Modeling Antecedents of User Engagement
Heather L. O'Brien, Jocelyn McKay · 2018
This chapter seeks to provide an overview of engagement antecedents, or factors that influence engagement. This work is not exhaustive, but will provide the reader with both a sound understanding of the concepts explored in the literature and ideas for emerging work. The chapter offers a conspectus of existing user engagement (UE) models, which will form the foundation for considering antecedents of UE. It begins by depicting current approaches to modeling UE, and then outlines empirical work that has explored the relationship between engagement (or its attributes) and design, content, and user characteristics. The chapter focuses on the investigation of engagement—its modeling and influences—in digital information environments broadly writ. A. Sutcliffe proposed that designing for UE involves attending to three components: interactivity, media, and the ability of the system to help users achieve a sense of presence.