Developing Expertise in E-Commerce: A Content Analysis of Students' Knowledge of Online Auctions

This paper presents findings from a study investigating the knowledge students acquire from and apply to an online auction assignment. As part of an E-Business and E-Commerce module students were asked to buy and sell goods in an online marketspace and report on their experience for an assignment on the module. A content analysis of a sample of the students' assignments was conducted. The main finding of the study is that, given a framework of professional knowledge and competence, there are considerable imbalances in the knowledge that students acquire from and apply to the online auction assignment. The paper concludes that learning and teaching strategies that recognize and work with such imbalances are appropriate, in order that students' professional capacities in the domain of e-commerce are developed. Recommendations for future research and practice in e-commerce education are provided.

1. INTRODUCTION

One of the tasks facing university educators is how to effectively prepare their students for professional practice. As e-commerce becomes part of everyday business practice, teaching e-commerce concepts in a classroom setting alone risks opening up a gap between that classroom setting and the professional practice which the student will enter. Graduates may leave higher education equipped only with theoretical knowledge and with none of the other skills and capacities appropriate to professional practice. This paper describes an e-commerce assignment designed to develop students' expertise in e-commerce.

For an assignment on an E-Business and E-commerce module, students were required to participate in a real-world C2C e-commerce 'marketspace' e.g. eBay. Participation in the actual marketspace requires students to go beyond the acquisition and application of theoretical knowledge; and to develop their practical and experiential knowledge not only of C2C e-commerce but also of e-commerce in general. In doing so, an online auction site acts as a learning environment for students to develop capacities that contribute to becoming a practicing e-commerce professional.

The paper is organized as follows. The design of the e-commerce assignment is outlined in section two. The research design is presented in section three; this includes a description of the theoretical framework adopted for the study, the type of sampling, and the design of the coding frame. The results of the data analysis are presented in section four and the findings are discussed in section five. The paper concludes with recommendations for research and practice in e-commerce education.

2. E-COMMERCE ASSIGNMENT

Online consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce is a fast-growing business area. C2C e-commerce usually refers to the business model that focuses on providing a platform to allow an individual to trade or barter goods and services with another individual. Online auction, a form of C2C e-commerce, is a platform where individuals can trade both new and second-hand goods at a price agreed by buyers and sellers. Some auction sites such as eBay and Yahoo also offer 'e-shop' facilities to those who would like to make a living full-time from buying and selling goods online or who would like to trade part-time as a way of earning a second income.

The reasons for asking students to participate in an online auction were two-fold. First, such an exercise enabled students to participate in both a purchasing and a selling process; and having experience of buying and selling online is important in order to have a full understanding of e-commerce concepts. second, the exercise replaces a simulated environment, which is an alternative approach to developing a learning environment for e-commerce education (Ngai, 2004, McCubbrey et al, 1994), with a real-world e-commerce environment so that students can experience at first-hand the issues associated with practicing e-commerce in a 'live' business setting. In this assignment students were asked to buy and sell in a C2C marketspace of their choice. No restriction was placed on the particular auction site that should be used; and depending on the potential market and the availability of goods students could choose to buy and sell on the same or different platforms. Students were asked to submit two reports at the end of the exercise. In the first report students were asked to discuss their experience of participating in the online auction (1750-2000 words). In the second report students were asked to describe their learning experience of participating in the online auction. The findings presented in this paper are based on an analysis of the students' submissions for the second report.

3. RESEARCH DESIGN

Our research design was based on classical content analysis (Bauer and Gaskell, 2000). Information is provided here on the theoretical framework; sampling; and the coding frame.

3.1 Theoretical Framework

As indicated previously the rationale for asking students to participate in an online auction was to provide a learning environment to help students acquire the capacity to act as a practicing e-commerce professional. Acting as an effective e-commerce professional implies a capacity not only to apply theoretical concepts, but also a capacity to develop process skills e.g. interpersonal, deliberative, and decisionmaking skills as well as a capacity to reflect on and use an accumulating store of personal knowledge and experience. Definitions of the types of knowledge used by a practicing professional are provided here. Propositional knowledge: "discipline-based theories and concepts, derived from bodies of coherent systematic knowledge (Wissenschaft); generalizations and practical principles in the applied field of professional action; and specific propositions about particular cases, decisions and actions" (Eraut, 1994: 13). Process knowledge: "acquiring information; skilled behaviour; deliberative processes, e.g., planning and decision-making; giving information; and metaprocesses for directing and controlling one's own behaviour" (Eraut, 1994: 107). Personal knowledge: "All people acquire knowledge through experiences the purposes of which have little overt connection with learning, through social interaction and trying to get things down. Such knowledge covers people and situations encountered, communications received and events and activities experienced through participation or observation. While some of this knowledge is sufficiently processed to be classified as propositional knowledge or process knowledge, much will remain at the level of simple impressions. Nevertheless, impressions gained from experience contribute to professional action in ways that are still only partially understood" (Eraut, 1994: 107). In sum: a practicing professional, in any domain, is one capable not only of applying discipline-based theories and concepts, but also of developing and applying process knowledge, and of processing and systematizing their personal experience of professional practice.