Centre for Marketing

FUN AND WORK ON THE WEB:

DIFFERENCES IN ATTITUDES BETWEEN
NOVICES AND EXPERIENCED USERS

Kathy Hammond
Gil McWilliam
Andrea Narholz Diaz

Centre for Marketing Working Paper

No. 97-803
October 1997

This research forms part of the Future Media Research Programme, funded by the
Markle Foundation, New York and a consortium of companies.

Kathy Hammond is a Research Fellow, Gil McWilliam is Associate Professor of Marketing, both at
London Business School. Andrea Narholz Diaz was a research assistant at London Business
School during 1996. This paper has been submitted to Advances in Consumer Research, and no
part may be copied or cited without permission from the Association of Consumer Research, and
the authors. The paper is a revised and extended version of the research described in Working
Paper 96-806.

London Business School, Regent's Park, London NW1 4SA, U.K.

Tel: +44 (0)171 262-5050 Fax: +44 (0)171 724-1145
KHAMMOND@lbs.ac.uk GMCWILLIAM@lbs.ac.uk
http://www.lbs.ac.uk
 Abstract
This research explores the differences between novice and more experienced Web users and
their appreciation of the Web’s entertainment and informational value. A two-stage study
with the same subjects after a 4-month interval was conducted. Our findings show that while
prior experience is an important moderator of users’ attitudes towards the Web, its influence is
not linear. The heaviest users are enthusiasts for the medium, while moderate and light users
perceive it as a source of information, but not for entertainment or fun. If this finding
generalizes, it will have a significant impact on the growth and development of the Web as a
mass medium.

1
 Fun and Work on the Web: Differences in Attitudes Between
Novices and Experienced Users

Introduction
The Internet is developing from a channel for communication between academics into a new
mass medium (Morris and Ogan 1996). In this study we are concerned primarily with the
World Wide Web - the part of the Internet comprising individual home pages and company
sites. For the marketer, there are potentially many uses for the Web; the posting of public
relations information such as financial statements and corporate history; selling goods via on-
line catalogues; the management of customer communications (Hoffman and Novak 1996).
The growth and development of the Web as a mass medium will depend on how the consumer
responds to these early offerings. Three important questions here are:
(i) What will people use the Web for? (e.g. information searches, shopping, fun).
(ii) What are the characteristics and attitudes of users which will affect their Web behavior
(e.g. Web experience, motivations, enthusiasm for the medium).
(iii) Can we identify potential Web users, (e.g. from their attitudes towards PC usage?).

Theoretical Framework
Broadly we might characterize potential consumer uses of commercial sites on the Web in two
ways: first, as a channel for commercial exchange, including not only purchasing, but also
browsing and seeking individualized information about products and services; second, use of
the Web as a medium for information or entertainment in a similar way to how we presently
use television, computer games, or print media. Although there are unique features associated
with the Web, it will replace neither traditional media, nor most shopping activity (just as
television did not replace radio, nor out-of-town malls lead to the complete disappearance of
markets and convenience stores). Rather, Web usage will likely be incorporated into
consumers’ current portfolios of activities. For this reason, it is appropriate to examine Web
behavior in the light of theories associated with existing media and shopping behaviors.

2
Shopping Behavior: Purposive or Just Fun
Most studies which have explored decision-making processes in the shopping environment
have the measure of product purchase as a final objective. The Web has little reported sales,
and to concentrate on purchase would, at this stage of the Web’s development, not yield
generalizable results. Our aim here is to understand consumers’ interaction with the medium
as a potential shopping channel, and as such, the literature on browsing activity is the most
appropriate. Bloch, Ridgway and Sherrell (1989) define browsing as “an ongoing search
activity that is independent of specific purchase needs or decisions”. Importantly, they
propose that the triggers of browsing activities can be both recreation and search for
information (i.e. fun as well as work).

Consumers use different strategies to navigate through a shopping environment depending

upon the purpose or task of a particular shopping trip (Hirschman and Holbrook 1982). As
Babin, Darden and Griffin (1994) and Baumgartner and Steenkamp (1996) propose, shopping
need not be evaluated solely in terms of the goods or services acquired, it can involve
experiential as well as utilitarian outcomes. If the purpose of a shopping trip is to locate a
particular item, then the search process tends to be of a utilitarian (problem solving) nature; if
the main purpose of the trip is more fun oriented, then the search strategy involves more
hedonic (experiential) behavior (Bloch, Ridgway and Sherrell 1989; Titus and Everett 1995).

In terms of Web behavior, the ease with which potential goal-directed shoppers can find the
information they want, and the reliability they can place on that information, will be key
determinants in their repeated use of the Web. Those who want to browse for fun, and have
no particular product or piece of information in mind when they access Web sites, will be less
concerned with ease of access or with reliability, but may be more concerned with whether the
process gives them sufficient stimulation, new interests and fun to keep them coming back.

3
The Effect of Knowledge
Consumers have varying amounts of knowledge both about the products they are interested in
and about the environment in which they access these products. Previous studies have noted
the moderating effects of domain knowledge or expertise on purchasing behavior (Alba and
Chattopadhyay 1985; Bettman and Park 1980; Bouwman 1984). For Web usage, which,
certainly in the short to medium term, is very much dependent on a particular set of skills such
as computer familiarity and typing, domain knowledge (i.e. experience with the interactive
environment) could prove to be an important factor in determining what sorts of activities
consumers engage in.

Titus and Everett (1995) propose that consumer familiarity with the shopping environment
may improve perceptions of its legibility (i.e. familiarity helps in the extraction and
comprehension of relevant information). However, they also suggest that familiarity may have
a negative effect on perceptions of environmental stimulation, insofar as the lack of challenge
may lead to boredom and hence create an unattractive shopping environment. For example,
they refer to the “organized chaos” of the bargain basement enhancing the shopping
environment by creating a sense of “hidden treasure”. Similarly, if the Web environment were
to be used only for goal-directed information seeking, and it lacked hedonic stimulation or
entertainment value, then the more impulsive and playful “shopping as leisure” might not take
place via the Web.

Figure 1, below, captures how the perceived value of the Web might change depending on
level of experience. Experienced users, who may perceive the Web as highly legible could
have greater appreciation of the informational value of the Web than novices who lack that
important familiarity. On the other hand, experienced users may also suffer a reduction in the
level of stimulation which the Web gives them precisely because of its familiarity, and
therefore their perception of its entertainment value could be lower than that of novices.

4
 Perceived Value of the Web
entertainment value information value
experienced user low high
novice user high low
Figure 1

However, there may additionally be an effect on perceptions about the Web and its usage
according to whether the Web is accessed for utilitarian or hedonic purposes. Thus those
accessing the Web for fun might have greater expectations of being entertained than those
intent on finding a definite piece of information.

Media Behavior
In contrast to the Titus and Everett (1995) proposition that an increase in familiarity may
reduce the environmental stimulation of a shopping experience, it has been found from
research on television viewing (Barwise and Ehrenberg 1987) that increased exposure, i.e.
familiarity, results in increased liking. It is also generally accepted that enduring involvement
(resulting from a hobby or profession for example) co-varies with expertise (Mitchell and
Dacin 1996). As a result we might expect the experienced Web user not only to be more
adept at accessing sites, but also consistently more enthusiastic for the medium.

Because of the heightened involvement resulting from the nature of the interactivity inherent in
this medium, we might expect to see considerable attention paid to the information contained
therein so that, irrespective of level of experience all Web site visitors share similar rates of
recall of sites visited.

5
 Aims Of The Study
From the above discussion, five broad hypotheses are suggested:

H1: Experienced users of the Web will place a higher value on the information found on the
Web (i.e. perceive it as more legible) compared to those with less experience.
H2: Experienced users will perceive the Web as less fun than less experienced users (i.e.
environmental stimulation will be diminished through repeated exposure).
H3: Users with a hedonic task will value the fun aspects of the Web more than those with an
utilitarian task
H4: Users with a utilitarian task will value the information aspects of the Web more than
those with a hedonic task.
H5: Web users will display similar levels of recall of sites visited, irrespective of experience.

It may be that high levels of Web experience are suggestive of more than just knowledge and
familiarity. We suggest that the most experienced users of the Web are people for whom the
Web has become a hobby in its own right. These people will thus have an enduring
involvement with the medium, and will thus be distinguished from lighter users by a more
constant appreciation of both utilitarian and hedonic qualities of the Web. Accordingly our
sixth hypothesis reads:

H6: The value of the Web both as a source of information and entertainment will be more
stable over time for experienced users.

In the empirical research described below we present the results of a study which aims to test
these hypotheses. The first stage data were collected in October 1996, and a second survey of
the same respondents was conducted in February 1997.

6
 Method
Controlled Experiment on Web Use
A diverse group of subjects (within the constraint that they needed to be computer literate)
volunteered to take part in a Web activity. Half the subjects were told that the object of the
activity was to collect information, and that they would be asked what information they had
collected (i.e. the activity was utilitarian). The other half were told that they were to enjoy
themselves and would not be questioned on what they had found (i.e. the activity was
hedonic). Subjects were allocated randomly to either the utilitarian or hedonic activity.
Immediately after the activity they answered a questionnaire on their attitudes to the activity
just completed, their prior Web use, demographics, general attitudes to the Web and to
computers, and recall of companies/brands noticed during the activity. The subjects came
from staff and graduate students at an international business school, and were paid a nominal
sum of money for taking part.

The request for volunteers was sent by email ensuring that all subjects were familiar with
computers. Approximately 1,000 people were contacted, 113 volunteered. Two-thirds were
students, one third were staff; about half were over 30 years old; just under two-thirds were
men.

Scale Development of the Questionnaire

A review of the literature on shopping behavior, media effects, and the moderating influences
of domain expertise, enabled us to identify a number of relevant scale items. The scale
developed by Babin, Darden and Griffin (1994), measuring the hedonic and utilitarian value of
shopping, was adapted for application to an interactive environment. Other questions on
involvement with the search activity came from Celsi and Olson (1988), and questions on
“microcomputer playfulness” from Webster and Martocchio (1992). Some questions on
attitudes towards the Web were adapted from an online questionnaire (SRI 1996). All
questions were scored on a five-point scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree). A pilot

7
study, conducted amongst eleven subjects was used to test the proposed Web activity, the
equipment and the questionnaire.

Operationalization of Experience
In addition to giving demographic details, each respondent provided information on their
previous Web usage. One quarter of respondents had never accessed the Web before
(novices), one quarter had moderate levels of experience. A measure of experience was
constructed by combining the answers to questions on: total number of hours spent on Web,
how long ago they first accessed the Web, how often they accessed it, and whether they felt
“at ease” on the Web. Given that we were to give the novices some experience, we combined
them with those who had at least some prior experience to form a group which we term
moderates. The remaining half we call experienced users.

Results
The Main Study - First Stage
In the main study, subjects were required to take part in a Web activity lasting half an hour and
immediately after to answer a questionnaire. To ensure that the novices in particular could
start the activity with minimum interference, subjects were given a list of eight broad topics
each with ten specific Web addresses (art and culture; cars, bicycles and motorcycles;
entertainment; food and cooking; medicine and health; personal investment; sports; travel), but
they were also told that they had the freedom to explore anywhere if they wished. Subjects
were told they could use the addresses given to start their activity, or use a search engine, and
that they could continue the activity in this way or could follow links as they wished.

Limited instructions were given on search engines, and technical help was given during the
activity if the subject would not have been able to continue without intervention (e.g. if the
computer screen froze). We aimed to control the environment so that all subjects had, as far
as external factors were concerned, the same experience. The controls were: all subjects used
PCs of exactly the same specification (Windows 95, 16MB RAM, 133 disc access speed); the

8
same Web browsing software; no bookmarks were available; a proxy server1 was installed on
all PCs.

Findings From First Stage

Three of the pilot group of subjects were given a slightly different Web activity and
questionnaire, and results for these subjects are not reported here, responses for the other pilot
subjects do not differ systematically from the main sample and are included - giving a total
sample size of 110. In Table 1 we present the main findings from the questionnaire on users’
general attitudes to the Web. Most questions (column 1) were of the form “please indicate
how much you agree or disagree with the following statement”. The next two columns give
the mean responses (on a scale from 1 to 5, disagree strongly to agree strongly) for all
respondents, broken down by their level of Web usage (moderate and experienced users). The
final column indicates whether the mean scores for moderates and experienced users are
significantly different (p>.05)

The first group of five results concern responses to questions about information on the Web.
Overall, respondents agreed that the Web provides a valuable source of information, although
there was less agreement about the quality, reliability and relevance of that information. If we
look at the responses by level of Web experience, for all five questions, there are significant
differences between responses for the experienced users and responses for the moderate users,
with the experienced users always placing a higher value on Web-based information. There is
therefore support for Hypothesis 1 that experienced users of the Web will place a higher value
on information found on the Web compared to moderate users.

The next five results concern respondents’ attitudes to whether the Web could be used for fun.
Overall, the respondents agreed strongly that the Web could be used for recreation and

1
The proxy server used holds the most frequently accessed Web sites (approximately 1% of all Web sites) in
local storage. This meant that subjects were almost always accessing sites from the proxy server. They were
not aware of this, but the intervention meant that access time was held as constant as possible across subjects.
9
entertainment. However, looking at the responses by level of experience, we see a different
pattern to that found for the information questions. The direction is for experienced users to
perceive the Web as more fun (or potentially more fun) than moderate users (the opposite of
our hypothesis), however the differences are significant for only one question. Experienced
users certainly do not perceive the Web as less fun than those with only a little experience,
thus there is little evidence that familiarity is breeding contempt either in terms of work or
play. We therefore find no support for Hypothesis 2.

Table 1: Attitudes to the Web: Differences between Moderate and Experienced Web Users

Mean scores for selected Differences between

questions by usage level scores by usage level
moderates experienced t-test
N=51 users N=59
Information on the Web
The Web provides a valuable source of information 3.96 4.47 .004 **
There is a lack of quality information on the Web 3.06 2.27 .000 **
The Web contains a lot of reliable information 3.29 3.80 .001 **
There is a lack of relevant information on the Web 3.00 2.22 .000 **
The information I gathered on this activity was interesting 3.63 4.08 .006 **
Attitudes more related to Fun
The Web could be used for recreation and entertainment 4.37 4.46 .500
I would not think of using the Web for leisure or 2.06 1.92 .426
entertainment
The time spent on the Web is rewarding 3.44 3.82 .025 **
I like to try things that are new and different on the Web 3.72 3.88 .470
What I saw on the Web was highly stimulating 3.24 3.53 .132
The number of companies/ brands recalled 2.00 2.81 .017 **

Note: N=110 for all questions except “I like to try things that are new and different on the Web”. This
question was given only to those who had previous Web experience (N=85).

All item scores are the mean across respondents. The scale for all questions, except the final one, is 1 to 5
(disagree strongly to agree strongly). Responses to the final question were calculated from the
companies/brands noted and were not constrained (the range was 0 to 8).

** = significant differences in the two means (p>.05)

10
We also find no support for hypotheses H3 and H4; users with a hedonic task did not value
the fun aspects of the Web more than those with an utilitarian task; users with a utilitarian
task did not value the information aspects of the Web more than those with a hedonic task.2

The final question in Table 1 relates to subjects recall of companies/brands seen during the
half-hour Web activity. On average moderates visited 7.25 different sites, and experienced
users visited 8.47. The numbers in the final row refer to the number of companies/brands
recalled. Experienced users recalled more companies/brands than moderates, but this finding
is tempered by the fact that experienced users also visited more sites. All Web users display
similar levels of recall per site visited; we therefore find support for H5.

Findings From The Second Stage of Research

The relationship between experience and enduring involvement was tested via a second
questionnaire, with the same questions, sent four months later to all those who had taken part
in the first stage. The results in Table 2 are based on Stage 2 respondents who had used the
Web in the intervening four months (64% of the original sample). In comparing the two time
periods (T1 and T2) we have retained the original classification, since none of the moderates
had increased their usage to the extent that they had caught up with the (now even more)
experienced group.

Over time, negative perceptions of the informational value of the Web as perceived by
moderates decrease slightly (see starred means for significant differences between T1 and T2
for 2 of the 4 questions in the first section of Table 2). However, their appreciation of the
Web as a source of fun decreases (directionally for all fun questions in Table 2, with 2
differences being significant). From T1 to T2 experienced users directionally downgrade their
perception of the value of both information and fun on the Web ( but only 1 difference is
significant).

2
These means are not reported here in detail since there were no significant differences between the two
groups.
11
 Table 2: Attitudes to the Web: Differences over Time between Moderates and Experienced Web Users

Mean scores by usage level Diff. between

mod & expert
Moderates Experienced Users sig. diff.
T1 T2 sig diff. T1 T2 sig diff. mod/exp mod/exp
T1/T2 T1/T2 T1 T2
Information on the Web
The Web provides a valuable source of information 4.00 3.81 4.45 4.39 ** .* *

There is a lack of quality information on the Web 3.07 2.57 ** 2.28 2.45 **

The Web contains a lot of reliable information 3.30 3.30 3.78 3.73 ** **

There is a lack of relevant information on the Web 3.10 2.40 ** 2.25 2.28 ** .

Attitudes more related to Fun

The Web could be used for recreation and entertainment 4.37 3.43 ** 4.43 4.03 ** **

I would not think of using the Web for leisure/ 2.17 2.70 ** 1.95 2.20
entertainment
The time spent on the Web is rewarding 3.44 3.16 3.74 3.63 **

I like to try things that are new and different on the Web 3.63 3.13 3.95 3.70

Note: T1 refers to the first questionnaire, T2 to the second questionnaire. The analyses were conducted only on those respondents
who answered both questionnaires (hence there are some differences in the T1 mean values compared with Table 1).
** = significant differences (p<.05)

The final 2 columns in Table 2 report the significant differences in scores between experienced
users and moderates (first for those who answered the questionnaires at T1, then for those
who answered at T2). As already shown in Table 1, in the first study we see that experienced
users value information on the Web more highly than moderates, but there are no significant
differences by experience level attached to the fun aspects of the Web. In the second study, all
respondents scored less on the fun questions at T2, but experienced users still have a slightly
higher appreciation of the fun value than moderates, with two of these differences being
statistically significant.

H6, which proposed that the value of the Web as a source of information and entertainment
would be more stable over time for the most experienced users, is therefore only partially
supported since it appears that with time there is a homogenizing effect in terms of the
appreciation of the Web as a source of information, but not as a source of entertainment or
fun.

12
 So as to explore whether an increase in experience relates linearly to greater appreciation of
the Web as a source of either fun or information, further analyses were conducted sub-dividing
both studies into those who were absolute novices before the first experiment, those who had
some experience at Stage 1 (up to 50 hours), whom we now call intermediates, and those who
had a good deal of experience at Stage 1 (over 50 hours Web use). Table 3 details the results.

Table 3: Differences Between Respondents With Differing Levels Of Web Experience (Stages 1 and 2)

Mean scores for selected questions by Differences between scores

usage level by usage level
(1) (2) (3) t-test3 t-test: t-test:
novices intermediate experienced (1)/(2) (2)/(3) (1)/(3)
N=25 N=57 N=28
N=14 N=34 N=19
Information on the Web
The Web provides a valuable source of 4.09 4.08 4.67 .970 .002** .008**
information 4.14 4.03 4.58 .707 .026** .098*
There is a lack of quality information on the 2.88 2.75 2.18 .592 .026** .011**
Web 2.36 2.70 2.21 .276 .112 .642
The Web contains a lot of reliable 3.44 3.37 4.07 .705 .000** .004**
information 3.43 3.41 3.89 .926 .021** .120
There is a lack of relevant information on 2.92 2.63 2.18 .244 .083* .011**
.082
the Web 2.21 2.54 2.00 .253 * .514
Attitudes more related to Fun
The Web could be used for recreation and 4.36 4.35 4.61 .948 .083* .095*
.063* .321
entertainment 3.88 3.54 4.16 .399
I would not think of using the Web for 1.92 2.12 1.75 .309 .083* .428
.068
leisure or entertainment. 2.86 2.51 1.89 .386 * .009**
The time spent on the Web is rewarding 3.65 3.53 3.89 .592 .058* .335
.002**
3.21 3.24 3.84 .905 .005**
I like to try things that are new and different n/a 3.70 4.11 n/a .058* n/a
.011**
on the Web 3.57 3.30 4.00 .356 .088*

Note: Means and t-test results are in pairs. The top number in each pair are findings from Stage 1 (T1), the
lower results, in italics, are results from Stage 2 (T2).
** = significant differences between the two means (p>.05). * = significant differences between the two means
(p>.10).

3
We additionally carried out anova and multiple comparison procedures on these data. The substantive results
are the same but we have reported the t-test statistic here for ease of reporting and because it provides more
information.

13
We can see from Table 3 that in terms of appreciation of information, those with an
intermediate level of experience and those with none (i.e. novices) share very similar
perceptions at both stages. The only departure from this pattern is that the novices seem to
lose some of their mistrust of the informational value of the Web over the four month period
(in other words, they lose some of their initial negative perceptions). However the
intermediate group hardly changes its mind at all in the intervening period.

The significant differences, in terms of appreciation of Web information, occur between the
most experienced Web users and the other two groups. For every question, at Stage 1, we see
that those with the most experience seem to have a far greater appreciation of the Web in
terms of the information it delivers. This trend is still apparent (though to a lesser extent) at
Stage 2.

When we look at the scores for fun we see that there are greater similarities of perception
between all groups, with smaller significant differences occurring between the experienced
users and the others at Stage 1 compared with Stage 2. However it is on the scoring of the
Web as entertainment that we see the greatest shifts over time. In every case, the novices and
the intermediates downgrade their appreciation of the Web as a vehicle for entertainment and
leisure. The experienced users also downwardly adjust their perceptions here, but to a lesser
extent than either the novices or intermediates. As with the information content, the
experienced users are more in favor of the Web as a source of entertainment than either
intermediate or novice users.

This suggests that the perceived value of the Web as either a source of fun or information may
not increase automatically with increases in experience. While novices, as they gain additional
experience, seem to lose their initial flush of enthusiasm for the fun aspects but increase their
appreciation of the informational value, the intermediates do not make similar progressions.
Our findings suggest that the gap between the perceptions of the intermediates and

14
experienced users appears to widen over time - especially regarding the Web’s entertainment
value.

Other descriptive analyses from Stage 1 reinforce our findings that experienced users of the
Web may be somewhat different types of people from intermediates or novices. The
experienced users appear to have enduring involvement with the medium, in that they were
found to be considerably more likely than less experienced users to be frequent visitors to chat
sites/bulletin boards and software archives. Subjects in the first Stage were also given the
question “how would you characterize yourself when you use computers?”, and asked to score
a number of items relating to this question (eg “questioning”, “creative”, etc.) on a five-point
scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree). In Table 4 the mean responses for some of the
items are detailed for the most experienced and intermediate users. These two groups showed
significant differences in their responses (at the p<.05 level) to all the items listed in Table 4.
The responses for the novice group are not given as they were not significantly different from
those with intermediate experience for any of these items.

Table 4: How Do Respondents Characterize Themselves When They Use Computers:

Significant Differences Between Intermediate And Most Experienced Web Users

Average score for item (scale 1-5)

Intermediate experience Most experienced
average score average score
Self-characteristics: experienced users higher
Inquiring 3.8 4.1
Playful 3.2 4.0
Inquisitive 3.6 4.0
Spontaneous 3.2 4.0
Flexible 3.6 4.0
Intellectually challenging 3.5 4.0
Creative 3.4 3.9
Questioning 3.5 3.8
Self-characteristics: intermediate users
higher
Mechanical 3.3 2.5
Unimaginative 2.4 2.0
Unoriginal 2.7 2.0
Serious 3.4 2.9
Uninventive 2.6 1.9

15
 Discussion
If we compare the second stage of research with the first we find that almost all the items were
rated lower, regardless of the level of usage. We suspect that this effect may have been the
result of a research artifact induced by the laboratory based experimental conditions of the first
round of research. The experiment may have artificially increased involvement in, and
appreciation for, the activity, i.e. the proximity of the questionnaire to the experiment captured
the effects of flow (Hoffman and Novak 1996).

Notwithstanding this, a key persistent difference between experienced and less experienced
users seems to emerge from their very different views about the medium as a source of
entertainment and fun. This is especially seen as we separate subjects into novice,
intermediate and most experienced users. The appreciation of the Web as a source of
information increases over time for novice and intermediate users, so that their perceptions
become increasingly similar to those of the more experienced users. However, the perception
of the Web as fun does not increase over time for less experienced users suggesting that they
may never develop heavier usage and/or enduring involvement. These findings suggest that
experienced users have enduring involvement in, and enthusiasm for the medium per se,
findings which are consistent with those of Ghani and Deshpande (1994).

An implication from these findings might be that lighter users get “stuck” in their usage
patterns, with serious implications for how they might view future innovative Web offerings.
Given the hedonic aspects of much shopping behavior, if the Web environment were to be
used only for goal-directed information seeking, and it lacked hedonic stimulation or
entertainment value, then the more impulsive, and playful “shopping as leisure” might not take
place via the Web.

The fact that we did not find differences in perceptions between those who had a hedonic task
and those with a utilitarian task in Stage 1, maybe more to do with our operationalization of
the two tasks than a replicable finding. As we see from the greater homogeneity between all

16
groups at Stage 1 in their perceptions of the Web as a leisure or entertainment vehicle, and the
erosion of these perceptions over time, especially for the novices and intermediates, we may
simply have given everyone too much of an enjoyable time.

Our results that the most experienced users might be enthusiasts for the medium, while
moderate users may be technically competent, but enjoy the Web less, are specific to the
conditions under which the experiment took place. Further work can test first, if access to the
Web happens only in a work context, does this increase the likelihood that people will
appreciate the value of information more and the fun aspects less? Second, if access is usually
from the home, then it may feel more “legitimate” to enjoy the fun aspects. Given that many
of our respondents were “at work” when we contacted them the second time, and on their
“lunch break” during the first stage of the research, these two aspects of work and rest may
have contributed to our findings of an increased appreciation over time for information but
decreased appreciation over time for the fun aspects of the Web.

Of course all media enjoy heavy, medium and light users, and the Web will flourish if it can
deliver heavy and medium users to advertisers and others with interests in exploiting the
commercial value of Web users. A larger scale consumer survey is currently being developed
as a third stage to this research with the aim of exploring further the determinants of heavy and
medium usage of the Web and its information and fun aspects.

If our findings from Stage 1 and Stage 2 of this research are confirmed by further studies, they
will have a significant impact on how we might model the diffusion of Web usage in the
population at large, and the potential for the Web as a mass medium.

17
 References
Alba, J. W. and A. Chattopadhyay (1985), “Effects of Context and Part-Category Cues on
Recall of Competing Brands,” Journal of Marketing Research, 22, August, 340-349.
Babin, B. J., W. R. Darden and M. Griffin (1994), “Work and/or fun: Measuring hedonic and
utilitarian shopping value,” Journal of Consumer Research, 20, March, 644-656.
Barwise, T. P. and A. S. C. Ehrenberg (1987), “The Liking and Viewing of Regular TV
Series” Journal of Consumer Research, 14 (June), 63-70.
Baumgartner, H. and J-B. E. M. Steenkamp (1996), “Exploratory Consumer Buying
Behavior: Conceptualization and Measurement,” International Journal of Research in
Marketing, 13, 121-137.
Bettman, J. R. and C. W. Park, (1980), “Effects of prior knowledge and experience and phase
of the choice process on consumer decision processes: A protocol analysis,” Journal of
Consumer Research, 7, December, 234-248.
Bloch, P. H., N. M. Ridgway and D. L. Sherrell (1989), “Extending the concept of shopping:
An investigation of browsing behavior,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,
17, (1), 13-21.
Bouwman, Marinus J. (1984), “Expert vs Novice Decision Making in Accounting: A
Summary,” Accounting, Organizations and Society, l9, (3/4), 325-327.
Celsi, R. L. and J. C. Olson (1988), “The role of involvement in attention and comprehension
processes,” Journal of Consumer Research, September, 210-224.
Hirschman, E. C. and M. B. Holbrook (1982), “Hedonic Consumption: Emerging concepts,
methods and propositions,” Journal of Marketing. 46, (Summer), 92-101.
Hoffman, D. L. and T. P. Novak (1996), “Marketing in Hypermedia Computer-Mediated
Environments: Conceptual Foundations,” Journal of Marketing, 60 (3), (July) 50-68.
Ghani, J. A. and S. P. Deshpande (1994), “Task Characteristics and the Experience of Optimal
Flow in Human-Computer Interaction”, The Journal of Psychology, 128 (4), 381-391.
Mitchell A. A. and P A Dacin (1996), “The Assessment of Alternative Measures of Consumer
Expertise”, Journal of Consumer Research, 23 (3), 219-239.
Morris, M. and C. Ogan (1996), “The Internet as Mass Medium,” Journal of Communication,
46 (1), Winter, 39-50.
SRI (1996), (http://future.sri.com/vals/ivals/ques-nt.html).
Titus, P. and P. Everett (1995), “The Consumer Retail Search Process: A Conceptual Model
and Research Agenda,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 23 (2), 106-119.
Webster, J. and J. J. Martocchio (1992), “Microcomputer Playfulness: Development of A
Measure with Workplace Implications”, MIS Quarterly, June, 201-226.

18