HUMAN MOTIVATION PRINCIPLES AND HUMAN FACTORS

FOR VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES

Azam Esfijani

, Farookh Khadeer Hussain

and

Elizabeth Chang

School of Information System, Curtin University, Perth, Australia

School of Software, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia

Keywords: Social Network Services, Virtual University, Human Motivations, Human Factors.

Abstract: The main purpose of this study is to investigate, from a theoretical point of view, virtual universities in

comparison with Social Networking Services (SNS). The theoretical framework constitutes of the Human

Motivation Theory (HMT) and the Human Factors (HF) in which Facebook as the most popular SNS is

compared with virtual university in general. The main features of these technologies were compared in

order to consider whether they comply with mentioned theories. Using an exploratory research

methodology, this study concludes that SNSs are more adopted with HMT than virtual university. In the

other word, Facebook applications as the most popular virtual community with over 500,000,000 users

worldwide, is more compliant with HMT to gratify users’ needs. Also, from the perspective of human

factors, it is more successful than the virtual university.

1 INTRODUCTION

Virtual university like all types of educational

entities has challenges as well as significances.

Although it may overcome time and place barriers

(Barbour and Reeves 2009); (Tabatabaie, 2010)

where the students can be educated wherever and

whenever suits them, it lacks the most important

component of socialization, which is face to face

communication (Burbles, 2004). This social

interaction as Vygotsky argued in his learning

theory, plays a fundamental role in the process of

human development (Schank, 2000). All kinds of

virtual communications happen through 0/1 binary

codes, and it might affect the efficacy of human

interactions. However, in spite of this challenge,

social network services such as Facebook are able to

successfully attract millions of people.

In this research, using Human Motivation Theory

(HMT) and Human Factor (HF) principles, we are

going to investigate why Facebook can be a large

social community but virtual universities cannot.

The literature review examines virtual universities,

Facebook, HMT and HF. Then, the compliance of

these interaction media (Facebook and virtual

universities) with HMT and HF will be considered

and finally the conclusion will be presented.

2 BACKGROUND

Advances in information and communication (ICT)

technologies have affected our instructional systems

as have many other aspects of life in the new

millennium. For instance, some tertiary educational

institutions have transformed to a new form which is

called Virtual University. There are a variety of

definitions for VU that mostly refer to virtual

university as a web-based learning environment

without any physical structure for higher education

students. In this kind of university, synchronous and

asynchronous technologies have been employed to

transfer instructional materials to students and to

provide learning opportunities for them (Ryan et al.,

2000). The main purpose of establishing VU is to

enable higher education access for people who

cannot satisfy their educational needs in

conventional universities. The history of this

technology dates to the 1960s, when The Open

University as the first successful virtual university in

the world was founded (Anon, 2011). Despite the

OU’s efforts in Australia to retain students most of

its new students (60%-70%) give up after one unit

(Deden, 2005); (Jones et al., 2004) thereby

indicating very high attrition rates amongst the

students. The low rate of enrolment, withdrawal

Esﬁjani A., Khadeer Hussain F. and Chang E..

HUMAN MOTIVATION PRINCIPLES AND HUMAN FACTORS FOR VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES .

DOI: 10.5220/0003877100930100

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU-2012), pages 93-100

ISBN: 978-989-8565-06-8

 2012 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

after the first year and the lack of continuance

intention are considerable issues in virtual

universities not only in Australia, but also in other

parts of the world (Carr 2000); (Joo et al. 2011);

(Lee 2010). The most likely demand for a VU would

be in developing countries with a dense population

and lack of sufficient higher education institutions

and infrastructures. However, evidence shows that

students prefer to enrol in conventional universities

instead of virtual universities despite the flexibility

and other benefits of a VU (Sarlak and Abolhasani,

2008).

In contrast however, Online Social Network

Sites (SNS) as another type of virtual communities

have experienced an unprecedented growth in the

recent decade and are emerging as the web’s top

application (Chiu et al., 2008). Taken on the basis of

head count of membership, Facebook and Twitter

are the largest SNS communities on the earth.

2.1 Facebook as a Successful SNS

Facebook is the most popular SNS, which according

to Alexia’s website is the most visited SNS in the

world. In general, it is ranked after Google as the

second most visited global website. The growing

success of Facebook is undeniable although the

drivers which are behind its growth are not clearly

determined and understood. Little academic

research has been conducted in this area. A

thorough review of the existing literature of SNSs

reveals the following reasons as the key drivers of

Facebook’s success:

Privacy. Privacy has emerged as a crucial issue in

social network environments (Shin, 2010). Westin

(as cited in Weiss, 2009) has defined privacy as

“being the claim of individuals, groups, or

institutions to determine for themselves when, how,

and to what extent information about them is

communicated to others”. Facebook has enabled all

users to decide what and how much they want to

share. In other words, they control who sees their

information. They can share their private

information with friends, friends of friends or

everyone in the Facebook community. Furthermore,

users can remove themselves from Facebook search

results and even more, from results provided by

search engines such as Google. Hence, everyone can

share or protect what she/he wants (Hart et al.,

2008). So it can be claimed that Facebook provides

adequate privacy for all users.

Trust. In human interactions, trust has always been

an important factor in exchanges involving risk

(Shin 2010). Facebook has the reputation of being a

trustworthy social networking website more so than

other SNSs (Fogel and Nehmad, 2009) due to strong

regulatory and administrative controls. In

considering trust on social network sites, researchers

indicated that trust may affect what people are

willing to share with others. It has been proven that

Facebook users have greater trust in Facebook than

users have in other SNSs. Therefore, Facebook users

are more willing to share information on the site

(Dwyer et al., 2007).

Simplicity and Human Interface. Facebook’s user

interface is completely self- explanatory and easy to

use. The site elements make it very easy for users to

navigate and find the desired features very quickly.

Research findings revealed that Facebook is an easy

to use social networking site, enabling users to

effectively communicate with friends (Gomez et al.,

2008); (Hart et al., 2008)

Maintaining Social Capital. Research results

indicate that most users use Facebook as a

surveillance tool for maintaining or intensifying

their offline relationships. Facebook members use

this site to manage friendships that were initiated

offline (Hoadley et al., 2009); (Krisanic, 2008);

(Lampe et al., 2006); (Lampe et al., 2007); (Ross et

al., 2009); (Steinfield et al., 2008). This offline to

online movement is very different from the early

social networking services and other virtual

communities. Ellison et al. (2006) argue that there is

a significant relationship between Facebook use and

high school connections that indicates how online

social networks help maintain relationships as

people move from one offline community to

another.

Entertainment. Most Facebook users join SNSs just

for fun. They use Facebook to amuse themselves and

pass the time in an enjoyable way. Scholars who

investigate the usage of digital media and motivation

argue that one of the main motivations driving

people to use web-based media is entertainment

(Papacharissi and Rubin, 2000). As research

findings indicate, since Facebook use is so

widespread, the major predictor motive is

entertainment (Clark et al., 2007); (Krisanic, 2008).

Self-presentation. Kramer and Winter (2008)

declared that impression management is one of the

main motives for actively participating in social

networking websites. It means that a given user joins

Facebook to influence other users’ perception of

him/her. Facebook has provided a completely new

method of self-presentation (Mehdizadeh, 2010)

where Facebook users can publicize their events,

CSEDU2012-4thInternationalConferenceonComputerSupportedEducation

news and interests in different ways to influence

others.

Financially Affordable. Everyone can join

Facebook for free. There is no real pecuniary penalty

for leaving Facebook unlike some virtual

communities, which result in non-users being more

likely to try it for the first time (Gomez et al., 2008).

2.2 Human Motivations

There are many different learning theories which

trace and model the process of human behaviour. A

well-known theory in this regard is Maslow’s theory

which is categorized as a motivational theory in

educational psychology. Motivational theories

address people’s potential and capabilities as they

make choices and seek control over their lives

(Schunk, 2008). The main purpose of these theories

is to recognize and provide an explanation for

people’s behaviours. Hence, people’s feelings,

thoughts and desires should be considered in relation

to these theories.

Abraham Maslow’s motivation theory holds that

people are motivated by their needs. He therefore

tried to depict and categorize the main human needs.

The theory is usually represented as a hierarchy with

five levels of needs.

Figure 1: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

According to this theory, the first level of needs,

physiological, involves necessities such as air, food,

water, sex, sleep and generally everything that the

physical organism needs to remain alive. If these

needs are met, people can continue their lives and

strive to satisfy the second level of needs which

concern the security of their environment,

employment, health and so on. Once these essential

needs are adequately satisfied, belongingness needs

become essential. These needs constitute having

family, friends, and close relationship with other

people. This level of needs drives people to

participate in different social activities and to join

various community activities. The fourth level of

Maslow’s hierarchy represents esteem needs which

include two different categories: self-esteem

(comprising self-esteem, achievement, confidence)

and external esteem (comprising of respect of others,

social status, fame, recognition and so forth).

Because of these needs, people strive to differentiate

themselves from others, achieve their goals and be

confident.

These four levels of needs are considered as

deprivation needs. Therefore, if these needs are not

met adequately, it causes deficiency and as a result,

people strive to satisfy these needs. The deficiencies

can harm mental health in the long-term (Schunk,

2008). According to this theory, the highest level of

human needs is self-actualization or self-fulfilment,

that is, to achieve all one’s potentialities. In other

words, self-actualization refers to the full realization

of one's potential (Maslow, 1954).

2.2.1 Human Motivations and using

Facebook

As the name of ‘Social Networking Services’

implies, SNSs tend to gratify the third level of

human needs which is social needs; however,

Facebook can actually be used to meet esteem needs

(level 4) as well. Krisanic (2008) tried to identify

social and psychological needs which are gratified

through using social networking sites especially

Facebook. As she remarked, the interactive nature of

Facebook provides an incredible range of choices for

audiences. They can contribute in this virtual

community in different ways; sending and receiving

messages, sharing media as movies, leaving

comment on other’s messages and photos, and so

forth.

People strive to prevent feelings of alienation

and loneliness. This strive includes both giving and

receiving love, affection and the sense of belonging

(Simons et al., 1987). In this regard, Facebook

enables users to experience being in a big

community and receiving love virtually. As in the

real life, people also are motivated to satisfy their

needs through the virtual life (Benjamin et al.,

2008). Table 1 summarises and presents how users

meet their needs by using Facebook.

2.2.2 Human Motivations and Virtual

University

According Human Motivation Theory people

contribute to different real or virtual communities to

fulfill one of their main needs which is the

belongingness need. However research findings

HUMANMOTIVATIONPRINCIPLESANDHUMANFACTORSFORVIRTUALCOMMUNITIES

Table1: Human motivations and using Facebook.

Level of Needs How it is gratified Using Facebook to meet the needs

Level

Belongingness

having relationship with others

belonging to groups

be accepted by others

giving and receiving love

• finding old friends

• finding new friends

• joining virtual groups

• giving and receiving gifts

• sharing thoughts and feelings

• sharing interests

• interacting with others

• develop the social status

• making own society

Level

Esteem

Needs

Internal

having self-respect

being self-confidence

achievement

accomplishment

mastery of a task

independency

External

be accepted and valued by others

respecting to others

be respected by others

recognition

acquire social status

acquire power and authority

revealed that people who join to the virtual

university communities cannot meet this need and it

is mentioned most virtual students suffered by

feeling of isolation and loneliness (Brown, 2001);

(McInnerney and Roberts, 2004); (Shen et al.,

2008); (Wang and Newlin, 2000). This frustration

can affect student engagement with educational

material in a virtual environment (Lee and Zailani,

2010).

As mentioned in HMT, self-actualization is

another important need which people strive to fulfill.

In order to realize their full potential and to become

what they potentially can be, people choose different

options like study, sport, professions, etc. So it can

be claimed that some people who choose to study at

virtual or conventional universities, want to fulfill

themselves. If virtual students can achieve their

educational goals through a virtual university, they

can meet their self-actualization needs. However, in

virtual universities student achievement can be

affected by some frustrations like sense of isolation

(Rovai and Wighting, 2005), low quality of learning

experience, communication barriers, and so on. The

higher student dropout rate from virtual universities,

compared with that in conventional universities

indicates that learning achievement and student

satisfaction in this kind of university are not

adequate (Carr, 2000). According to evidence from

the literature, it can be said that virtual universities

do not comply with HMT. In the other words,

students in virtual learning environments cannot

fulfill their social and self-actualization needs.

2.3 Human Factor

There are a variety of terms referring to the same

concept including Human Factors (HF), Software

Human Factors (SHF), and Software Usability

Engineering (SUE), etc. Although in the literature

these terms are used synonymously, the Human

Factors has emerged as a major part of software

usability engineering which is related to developing

software compatible with user interface. This field

of study, as Mayhew (2003) discussed, can be

directly applied to website development, because a

website is a kind of software with a different

platform. The number of people who browse the

World Wide Web is enormous and differ greatly in

terms of user characteristics such as abilities,

computer literacy, preferences, and language, so

these characteristics are considerable for web

designers. Sears (2003) listed the most important

issues related to human factors in web development

as:

• Age related problems;

• Cognitive, perceptual and physical disabilities;

• Cultural and language issues;

• Technological barriers such as screen size and

network connection.

He discussed how web designers should deal with

each issue when they develop websites. Kurosu

(2003) focused on culture as one of the major human

factors to consider when developing virtual

environments and launched guidelines on

international as well as localization websites design.

CSEDU2012-4thInternationalConferenceonComputerSupportedEducation

All these sort of issues and solutions involve the

human factors as it relates to user interface and

design standards which facilitate information

delivery on the World Wide Web (Ratner, 2003).

2.3.1 Human Factors and Facebook

The popularity of social networks, especially

Facebook, encouraged many researchers to

investigate this appealing technology from different

perspectives. There are a number of researches

investigating Facebook usability and user interface.

For instance, Fox and Naidu (2009) measured the

usability of the three most popular social networks:

Facebook (www.facebook.com), My Space

(www.myspace.com) and Orkut (www.orkut.com).

To evaluate their usability, they considered user

satisfaction, navigation efficacy, success and

difficulties in doing tasks in each website. Their

results revealed that Facebook in terms of human

factors and usability is more successful than the

other social websites. In another research project,

Hart et al. (2008) conducted a heuristic evaluation to

find how Facebook as a popular social network

considered usability (human factors) guidelines.

They argued that, although Facebook does not

comply with traditional usability guidelines, its

performance is excellent in providing desirable

experiences for its users and it complies with several

emotional and cognitive human features such as

curiosity, self- expression, and so on.

2.3.2 Human Factors and Virtual University

It is proved that incorporating emotional and

cognitive human factors in online learning

environments can improve the effectiveness of these

virtual learning systems (Mourlas et al., 2009).

Although motivation as one of the human factors

can be increased by the convenience and flexibility

of a virtual learning environment (Piccoli et al.,

2011).

Research findings show that the structure of

communications and educational programs in virtual

classrooms are inadequate in terms of increasing or

even maintaining students’ motivation. Online

learners mostly experience a lack of the sense of

community which is known to be one of the factors

influencing students’ motivation and goal

achievement in virtual courses (Rovai, 2002; Sadera

et al., 2009). Sadera et al. (2009) argued that the

learning achievement as well as student retention in

online education will be improved by increasing the

sense of community among these students. Their

survey results indicated that there is a significant

relationship between students’ achievement and their

sense of community in online education

environments. The results of this study confirm the

findings of Rovai and Wighting (2005) which

highlighted importance of a sense of community in

online students’ achievement and student retention

in virtual learning environments. Researchers also

revealed that in a virtual learning environment,

students encounter more limitations such as lack of

immediate feedback, ambiguity of online

instructions and technical problems (Hara and Kling,

1999).

These challenges can influence virtual

universities’ student retention rates and learning

achievement. In spite of the challenges associated

with virtual universities, this kind of educational

system nevertheless provides a flexible and

convenient learning environment which can be

desirable for those who cannot attend traditional

classrooms (Barbour and Reeves, 2009); (Johnston,

2007); (Tabatabaie, 2010). With the development of

there are various technology enhanced solutions

which the VU’s could make use to address the

shortcomings identified with VU’s. This would

enable the growth of virtual universities.

3 CONCLUSIONS

In this research, two virtual communities including

Facebook and a virtual university are investigated

through existing literature to determine the extent of

their compliance with human motivations principles

and human factors guidelines. Generally, according

to our research findings (Table 2) it can be

concluded that Facebook as a virtual community is

more successful than virtual university. This success

can be attributed to the structure of this online

virtual community which has developed a pleasant

environment for users in which they can fulfill their

social and self-esteem needs. It has been proven that

Facebook users have a strong sense of community

which encourages them to maintain their

relationships between each other.

Furthermore, effective navigational tools and

adherence to usability guidelines and user

satisfaction in this SNS has engendered a desirable

environment for users. However, virtual universities

because of some frustrations such as lack of

motivational programs, sense of community and

immediate feedback, as well as technical barriers

and ambiguity of instructions, fail to comply with

guidelines regarding human factors. Also, virtual

universities cannot help their learners to fulfill their

HUMANMOTIVATIONPRINCIPLESANDHUMANFACTORSFORVIRTUALCOMMUNITIES

Table 2: Compatibility of two virtual communities (VC) with HF and HM theories.

Theory

References

Human Motivations

Human Factors

Virtual

University

- Cannot fulfill belongingness need

(because of a sense of isolation)

- Cannot fulfill self-actualization

need (because of the quality of

learning, low satisfaction, high

dropout rate)

Brown

2001,

McInnerney

2004,

Shen et

al 2

008,

Wang

2000,

Hara

and Kling

1999,

Carr,2000

- Lack of immediate feedback

- Lack of sense of community

- Lack of motivating programs

- Ambiguous instructions

- Technical problems

+ Convenience

+ Flexibility

Rovai

2002,

Sadera et

2009,

Rovai

and

Wighting

2005,

Hara

and

Kling

1999,

Johnston 2007,

Barbour

and

Reeves 2009,

Tabatabaie

2010

Facebook

+ Giving a sense of community

+ Fulfill belongingness need

+ Fulfill esteem needs

Krisanic, 2008

+ Effective navigation tools

+ Considering user satisfaction

+ Considering usability guidelines

+ Compatibility with emotional

and cognitive factors

- Including some difficult tasks

Foxand

Naidu

2009,

Hart

et al

2008

social and self-actualization needs which are

considered to be major drivers that encourage

students to participate in these learning

environments. A sense of loneliness, the perception

of low quality learning, and low satisfaction of

virtual students which leads to high dropout rates,

are evidence that virtual universities have failed to

comply with the human motivations.

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