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    Learning with People Like Me: The Role of Age-Similar Peers on Online Business Course Engagement
    01 Feb 2021Working Paper Summaries

    Learning with People Like Me: The Role of Age-Similar Peers on Online Business Course Engagement

    by Laura R. Huber, Jacqueline N. Lane, and Karim R. Lakhani
    Online learning usually has lower course engagement and higher dropout rates than in-person instruction. However, when classmates are of similar ages it helps boost retention and engagement. Similar-aged classmates have more in common, making interactions mutually rewarding.
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    Author Abstract

    Over the past decade, online learning has witnessed tremendous growth in popularity due to its ability to reach diverse participants in a scalable manner. However, one primary area of concern is the low course completion rates in digital platform-based learning, compared to face-to-face counterparts. Given that most education tends to be organized by age, we ask: how does the degree of age-similarity among cohort peers affect course engagement and persistence? Using a unique dataset of 17,000 working professionals enrolled in business skills training courses offered by an elite U.S. business school over a three year period, we show that age similarity has a positive effect on individual course completion: an individual’s likelihood of course completion increases by 3% for every 10 same-age cohort peers. Given that the average cohort size is 220 people, this suggests that a small threshold of same-age peers can have a substantial impact on course engagement and persistence. To examine mechanisms, we turn to participants’ motivations for taking the course and find that similar-age peers are more likely to affiliate with one another because they share a common motivation for taking the course. Our results suggest that there is an implicit trade-off between social engagement and diversity of perspectives in online courses, and that the organization and structure of online courses ought to balance both objectives.

    Paper Information

    • Full Working Paper Text
    • Working Paper Publication Date: December 2020
    • HBS Working Paper Number: 21-072
    • Faculty Unit(s): Technology and Operations Management
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    Karim R. Lakhani
    Karim R. Lakhani
    Dorothy and Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration
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    Jacqueline Ng Lane
    Jacqueline Ng Lane
    Assistant Professor of Business Administration
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