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Bringing Social Presence to Online Shopping through
the Web Interface
Dr. Khaled HassaneinAssociate Professor of Information Systems
&Director, McMaster eBusiness
Research Centre (MeRC)DeGroote School of Business
McMaster University
Dr. Milena HeadAssociate Professor of Information Systems
&Associate Dean Academic
DeGroote School of BusinessMcMaster 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
Soc
ial P
rese
nce
Med
ium
Soc
ial P
rese
nce
Hig
h S
ocia
l Pre
senc
e
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 UsefulnessR2=0.324
TrustR2=0.138
EnjoymentR2=0.117
AttitudeR2=0.463
Perceived Ease of
Use
n=78
Low
Soc
ial P
rese
nce “straight forward”
“lacked a personal touch”
“dull and boring”“too plain”
“to the point”
“clear”
Med
ium
Soc
ial P
rese
nce
“interesting”“fun and imaginative”
“did not help in making a decision”
“not helpful in assessing what the[product] looks like”
Hig
h S
ocia
l Pre
senc
e“clothing was masked by all theactions in the pictures”
“helped better visualize the product”
“enjoyed seeing peoplewearing the clothingand the activitiesthey were takingpart in”
“gives me ideas on how to dress … in whichsituations 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
Soc
ial P
rese
nce
Med
ium
Soc
ial P
rese
nce
Hig
h S
ocia
l Pre
senc
e
Headphones
Headphones
Headphones
Headphones
Headphones
Clothing
Headphones Clothing
Clothing
Clothing
Clothing
Clothing
Headphones
Clothing
Comparing across product types …
Social Presence
Perceived Usefulness
Trust
Enjoyment
Attitude
Perceived Ease of
Use
n(Clothing)=78n(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 triedtoo hard to get an emotionalresponse about a technicalproduct”
“freaky .... I don’t need to see someonewearing 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!
ReferenceHassanein, 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.
