Can media richness and interaction act as stimulants to medical professionals’ learning persistence in MOOCs via fostering learning engagement?

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to propose a research model based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model to examine whether media richness (MR), human-system interaction (HSI) and human-human interaction (HHI) as technological feature antecedents to medical professionals’ learning engagement (LE) can affect their learning persistence (LP) in massive open online courses (MOOCs). Design/methodology/approach Sample data for this study were collected from medical professionals at six university-/medical university-affiliated hospitals in Taiwan. A total of 600 questionnaires were distributed, and 309 (51.5%) usable questionnaires were analyzed using structural equation modeling in this study. Findings This study certified that medical professionals’ perceived MR, HSI and HHI in MOOCs positively affected their emotional LE, cognitive LE and social LE elicited by MOOCs, which together explained their LP in MOOCs. The results support all proposed hypotheses and the research model accounts for 84.1% of the variance in medical professionals’ LP in MOOCs. Originality/value This study uses the S-O-R model as a theoretical base to construct medical professionals’ LP in MOOCs as a series of the psychological process, which is affected by MR and interaction (i.e. HSI and HHI). Noteworthily, three psychological constructs, emotional LE, cognitive LE and social LE, are adopted to represent medical professionals’ organisms of MOOCs adoption. To date, hedonic/utilitarian concepts are more commonly adopted as organisms in prior studies using the S-O-R model and psychological constructs have received lesser attention. Hence, this study enriches the S-O-R model into an invaluable context, and this study’s contribution on the application of capturing psychological constructs for completely explaining three types of technological features as external stimuli to medical professionals’ LP in MOOCs is well-documented.

To continue or not to continue? Examining the antecedents of MOOCs continuance intention through the lens of the stimulus-organism-response model

“…When the media provide the tools for creating contents that match users' current needs, users will perceive the media richer and they are more likely to become emotionally engaged in the media usage (Coursaris et al, 2016;Mirzaei and Esmaeilzadeh, 2021). In the online learning context, when online learning platforms can represent a high level of media richness to meet the learners' needs, media richness on these platforms will facilitate learners to be deeply engrossed in the online learning activity (Liu et al, 2009;Cheng, 2023b). Thus, this study posits that learners' perceived media richness can influence their emotional LE elicited by MOOCs.…”

“…Thus, the enriched multiplicity of a medium that deliver various types of contents via hyperlink to users can facilitate their social Antecedents of MOOCs continuance intention interaction with others (Yu et al, 2017;Shao and Pan, 2019). In the context of MOOCs, if the MOOCs platform has a high level of media richness, learners will be able to effectively communicate and exchange knowledge with instructors and other learners, and timely receive quick feedback on the platform, which in turn will facilitate learners to actively interact with instructors and other learners in the MOOCs learning process (Zhao et al, 2020;Cheng, 2023b). Thus, this study posits that learners' perceived media richness can influence their social LE elicited by MOOCs.…”

To continue or not to continue? Examining the antecedents of MOOCs continuance intention through the lens of the stimulus-organism-response model

“…When the media provide the tools for creating contents that match users' current needs, users will perceive the media richer and they are more likely to become emotionally engaged in the media usage (Coursaris et al, 2016;Mirzaei and Esmaeilzadeh, 2021). In the online learning context, when online learning platforms can represent a high level of media richness to meet the learners' needs, media richness on these platforms will facilitate learners to be deeply engrossed in the online learning activity (Liu et al, 2009;Cheng, 2023b). Thus, this study posits that learners' perceived media richness can influence their emotional LE elicited by MOOCs.…”

“…Thus, the enriched multiplicity of a medium that deliver various types of contents via hyperlink to users can facilitate their social Antecedents of MOOCs continuance intention interaction with others (Yu et al, 2017;Shao and Pan, 2019). In the context of MOOCs, if the MOOCs platform has a high level of media richness, learners will be able to effectively communicate and exchange knowledge with instructors and other learners, and timely receive quick feedback on the platform, which in turn will facilitate learners to actively interact with instructors and other learners in the MOOCs learning process (Zhao et al, 2020;Cheng, 2023b). Thus, this study posits that learners' perceived media richness can influence their social LE elicited by MOOCs.…”

To continue or not to continue? Examining the antecedents of MOOCs continuance intention through the lens of the stimulus-organism-response model

“…When the media provide the tools for creating contents that match users' current needs, users will perceive the media richer and they are more likely to become emotionally engaged in the media usage (Coursaris et al, 2016;Mirzaei and Esmaeilzadeh, 2021). In the online learning context, when online learning platforms can represent a high level of media richness to meet the learners' needs, media richness on these platforms will facilitate learners to be deeply engrossed in the online learning activity (Liu et al, 2009;Cheng, 2023b). Thus, this study posits that learners' perceived media richness can influence their emotional LE elicited by MOOCs.…”

“…Thus, the enriched multiplicity of a medium that deliver various types of contents via hyperlink to users can facilitate their social Antecedents of MOOCs continuance intention interaction with others (Yu et al, 2017;Shao and Pan, 2019). In the context of MOOCs, if the MOOCs platform has a high level of media richness, learners will be able to effectively communicate and exchange knowledge with instructors and other learners, and timely receive quick feedback on the platform, which in turn will facilitate learners to actively interact with instructors and other learners in the MOOCs learning process (Zhao et al, 2020;Cheng, 2023b). Thus, this study posits that learners' perceived media richness can influence their social LE elicited by MOOCs.…”

To continue or not to continue? Examining the antecedents of MOOCs continuance intention through the lens of the stimulus-organism-response model

“…When the media provide the tools for creating contents that match users' current needs, users will perceive the media richer and they are more likely to become emotionally engaged in the media usage (Coursaris et al, 2016;Mirzaei and Esmaeilzadeh, 2021). In the online learning context, when online learning platforms can represent a high level of media richness to meet the learners' needs, media richness on these platforms will facilitate learners to be deeply engrossed in the online learning activity (Liu et al, 2009;Cheng, 2023b). Thus, this study posits that learners' perceived media richness can influence their emotional LE elicited by MOOCs.…”

“…Thus, the enriched multiplicity of a medium that deliver various types of contents via hyperlink to users can facilitate their social Antecedents of MOOCs continuance intention interaction with others (Yu et al, 2017;Shao and Pan, 2019). In the context of MOOCs, if the MOOCs platform has a high level of media richness, learners will be able to effectively communicate and exchange knowledge with instructors and other learners, and timely receive quick feedback on the platform, which in turn will facilitate learners to actively interact with instructors and other learners in the MOOCs learning process (Zhao et al, 2020;Cheng, 2023b). Thus, this study posits that learners' perceived media richness can influence their social LE elicited by MOOCs.…”