Research On The Impact Of Discussion Forum User Engagement On Word-of-mouth Generation Behavior In MOOC Review Sections

With the spread of Internet technology,Massive Open Online Courses(MOOC)have grown globally,allowing users to study without the constraints of time and space,and greatly popularising higher education.However,while the proliferation of MOOC courses provides convenience for learners,it also poses a selection dilemma.As an experiential product,users cannot directly judge the quality of a course by its external features,and word-of-mouth information based on online reviews is the key to choosing a course.As user-generated content,online course reviews are voluntarily provided by learners based on their learning experience,so it is crucial for online course providers and online learning platforms to motivate learners to write more and higher quality course reviews.In MOOCs,users not only complete their learning through audio and video,but also build their learning experience through interactions in discussion forums.However,based on the discussion forum environment,existing studies still fall short in exploring users’ willingness to generate word-of-mouth in the review section.Therefore,this thesis takes China University MOOC,a typical MOOC platform in China,as the research object and explores the relationship between user engagement in the discussion forum and wordof-mouth generation behaviour in the review section.In response to the lack of theoretical research on word-of-mouth generation in the review section of MOOC platforms,thesis asks the following three questions:(1)How does user engagement(posting and replying)in MOOC discussion forum affect their word-of-mouth generation behavior in the review section? How do teachers’ and peers’ participation play a moderating role?(2)How do the characteristics of users’ posting and teachers’ reply in discussion forum moderate the relationship between user engagement and review generating?(3)How does the quality of teacher service perceived by users in the discussion forum affect their subsequent review behavior? How does perceived learning play a mediating role between the two?Study 1 crawled the data related to the discussion and review sections using Python Language Programming in Chinese University MOOC as the sample source.The regression results found that: user posting significantly influenced review generation,and the role of user replies was not significant;on the basis of review generating,user posting significantly influenced the length of review;in addition,teacher reply significantly moderated the positive correlation between user posting and review generation.The moderating effects of teacher reply on review length,peer reply on review generation and review length were not significant.Study 2 extended the previous model in depth,and the results showed that both the user’s two-way engagement level(the ratio between reply and post)and content relevance of posting were significantly and positively correlated with review generation and review length,in addition,teacher reply positively moderated the positive correlations between reply posting ratio,content relevance of posting and review generation,and reply posting ratio and review text length.Study 3 adopted a questionnaire to explore the mechanisms influencing MOOC learners’ review generation and found that: reliability,responsiveness and empathy positively influenced the quality of teaching services,which positively influenced learners’ perceived cognitive learning and affective learning;although the quality of teaching services did not directly influence review generation intention,it indirectly influenced learners’ review generation through the mediating role of affective learning Intentions.This thesis extends the theoretical study of the factors influencing word-of-mouth generation in comment sections by combining the discussion forum and review section in MOOCs,explores the differences in the moderating effects of different types of social interaction,and explores the influencing mechanisms between the quality of service model,perceived learning and review generation,bridging the gaps in related research.At the same time,this study provides important theoretical implications and practical value for how course managers,i.e.teachers,can play their role in the discussion forum.