Motivation to Use Search Engine: A Two-Factor ModelLing-ling Wu ( 吳玲玲）Department of Information Management, National Taiwan University

Background

Information seeking on the InternetOne of the most important motivation

to use the Internet Function of search engines:

Use queries to retrieve information Problem of using search engine:

QueryToo many results

Research Problem

Motivation to use search engines: Low switching cost: attract or retain?

Attract: To decide to try on a search engine in the

first place Retain:

To continue using the same search engine

Are these two kinds use motivation affected by different factors?

Two factor theory

Herzberg: job motivation Hygiene factors: fulfill basic physiological needs

lead to job dissatisfaction Motivation factors: fulfill higher level psychological needs

lead to job satisfaction On-line shopping (Liang & Lai, 2002):

Hygiene factors: critical when consumers decide whether to shop electronically

Motivation factors: critical when consumers choose among different electronic stores

Web site design (Zhang & Dran, 2000): Hygiene factors: dis-satisfiers Motivation factors: satisfiers

Two factors for search engine use motivation Hygiene factors

Functions to fulfill basic search needs Critical to user’s first impression of the search

engine Important for users to decide whether to use

the search engine Motivation factors

Functions to fulfill advanced search needs Helpful to the post-search activities Critical for users to continue using the same

search engine

Hygiene factorsRecall – Results are not what users want

Response time – Long time to wait for the results

Percentage of advertisements – Too many ads and unnecessary information on the screen

Precision – Too many irrelevant and useless results

Validity of links – Results are usually not accessible or removed

System stability

Recency – Database is updated frequently

Diversity of result sources – Several results are from the same website

Use instruction – Use instruction is not clear

Number of results – The number of results is not large enough

Consistency of search result presentation – No consistent format fro each result

Accessibility of documentation – Difficult to find the use instruction

Search instructions – No search examples in the use instruction

Motivation factors

Readability of search results – Results are easy to read

Understandability of the summary of search results – The summary helps user to decide whether s/he needs the result

Ranking – The ranking meets user’s needs

Multimedia search – Allow users to search different types of information (E.g., text, image, audio, video, etc.)

Highlighting the important information of search results by different font, font size, or color (E.g., title, relevance, etc.)

Multi-language search – Allow users to search within a specific language

Advanced search – Easy to use advanced search functions

Search tips – Providing improving tips when the search results are not satisfying

Browse catalogs in addition to search functions

Presenting the total number of the search results

Hypotheses

Hypothesis 1: Hygiene factors and motivation factors have different degrees of effects on attracting and retaining users of search engines.

Hypothesis 2: Hygiene factors are more powerful to attract users than motivation factors, while motivation factors are more powerful in retaining users than hygiene factors.

Research Procedure Sample: 804 surveys collected on the web, 758

valid (94.3%) Material:

Computer, internet and search engine use experience List of factors affect motivation to use a search engine

Task of respondents: (check out the factors on the list) Choose the factors that will make them decide whether

to use a search engine (negative terms) --ATTRACT Choose the factors that will make them want to continue

using the same search engine (positive terms) --RETAIN Data Collection: respondents recruited and

answered survey on the Internet, incentive

Sample Demographics

　Sample in this research Survey from Yam.com

Description Frequency (%) Description %

Age 1 = 17 years or younger

3 0.40%19 and younger 14%

2 = 18-23 years 483 63.72% 20-24 19%

3 = 24-29 years 237 31.27% 25-29 24%

4 = 30-35 tears 25 3.30% 30-34 17%

5 = 36-40 years 7 0.92% 35-39 12%

6 = 41-46 years 1 0.13% 40-44 7%

7 = 47 years or older

2 0.26%45 and older 6%

　

Gender 0 = Male 355 46.83% Male 41%

1 = Female 403 53.17% Female 59%

Sample Demographics

　Sample in this research Survey from Yam.com

Description Frequency (%) Description %

Education 1 = Elementary school

2 0.26% Elementary school and under

3%

2 = Junior high school

2 0.26%Junior high school 4%

3 = Senior high school

13 1.72%Senior high school 22%

4 = College 516 68.07% College 62%

5 = Master 218 28.76% Master and higher 9%

6 = Ph.D. 7 0.92% 　

　

Occupation

0 = Not student 224 29.55% Not Student 75%

1 = Student 534 70.45% Student 25%

Results

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Factor of search engine use, which are numbered the same as Table 2.

Fre

quen

cy

Attract

Retain

Hygiene factors

FactorsFrequency

(attract/retain)

z p

(1) *** Recall 658 / 607 -3.52 <.001

(2) *** Response time 649 / 544 -6.59 <.001

(3) *** Percentage of advertisements 600 / 484 -6.6 <.001

(4) *** Precision 526 / 0 -28.4 0

(5) *** Validity of links 523 / 373 -7.84 <.001

(6) *** System stability 514 / 432 -4.35 <.001

(7) Recency 432 / 405 -1.39 .082

(8) *** Diversity of result sources 410 / 324 -4.42 <.001

(9) *** Use instruction 366 / 283 -4.31 <.001

(10)*** Number of results 320 / 270 -2.63 .004

(11)*** Consistency of search result presentation

318 / 265 -2.8 .003

(12) Accessibility of documentation 154 / 136 -1.18 .12

(13) Search instructions (E.g., Search example)

84 / 116 2.43 .992

FactorsFrequency

(attract/retain)

z p

(14) Readability of search results 393 / 411 -0.92 .177

(15) Understandability of the summary of search results

388 / 375 -0.67 .252

(16)*** Ranking 326 / 371 -2.31 .01

(17)*** Multimedia search (E.g., text, image, audio, video, etc.)

213 / 333 -6.42 <.001

(18) Highlighting the important information of search results by different font, font size, or color (E.g., title, relevance, etc.)

292 / 281 -0.58 .28

(19) Multi-language search 297 / 271 -1.38 .084

(20)*** Advanced search 209 / 254 -2.50 .006

(21) Search tips for improving the search results

214 / 222 -0.45 .325

(22)*** Browse catalogs in addition to search functions

0 / 160-

13.37<.001

(23) Presenting the total number of the search results

123 / 139 -1.80 .139

Motivation factors

Discussion and Managerial Implications Hypotheses are supported. Motivation factors are …

Also important for motivating usersRelated to post-search activities

to facilitate evolving search (Search and browsing occur by turns)

Critical to develop competitive advantages

Information control of information categorization structure for browsing Hierarchical structure: Multi-faceted structure: Mixed structure?