Open AccessComputer‐Mediated Word‐of‐Mouth Communication on RateMyProfessors.com: Expectancy Effects on Student Cognitive and Behavioral Learning
Author(s) -
Edwards Autumn,
Edwards Chad,
Shaver Carrie,
Oaks Mark
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of computer‐mediated communication
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.15
H-Index - 119
ISSN - 1083-6101
DOI - 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01445.x
Subject(s) - expectancy theory , affect (linguistics) , psychology , context (archaeology) , cognition , word of mouth , social psychology , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , communication , paleontology , marketing , neuroscience , business , biology
The purpose of this study was to experimentally test the influence of expectancies formed through computer‐mediated word‐of‐mouth communication (WOM) on student learning. Increasingly, students rely on computer‐mediated WOM through sites such as RateMyProfessors.com to aid in the process of information‐gathering and course selection. It was hypothesized that students who received positive computer‐mediated WOM about a course would demonstrate greater levels of cognitive and behavioral learning than would students who received no information or negative computer‐mediated WOM. Results demonstrated the predicted effects for cognitive and behavioral learning. It was further hypothesized that observed expectancy effects would be mediated by affect toward learning. Results supported a partial mediational role for affect in the context of positive expectancies, but not negative expectancies. Results were discussed in terms of the role of computer‐mediated WOM in generating expectations, the expectations‐affect‐behavior hypothesis, and the influence of student expectations on learning outcomes.