Social presence as a predictor of satisfaction within a computer‐mediated conferencing environment

TLDR

The study examined how effective “social presence” is as a predictor of overall learner satisfaction in a text‑based inter‑university computer conference. Stepwise regression identified a three‑predictor model—social presence, perceived equal participation, and technical skills—that explained 68 % of satisfaction variance, with social presence alone accounting for 60 % and enhancing socio‑emotional experience through emoticon use, underscoring the importance of designing computer conferences to strengthen social presence.

Abstract

Abstract Abstract Based on the GlobalEd inter‐university computer conference, this study examined how effective “social presence” is as a predictor of overall learner satisfaction in a text‐based medium. The stepwise regression analysis converged on a three‐predictor model revealing that social presence (the degree to which a person is perceived as “real” in mediated communication), student perception of having equal opportunity to participate, and technical skills accounted for about 68% of the explained variance. Social presence alone contributed about 60% of this variance, suggesting that it may be a very strong predictor of satisfaction. Reliability data on the social presence scale is provided. The results also indicated that participants who felt a higher sense of social presence enhanced their socio‐emotional experience by using emoticons to express missing nonverbal cues in written form. These findings have implications for designing academic computer conferences where equal attention must be paid to designing techniques that enhance social presence.