Computer-Mediated Word-of-Mouth Communication on RateMyProfessors.com: Expectancy Effects on Student Cognitive and Behavioral Learning

The purpose of this study was to experimentally test the influence of expectancies formed through computer-mediated word-of-mouth communication (WOM) on student learning. Increasingly, students rely on computer-mediated WOM through sites such as RateMyProfessors.com to aid in the process of information-gathering and course selection. It was hypothesized that students who received positive computer-mediated WOM about a course would demonstrate greater levels of cognitive and behavioral learning than would students who received no information or negative computer-mediated WOM. Results demonstrated the predicted effects for cognitive and behavioral learning. It was further hypothesized that observed expectancy effects would be mediated by affect toward learning. Results supported a partial mediational role for affect in the context of positive expectancies, but not negative expectancies. Results were discussed in terms of the role of computer-mediated WOM in generating expectations, the expectations-affect-behavior hypothesis, and the influence of student expectations on learning outcomes.