Hazel Hall's invited paper presented at JISC CETIS Conference, Aston University, Birmingham, 21 November 2007. The work discussed in this paper was later developed into two refereed conference papers available at http://drhazelhall.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/2008_hall_widen_wulff_use_oulu1.pdf and http://www.slideshare.net/HazelHall/shared-relationships-spaces-and-online-information-behaviours-a-social-exchange-and-capital-perspective, and then a journal article accessible from http://hazelhall.org/?attachment_id=119.

1. Motivating learner engagement in online
environments: the relevance of social
exchange theory
Hazel Hall
School of Computing

2. Aptitude and willingness to share information
 Crucial to learning
 In all environments levels of sharing impact, for example
 Knowledge transfer
 Knowledge (or information in may cases) storage
 Further sharing
 New knowledge creation
In educational environment - learning
In business environment - product/services development

3. Social exchange theory as a suitable
theoretical framework?
 Corporate environment 2001 – discussed elsewhere
 Large, distributed, information-intensive multinational organisation
 More evidence of exchange per se than social exchange
 Non-corporate environment 2007 – discussed here
 University
 Stronger evidence of applicability of social exchange

4. Exchange theory
 Economic resources are bought and sold
 Deals are subject to contractual obligations
 Resources exchanged for currency
 Purchaser choices made from a range of options normally
according to which offers the best value for the lowest cost

5. Exchange structures
 Direct/restricted
 Expectation of reciprocation between 2 parties
 Generalised
 Trading across group members
 Paths of reciprocation difficult to define
 Productive
 Individuals engage in exchange for the purposes of achieving a joint
output

6. Social exchange theory
 Shares characteristics with exchange theory
 Trading of goods by individuals and groups of people in range of
exchange structures (direct/restricted, generalised, productive)
PLUS
 Actors share social bonds
 Actors maintain high levels of trust
 Actors known to one another through long-term, dependent
relationships
 Resources exchanged may be more highly valued than market
cost
 Mutual obligation of trading partners is often ill-defined

7. Social exchange theory & social sciences
 Anthropology
 Practices of gift-giving
 Behavioural psychology
 Learning process
 Sociology
 Power relationships

8. SET and information systems research
 Studies that demonstrate relevance of concepts of social
exchange, but without direct acknowledgement
 Collaborative software development
 Decision-support systems in healthcare environments
 Studies that use SET with limited discussion of information and
knowledge sharing
 Knowledge/information exchange and innovation processes
 Knowledge/information exchange and success of outsourcing projects
 Studies that make explicit reference to SET
 Open source communities
 Success/failure of strategic alliances between firms

9. SET and information science research
 Scholarly communication
 Social process depending on relationships built through research
communities and invisible colleges
 Processes of scholarship
 Productive exchange
 Citation analysis
 Social connectivity of researchers and the importance of levels of trust
 Acknowledgements
 Form of gift-giving

10. Non-corporate environment 2007
 49 student members of a third year undergraduate module
 Blogging environment as a focus for information/knowledge
sharing activity through comments on main blog entries
 Minimal intervention on part of tutors
 Requirement to contribute 2 comments per week, i.e. dependent
relationship for marks (plus peer support)
Expectation that social exchange theory may be applicable
in this environment?

11. Primary data sets
 Main blog entries (all students)
 Reflections on information sharing in this environment
 Stated motivations for participation
 Comments on main blog entries (all students)
 Actual exchanges
 Reciprocation where evident
 Patterns of direct exchange
 (Limited) interview data (3)
 Survey of student ties (35 respondents)
 Friends, acquaintances, strangers (problems of designation)
 Student “proximity” data (all students)
 Programme, tutorial group, course work team (only official data)

12. Influences on information exchange
 Existing relationships (35 students 595 pairs)
 Desire to reciprocate
 Rewards: soft and hard
 Habit of exchange engendered in the developing online
environment

13. Influences on information exchange
 Existing relationships (35 students 595 pairs)
Which dominate?
Which dominate?
 Desire to reciprocate Could social exchange
Could social exchange
theory explain
theory explain
information sharing in
information sharing in
 Rewards: soft and hard this case?
this case?
 Habit of exchange engendered in the developing online
environment

14. Relationships and reciprocation
Friends Acquaintances Strangers
None 48 94 96
Little - no pattern 27 6 4
Some - pattern 2 0 0
Much - strong pattern 23 0 0
Total 100 100 100
Figures represent the percentage of student pairs in samples of
“agreed” levels of friendship: F=44 (all), A=17 (all), S=45 (sample).
Reciprocation = A comments on B’s blog and B comments on A’s
blog at any point during the delivery of the module.

15. Relationships and comment contributions
The only comments I Ihave
The only comments have
received are from people that I I
received are from people that I Ihave tried to comment on as
have tried to comment on as
know and I Ithink ititis the same
know and think is the same many blogs as possible.
many blogs as possible.
for other students. I Ido the
for other students. do the However, ititis so much easier to
However, is so much easier to
same as well. I Ionly send
same as well. only send comment on my friends’ blogs
comment on my friends’ blogs
comments to people I Iknow.
comments to people know. since I Iunderstand their thinking
since understand their thinking
better.
better.
In the first week I Iposted
In the first week posted
comments only to on
comments only to on
French students’ blogs (my
French students’ blogs (my
friends) to get comments
friends) to get comments
from them on my own blog.
from them on my own blog.

16. Relationships and reciprocation
Friends Acquaintances Strangers
None 48 94 96
Little - no pattern 27 6 4
Some - pattern 2 0 0
Much - strong pattern 23 0 0
Total 100 100 100
Students established as friends were more likely to reciprocate than
those who were not.
Analysis of “proximity” data showed that the friendships that exhibited
the highest level of reciprocation activity were between students on the
same degree and in the same tutorial group (and, in some cases, the
same course work team).

17. Proximity – friendship – information exchange
Friendship
Proximity Socially motivated
exchange

18. Other motivations: reciprocation per se
[I am] a bit disappointed with
[I am] a bit disappointed with
the turn-out of comments on my
the turn-out of comments on my
One thing I Ido feel is that when
One thing do feel is that when blog site as I Itried to harass
blog site as tried to harass
someone comments on my
someone comments on my people to post comments but I I
people to post comments but
blog I Ifeel obliged… to
blog feel obliged… to guess ititdidn’t work... If I Iposted
guess didn’t work... If posted
comment [on theirs].
comment [on theirs]. more on other people’s blogs,
more on other people’s blogs,
perhaps I Iwould have gotten a
perhaps would have gotten a
few more comments.
few more comments.
A gift economy?
A gift economy?

19. Other motivations: reputation, fame, status
We were all aware that everyone was meant
We were all aware that everyone was meant
to comment on another two blog entries.
to comment on another two blog entries.
Therefore you didn’t want to be seen as the
Therefore you didn’t want to be seen as the
I Iwas more likely to comment
was more likely to comment one who had been left out, or less popular…
one who had been left out, or less popular…
on blogs which I Ifound
on blogs which found receiving a comment almost acted as a
receiving a comment almost acted as a
particularly interesting,
particularly interesting, stamp of approval. It was rewarding to know
stamp of approval. It was rewarding to know
reflective and thought-
reflective and thought- that the blog had actually been read by
that the blog had actually been read by
provoking… which were a little
provoking… which were a little someone [and] the time and effort to write
someone [and] the time and effort to write
lengthier, and ititwas clear that
lengthier, and was clear that the blog entries had been worthwhile.
the blog entries had been worthwhile.
the person had put some time
the person had put some time
into thinking about their
into thinking about their
responses.
responses.

20. Other motivations: hard reward
I Idefinitely don’t think I Iwould
definitely don’t think would
I Idid try to get a good mark
did try to get a good mark have created blogs and posted
with my blog, but I Ialso tried have created blogs and posted
with my blog, but also tried comments had ititnot been part
comments had not been part
to make a blog which was
to make a blog which was of the course work
different. of the course work
different. specification.
specification.
3 levels of participation
1. Conscious of mark, yet still making an effort: information exchange worth
more than the mark alone.
2. Reluctant participation, with eye on mark
3. Minimal effort

21. Local inhibitors of information sharing
 Technical infrastructure
 Late arrival student difficulties
 Individual system set-up
 Deadlines for uploading of main blog entries
 Definition of “end of the week”

22. Local inhibitors of information sharing
 Technical infrastructure
 Late arrival student difficulties
 Individual system set-up
 Deadlines for uploading of main blog entries
 Definition of “end of the week”
Both practical problems
Both practical problems
with the module and
with the module and
issues that impact the
issues that impact the
research outcomes.
research outcomes.

23. Hard reward versus social incentives
Soft rewards Reciprocation
Friendship
Proximity Socially motivated
exchange
Hard rewards

24. Conclusions and implications
 Reward appears to be important
 Importance of local context in explaining information sharing in
online environments
 Care required in setting up such environments, e.g. promotion of
inclusion in educational settings, handling markers of “fame”
 Organisational complexities make it difficult to isolate factors of
influence in this kind of study
 Incomplete data a particular problem, e.g. strength of pre-
existing social ties, “proximity” data in student study
 Scope for further research