Entries Tagged 'Flow' ↓

Hoffman, Donna L. and Thomas P. Novak, “Flow Online:  Lessons Learned and Future Prospects” (September 14, 2007). 

Abstract.  Although the flow construct has been widely studied over the past decade in marketing and related fields, it has proven to be an elusive construct to measure and model.  In this paper, we first examine two of the most important themes in flow research in the last decade: the conceptualization and measurement of flow in online environments and the marketing outcomes of flow.  Second, while the unique characteristics of the Internet contributed to our belief that flow was an important construct for understanding consumer use of the Web in 1996, the environment of the Web itself has changed radically over the past decade.  Thus, we consider the current context of the Internet for the role and application of the flow construct, as well as important related constructs that will be useful for understanding compelling experiences in the contemporary online environment.   Download pdf.

Novak, Thomas P., Donna L. Hoffman, and Adam Duhachek, "The Influence of Goal-Directed and Experiential Actitivies on Online Flow Experiences," (December 2001).

Abstract.  Recently, it has been proposed that creating compelling experiences in the distinctive consumption environment defined by the Internet depends on facilitating a state of flow. While it has been established that consumers do, in fact, experience flow while using the Web, consumer researchers do not as yet have a comprehensive understanding of the specific activities during which consumers actually have these experiences.

One fruitful focus of research on online consumer experience has been on two distinct categories of consumption behavior – goal directed and experiential consumption behavior. Drawing distinctions between these behaviors for the Web may be particularly important because the experiential process is, for many individuals, as or even more important than the final instrumental result. However, the general and broad nature of flow measurement to date has precluded a precise investigation of flow during goal-directed versus experiential activities.

In this paper, we explore this issue, investigating whether flow occurs during both experiential and goal-directed activities, if experiential and goal-directed flow states differ in terms of underlying constructs, and what the key characteristics are – based upon prior theory – that define “types” of flow experiences reported on the Web. Our approach is to perform a series of quantitative analyses of qualitative descriptions of flow experiences provided by Web users collected in conjunction with the 10th GVU WWW User Survey. In contrast with previous research that suggests that flow would be more likely to occur during recreational activities than task-oriented activities, we found more evidence of flow for task-oriented rather than experiential activities, although there is evidence flow occurs under both scenarios. As a final note, we argue that the role that goal-directed and experiential activities may play in facilitating the creation of compelling online environments may also be important in a broader consumer policy context.  Download pdf.

Novak, Thomas P.,  Donna L. Hoffman, and Yiu-Fai Yung, "Measuring the Customer Experience in Online Environments: A Structural Modeling Approach," (October 1999).

Abstract.  Intuition and previous research suggest that creating a compelling online environment for Web consumers will have numerous positive consequences for commercial Web providers. Online executives note that creating a compelling online experience for cyber customers is critical to creating competitive advantage on the Internet. Yet, very little is known about the factors that make using the Web a compelling experience for its users, and of the key consumer behavior outcomes of this compelling experience.

In a quantitative modeling framework, we develop a structural model that embodies the components of what makes for a compelling online experience. We use data collected from a large sample Web-based consumer survey to measure these constructs, and fit a series of structural equation models that test related prior theory.

Our formulation provides marketing scientists with operational definitions of key model constructs and establishes reliability and validity in a comprehensive measurement framework. Further, our model constructs relate in significant ways to key consumer behavior variables, including online shopping and Web use applications such as the extent to which consumers search for product information and participate in chat rooms. As such, our model may be useful both theoretically and in practice as marketers strive to decipher the secrets of commercial success in interactive online environment.  Download pdf.

This paper appears in print as: Novak, T.P., D.L. Hoffman, and Y.F. Yung (2000), "Measuring the Customer Experience in Online Environments: A Structural Modeling Approach," Marketing Science, Winter, 19(1), 22-44.

See also:

The April 1999 working paaper includes additional structural models and analyses not included in the final version.

The May 1998 working paper is based upon an earlier data set.  The conceptual model used is somewhat different than subsequent versions of the paper.

The December 1997 initial detailed abstract for the paper.

Novak, Thomas P. and Donna L. Hoffman, "Measuring the Flow Experience Among Web Users," (July 1997).

Abstract.  The flow construct has recently been proposed as essential to understanding consumer navigation behavior in online environments. We review definitions and models of flow, and describe an empirical study which measures flow in terms of respondents’ skills and challenges for using the World Wide Web. Skills and challenges are shown to correlate in anticipated ways with scales measuring constructs of flow, control, arousal, and anxiety that underlie previous models of flow. By taking the sum and difference of skills and challenges as axes of a two dimensional space, we derive a simple conceptualization of flow. The sum and difference of skills and challenges for using the Web relates in hypothesized ways to measures of consumer search and purchase behavior in online and traditional media. Download pdf.

Hoffman, Donna L. and Thomas P. Novak, "Marketing in Hypermedia Computer-Mediated Environments:  Conceptual Foundations," (July 1995).

Abstract.  This paper addresses the role of marketing in hypermedia computer-mediated environments (CMEs). Our approach considers hypermedia CMEs to be large-scale (i.e. national or global) networked environments, of which the World Wide Web on the Internet is the first and current global implementation. We introduce marketers to this revolutionary new medium, propose a structural model of consumer behavior in a CME that incorporates the notion of flow, and examine the set of consequent testable research propositions and marketing implications that follow from the model.  Download pdf.

Also see the earlier January 1995 working paper version.