Bringing Social Presence to Online Shopping through the Web Interface Dr. Khaled Hassanein Associate Professor of Information Systems & Director, McMaster eBusiness Research Centre (MeRC) DeGroote School of Business McMaster University Dr. Milena Head Associate Professor of Information Systems & Associate Dean Academic DeGroote School of Business McMaster University METIS Security Seminar Series – March 10, 2006

Shopping.. a rich experience

Online Shopping …..

Online vs. Offline Shopping  Offline shopping: a wide range of emotions involving various types of social interactions engages our five senses  Online shopping: geared towards reducing the user’s cognitive burden through functional and performance based Website design heuristics engages only 2 of our senses

Trust in the Online Environment  Trust is more difficult to build in an online environment because … different locations less data control lower barriers to entry and exit Perceptions of lower security lack of physical trust cues lack of physical evaluation impersonal, anonymous and automated

Social Presence  Social presence (SP) is the extent to which a medium allows users to experience others as being psychologically present  It can also refer to the richness of the media or the interactivity afforded by the media  SP could also be connected to the warmth felt through the medium.… A feeling of human contact.... Sociability.... Sensitivity  Instilling human warmth through: actual interaction with other humans stimulating the imagination of interacting with other humans

An investigation ….  Varying levels of social presence though text and pictures  Impacts on trust, enjoyment and TAM … and ultimately on attitude

The Model … Social Presenc e Attitude Perceived Usefulness Trust Enjoyment Perceived Ease of Use

Low Social Presence

Medium Social Presence

High Social Presence

The Stats ….  Content validity Constructs drawn from existing validated measures  Construct validity Convergent validity  Loadings above 0.6; alphas above 0.8; AVE above 0.5 Discriminant validity  Correlations between items of any two constructs < square root of AVE shared by items within a construct  Manipulation validity Post-hoc Tukey test confirmed significant differences between groups

The Results … 0.400** 0.247* 0.410** 0.193* 0.342** 0.372** 0.349** Social Presenc e Perceived Usefulness R 2 =0.324 Trust R 2 =0.138 Enjoyment R 2 =0.117 Attitude R 2 =0.463 Perceived Ease of Use n=78

Low Social Presence “straight forward” “lacked a personal touch” “dull and boring” “too plain” “to the point” “clear”

Medium Social Presence “interesting” “fun and imaginative” “did not help in making a decision” “not helpful in assessing what the [product] looks like”

High Social Presence “clothing was masked by all the actions in the pictures” “helped better visualize the product” “enjoyed seeing people wearing the clothing and the activities they were taking part in” “gives me ideas on how to dress … in which situations I should wear the clothes” “appealing”

Interesting …..... but does this vary by product type???

Different types of products Visual evaluation Tactile evaluation

Product Types according to Burke*  Infrequently purchased durable goods (e.g., appliances, consumer electronics, furniture), consumers want retailers to provide detailed product information and excellent service;  frequently purchased nondurable goods (e.g., groceries, health items, office supplies) consumers want to have fast, convenient shopping experiences;  entertainment (e.g., books, toys, games) and apparel goods consumers want to have fun and entertaining shopping experiences. *Burke, R.R. Technology and the consumer interface: What consumers want in the physical and virtual store. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 30, 4 (2002), 411–432.

Low Social Presence

Medium Social Presence

High Social Presence

Headphones Clothing Headphones Clothing Headphones Clothing Comparing across product types … Social Presenc e Perceived Usefulness Trust Enjoyment Attitude Perceived Ease of Use n(Clothing)=78 n(Headphones)=90 Social presence does not appear to have the same impact!

Comments …. “easier to view the product when people were not included in the pictures” “makes me suspicious” “untrustworthy because it tried too hard to get an emotional response about a technical product” “freaky.... I don’t need to see someone wearing headphones!” “cut to the chase without extra fluff!” “pointless … I know how to use headphones”

Conclusions  Incorporating social presence on commercial Web sites DOES have a significant impact on consumer attitudinal antecedents towards retailing Websites  It’s easy enough to do!  Not all product types will benefit from this approach

Future Directions  Study impact of social presence on other product types  Study other methods of introducing social presence on Websites  Does the impact of social presence vary by: Culture Gender Consumer goal

This type of research is important to …. Help turn window shoppers into … Windows shoppers!

Reference Hassanein, K. & Head, M., (2005/06) “The Impact of Infusing Social Presence in the Web Interface: an Investigation across Different Products”, International Journal of Electronic commerce (IJEC), Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 31–55.

Thank you! Khaled Hassanein