• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.105-130
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• 2008

Consumers of e-learning market differ from those of other markets in that they are replaced in a specific time scale. For example, e-learning contents aimed at highschool senior students cannot be consumed by a specific consumer over the designated period of time. Hence e-learning service providers need to attract new groups of students every year. Due to lack of information on products designed for continuously emerging consumers, the consumers face difficulties in making rational decisions in a short time period. Increased uncertainty of product purchase leads customers to herding behaviors to obtain information of the product from others and imitate them. Taking into consideration of these features of e-learning market, this study will focus on the online herding behavior in purchasing e-learning contents. There is no definite concept for e-learning. However, it is being discussed in a wide range of perspectives from educational engineering to management to e-business etc. Based upon the existing studies, we identify two main view-points regarding e-learning. The first defines e-learning as a concept that includes existing terminologies, such as CBT (Computer Based Training), WBT (Web Based Training), and IBT (Internet Based Training). In this view, e-learning utilizes IT in order to support professors and a part of or entire education systems. In the second perspective, e-learning is defined as the usage of Internet technology to deliver diverse intelligence and achievement enhancing solutions. In other words, only the educations that are done through the Internet and network can be classified as e-learning. We take the second definition of e-learning for our working definition. The main goal of this study is to investigate what factors affect consumer intention to purchase e-learning contents and to identify the differential impact of the factors between consumers with purchase experience and those without the experience. To accomplish the goal of this study, it focuses on herding behavior and perceived usefulness as antecedents to behavioral intention. The proposed research model in the study extends the Technology Acceptance Model by adding herding behavior and usability to take into account the unique characteristics of e-learning content market and e-learning systems use, respectively. The current study also includes consumer experience with e-learning content purchase because the previous experience is believed to affect purchasing intention when consumers buy experience goods or services. Previous studies on e-learning did not consider the characteristics of e-learning contents market and the differential impact of consumer experience on the relationship between the antecedents and behavioral intention, which is the target of this study. This study employs a survey method to empirically test the proposed research model. A survey questionnaire was developed and distributed to 629 informants. 528 responses were collected, which consist of potential customer group (n = 133) and experienced customer group (n = 395). The data were analyzed using PLS method, a structural equation modeling method. Overall, both herding behavior and perceived usefulness influence consumer intention to purchase e-learning contents. In detail, in the case of potential customer group, herding behavior has stronger effect on purchase intention than does perceived usefulness. However, in the case of shopping-experienced customer group, perceived usefulness has stronger effect than does herding behavior. In sum, the results of the analysis show that with regard to purchasing experience, perceived usefulness and herding behavior had differential effects upon the purchase of e-learning contents. As a follow-up analysis, the interaction effects of the number of purchase transaction and herding behavior/perceived usefulness on purchase intention were investigated. The results show that there are no interaction effects. This study contributes to the literature in a couple of ways. From a theoretical perspective, this study examined and showed evidence that the characteristics of e-learning market such as continuous renewal of consumers and thus high uncertainty and individual experiences are important factors to be considered when the purchase intention of e-learning content is studied. This study can be used as a basis for future studies on e-learning success. From a practical perspective, this study provides several important implications on what types of marketing strategies e-learning companies need to build. The bottom lines of these strategies include target group attraction, word-of-mouth management, enhancement of web site usability quality, etc. The limitations of this study are also discussed for future studies.

• 치위생과학회지
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.142-149
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• 2017

2016년 7월 23일부터 5개월간 부산광역시에 소재한 대학병원치과, 치과병 의원 및 보건소에 근무하는 치과위생사 123명을 대상으로 치과위생사의 핵심역량과 직무성과의 수준과 관련성을 파악하고, 직무성과에 영향을 미치는 핵심역량을 알아보고자 실시하였다. 본 연구대상자의 핵심역량 수준을 살펴보면 대인관계역량이 3.61점으로 가장 높았으며, 환자관리 및 교육역량이 3.59점, 조직관계역량이 3.57점, 기본치위생 관리역량이 3.56점 순으로 나타났다. 대상자의 직무성과에서는 상사가 요구한 일을 기일 내 마칠 수 있다가 3.93점으로 가장 높았으며, 다음으로 지각하지 않고 부주의로 타인에게 피해를 준 적이 없다가 3.76점으로 다음 순으로 나타났으며 상사가 책정해 놓은 목표치보다 초과달성 성과부분이 3.11점으로 상대적으로 낮게 나타났다. 치과병원에 근무하는 집단이 치과의원에 근무하는 집단보다 직무성과가 높은 것으로 나타났으며(p=0.009), 핵심역량과 직무성과 간에는 0.733으로 높은 상관관계를 가졌다. 그리고 핵심역량이 직무성과에 미치는 관련 변수들을 파악하기 위해 분석한 결과는 대인관계역량(p=0.25), 자기조절역량(p=0.32), 기본치위생 관리역량(p=0.15)이 유의하게 나타났다. 이상의 결과를 살펴보면 치과위생사들의 역량을 강화시키는 것이 직무성과를 달성하는 데 기여할 수 있으며, 이는 궁극적으로 환자들에게 양질의 의료서비스 제공하고 병원조직의 성과 달성에도 도움이 될 것이다. 따라서 치과위생사의 전공역량과 직업기초능력을 골고루 겸비할 수 있도록 치위생(학)과 교육과 더불어 현재 활동 중이 치과위생사들의 역량강화 교육 프로그램이 다양한 방법으로 행정적, 교육적 제도 지원이 필요할 것이다.