Environment and Service Quality Effect on Brand Value and Attachment in Online Education: Focused on Chinese Education Market

Ⅰ. Introduction

With the rapidly developing IT industry, the perception of online education as a means of supporting offline education has also changed. Online education is becoming an alternative to offline education and online education sites are becoming more diverse and specialized. It is a global trend to stress the importance of human resources that is producing knowledge and information. Along with such socioeconomic trends and the rapid growth of the IT industry, online education is also rapidly growing and spreading. The role of online education should be emphasized since it can contribute to promoting equal education opportunity. With the trend of globalization and the development of information/communication, online education is expected to grow and spread both in developing and developed countries as a crucial education system.

With the rapid expansion of Internet infrastructure, online education has attracted attention as a new educational model in China. Online education continues to develop along with school, Internet, radio, and TV education. Since the current educational condition and environment cannot meet the demand for education in China, online education is expected to become a new educational model. Due to the rapid development of high-speed Internet, world-class educational enthusiasm, and strong will for self-development, the online education market in China is expected to continue growing. The expansion of online education caused by these trends shows that online education has great potential not only as an educational alternative but also as a promising industry, and that it is a resource that can create educational value and added new economic value. Online education has various definitions. Kang and Park (2001) regarded online education as all learning activities provided by means of engineering for teaching and learning in a learning environment formed by a multimedia information network. You (2001) defined online education as learning activities where an individual transforms information about knowledge needed for himself through active information collection, selection, editing, processing, and evaluation, and share it with other learners. Although there are some inconsistencies in the definition of online education among scholars, they agree with the idea that online education is based on Internet technology and that the educational paradigm shifts from teacher-centered education to a learner-centered one in online education.

This study empirically analyzes the effect of education environment and service quality on education brand value and attachment in the Chinese online education market. In order to identify the relationships between relevant factors mentioned above, a structural equation model was developed. For the investigation into the effect of education environment and service quality of education attachment mediated by education brand value, the following research objectives were established. First, this study examines education environment, service quality, brand value, and attachment through literature review. Second, this study identifies the effect of education environment and service quality of education brand value and the relationship between education brand value and education attachment through empirical analysis. Finally, based on the empirical findings about online education environment, service quality, brand value, and attachment in the Chinese online education market, this study aims to provide implications to educational institutions planning to participate in the online education business in China.

Ⅱ. Theoretical Background

Ⅲ. Research Design

1. Research Model

This study focuses on the relationships of online education environment, education service quality, education brand value, and education attachment in the Chinese online education market. Factors determining education brand value were divided into education environment (basic education facilities and class environment) and education service quality (content, communication, and class satisfaction). As can be seen in [Fig. 1], a research model was developed based on previous studies.

[Fig. 1]

Research Model

3. Operational Definition of Variables

Previous survey questions were revised and supplemented to examine the relationships among education environment, education service quality, education brand value, and education attachment in this study. A total of 26 questions were asked on the Likert 7-point scale. <Table 1> shows the operational definition of variables and the structure of survey questions.

<Table 1>

Operational Definition and Measurement Items

Ⅳ. Empirical Analysis and Results

1. Data Collection and Sample Characteristics

Chinese users of online education services were surveyed from April 5 to April 30, 2016. A total of 200 questionnaires were collected via mail and e-mail as well as in person. After excluding an incomplete questionnaire and a questionnaire from a respondent with almost no experience of online education services, data onto 198 respondents were analyzed. The demographic characteristics of survey respondents were summarized in <Table 2>.

<Table 2>

Sample Demographic Characteristics(n=250)

2. Data Analysis

Frequency analysis was conducted to identify the general characteristics of the sample, while reliability and validity analyses were conducted to verify the validity of survey questions. The internal consistency of survey questions was tested for Cronbach's α, composite reliability (CR), and average variance extracted (AVE). As can be seen in <Table 3>, since Cronbach's α and CR were higher than 0.7 and AVE was higher than 0.5, reliability and convergent validity were verified. As shown in <Table 4>, since the square root of AVE were greater than the correlation coefficients, discriminant validity was also verified.

<Table 3>

Reliability and Internal Consistency

<Table 4>

Correlation and Discriminant Validity

3. Verification of Research Model

Smart PLS 2.0 was used to verify the research model. Using the research model, the path coefficients between variables and the coefficients of determination (R²) were derived. Since the coefficients of determination of education brand value(0.688) and education attachment(0.492) were greater than 0.26, the goodness of fit of this model was high. [Fig. 2] shows coefficient, t-value and R².

[Fig. 2]

Research Model

Hypothesis 1-1, basic education facilities positively affect education brand value, was accepted (β=0.145, t=2.157, p<0.05). Basic education facilities are not universal in China, a large and heavily populated country. In particular, there is a big difference in Internet-related facilities among educational institutions.Since the lack of basic online education facilities is prevalent throughout the country, the provision of basic education facilities can play an important role in increasing education brand value. Hypothesis 1-2, the class environment positively affects education brand value, was accepted (β=0.325, t=2.668, p<0.05). This shows that a good class environment in online education can increase education brand value.

Hypothesis 2-1, content quality positively affects education brand value, was rejected (β=0.087, t=0.687, p>0.05), and the reasons for this rejection are as follows. First, it is relatively difficult to protect copyright in the Chinese online environment compared to other countries because there is no legal safeguard to protect the developed content as assets in China. Since only very little online education content exists, people are unfamiliar with or uninterested in online education. Even those who have experience of online education evaluate it unfavorably. Second, there is an absolute lack of content. The Chinese education market has not established basic online content yet. The speed of Internet services is low due to the lack of Internet facilities and online lecture content is also not publicized much due to the absolute lack of content. Hypothesis 2-2, communication positively affects education brand value, was rejected (β=0.115, t=0.970, p>0.05).

The reasons for this rejection of the impact on communication with education brand value are as follows. First, communication between students and teachers is less effective in the online environment, that is, communication is less influential in Internet lectures. Since Internet lectures are provided without contact with lecturers or teachers, good textbooks for online classes usually contain sufficient information so that students can study relying on Internet lectures and textbooks. In the online environment, lectures are generally unilateral without requiring any communication. Hypothesis 2-3, class satisfaction positively affects education brand value, was accepted (β=0.291, t=2.143, p<0.05). This suggests that class satisfaction can increase education brand value.

Hypothesis 3, education brand value has a supported (β=0.702, t=12.173, p<0.05). Taking pride in education brand value means the individual has a passion for education.

Ⅴ. Conclusion

After reviewing previous studies on online education environment, education services quality, education brand value, and education attachment, this study examined the impact on online education environment and education service quality on education brand value as well as the effect of education brand value on education attachment.

The results of this study can be summarized as follows. First, hypothesis 1-1 about the relationship between basic education facilities an education brand value was accepted. Second, hypothesis 1-2 about the relationship between the class environment and education brand value was accepted. Third, hypothesis 2-1 about the relationship between content quality and education brand value was rejected. Fourth, hypothesis 2-2 about the relationship between communication and education brand value was rejected. Fifth, hypothesis 2-3 about the relationship between class satisfaction and education brand value was accepted. Finally, hypothesis 3 about the relationship between education brand value and education attachment was accepted.

The findings of this study about online education in China can provide the following implications. First, it is desirable to establish differentiated marketing strategies taking into account education brand value when expanding the online education market in the future of China. It is necessary to actively reflect the needs of people that want online education to increase brand value. Second, in Chinese online education, basic education facilities, class environment, and class satisfaction positively affected education brand value. Online education content should be developed based on this finding. Online education institutions should make continuous efforts to improve education content as well as to increase education brand value.

This study developed a new research model on the relationships among online education environment, education service quality, education brand value, and education attachment in China and conducted empirical analysis. This study is significant in that it carried out an empirical analysis of the Chinese online education market despite the lack of theoretical background on online education brand value and education attachment. This study is also significant in that it can provide help in establishing online education strategies by identifying key factors affecting online education brand value.

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