctors with higher professional titles than for doctors with lower professional titles.
Originality/value
The findings clarify the value creation mechanisms of online collaboration between doctors and medical institutions and thereafter facilitate doctors' participation in DMIC services and enhance the sustainable development of OHCs.
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Political participation of young people has been examined, but there is a lack of research about how these participation forms are interpreted and what counts as participation for…
Abstract
Purpose
Political participation of young people has been examined, but there is a lack of research about how these participation forms are interpreted and what counts as participation for young people. The study aims to identify discourses of political participation in Hungary, where the COVID-19 restrictions during 2020–2021 have confined young people's everyday interactions and political activism to the online space for an extended period. The authors’ asteroid-effect hypothesis suggests that new discourses of political participation have become more widespread, which may have reinterpreted the previous dynamics between online and offline participation.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyse the results of six focus groups and eight interviews with young people conducted between 2021–2022 through discourse analysis.
Findings
The qualitative results show that to intellectualise the everyday discourses of youth political participation, extending its classical theories is worthwhile. While online participation has not emerged as a paramount, positive interpretational framework, a new discourse of political participation has emerged, making conversation a fundamental act.
Originality/value
While the results are limited to Hungarian youth, the strong appearance of participation as a communicative action can have consequences to theoretical approaches of political participation. The authors believe that COVID-19 restrictions had a significant role in this change, because family talks became more politicised.
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Mamta Sharma, Taruna Dubey and Hardeep Chahal
The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to examine the influence of the quality of online classes on student satisfaction and student loyalty; second, to explore the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to examine the influence of the quality of online classes on student satisfaction and student loyalty; second, to explore the mediating role of student participation between online classes and student satisfaction; third, to examine the mediating role of student satisfaction between online classes and student loyalty.
Design/methodology/approach
The primary data is collected from the postgraduate students in Jammu and Kashmir, India. A descriptive research design was applied to collect the primary data via Google questionnaire with the COVID-19 pandemic in mind to maintain social distance.
Findings
The result reveals that online classes and student participation positively affect student satisfaction. Student participation is a partial mediator between online classes and student satisfaction, with 0.393 Variance Accounted For (VAF). In comparison, it is a full mediator between online classes and student loyalty with 0.96 VAF.
Research limitations/implications
The current study was restricted to postgraduate students, while future research could include research scholars, graduate students, and others. Only government institutions in Jammu and Kashmir were employed for the present study. The study may eventually be expanded to include private universities and more states.
Practical implications
The suggested approach can help teachers, students, policymakers and administrators. The study emphasizes the crucial elements of student engagement and happiness, which must be prioritized to improve online teaching and learning effectiveness and win over students' loyalty.
Originality/value
The study tested the conceptual framework of an integrated approach connecting online classes, student participation, student satisfaction and student loyalty. The study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period, as it was the need of the hour to come out of such a crisis in the future. The present study can also provide a roadmap for transformation from physical to virtual classrooms.
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Yuan Sun, Chenyan Gu, Xinjie Zhou and Rong-An Shang
In the digital age, enterprise social media (ESM) use is becoming more prevalent in the workplace. The “group” function is a very important part in the use of ESM. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
In the digital age, enterprise social media (ESM) use is becoming more prevalent in the workplace. The “group” function is a very important part in the use of ESM. This paper explores how the characteristics of employees' task requirements affect their group participation behaviors on the ESM.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on information processing theory, the authors establish a two-stage research model to explore the impact of task characteristics on employees' online group participation behavior in the context of ESM. Data were collected using a survey of 341 Chinese employees.
Findings
The results indicate that (1) task interdependence was positively correlated with participation in small closed groups; (2) task complexity was positively correlated with participation in small groups, large closed groups and open professional groups and (3) task non-routineness was positively correlated with participation in small groups, large closed groups and open professional groups.
Originality/value
This study builds on the literature on task characteristics, information processing theory and employees' online group participation behavior, contributing to the research on ESM in the field of information systems and providing guidance for enterprise practice.
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Min Qin, Wei Zhu, Jinxia Pan, Shuqin Li and Shanshan Qiu
Enterprises build online product community to expect users to contribute: opinion sharing (content contribution) and product consumption (product contribution). Previous…
Abstract
Purpose
Enterprises build online product community to expect users to contribute: opinion sharing (content contribution) and product consumption (product contribution). Previous literature rarely focused on both. The purpose of this paper is to explain user contribution mechanism by identifying content contribution and product contribution.
Design/methodology/approach
This research chose Xiaomi-hosted online product community (bbs.xiaomi.cn) and Huawei-hosted online product community (club.huawei.com) where users can freely share ideas and buy products at the same time. Data were crawled from 109,665 community users to construct dependent variable measurement, and 611 questionnaires were used to verify research hypotheses.
Findings
The results indicate that both cognitive needs and personal integration needs have a significant positive impact on browse behavior; social integration needs and hedonic needs have a significant positive impact on content contribution behavior. Browse behavior not only directly affects but also indirectly influences product contribution through content contribution behavior.
Research limitations/implications
Findings of this research provide community managers with useful insights into the relationship between content contribution and product contribution.
Originality/value
This study explains the formation mechanism of user product contribution and reveals the relationship between user content contribution and product contribution in online product community. This paper provides a different way of theorizing user contributions by incorporating uses and gratifications theory into the “Motivation-Behavior-Result” framework.
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