The Quick Response (QR) Code, Thesis Paper Example

Abstract

QR (quick response) codes have become a big tool in marketing because they take up little space in an advertisement and they can provide interactive communication with the target consumer. Recently, the depressed financial economic situation has heightened the use of temporary labor in numerous professional paradigms, which has facilitated the need for innovative methods for communicating the availability of employment opportunities. The use of QR codes to specifically target qualified, skilled professionals through social networking is a growing trend amongst recruiters for temporary employment agencies due to the numerous benefits, such as faster responses from potential applicants. The propensity for exchange of knowledge that facilitates e-learning through the use of QR codes in social networks is also of great interest to those exploring the use of QR codes. This research has examined these dynamics from the perspective of the job seeker as well as the personnel recruiter for temporary employment agencies to determine whether the use of QR codes improves aspects such as e-learning using online surveys as the tool for gathering primary research data. A total of 30 job seekers and 10 personnel recruiters working with temporary employment agencies completed separate surveys designed to determine whether inclusion of QR codes provided an added benefit in the employment market. The surveys revealed that job seekers as well as personnel recruiters for temporary employment agencies both found benefits in the use of QR codes integrated into the notice of an employment opportunity and on the resume of a prospective job seeker. The small sample sizes places limitations on the generalizability of the findings of this study and additional research should be conducted using larger samples to improve the strength of these findings.

Research Background

Technological advancements have revolutionized the way the way the world does business and this has transposed into the employment markets. The ability to transmit large amounts of data swiftly is essential to the functionality of many industries, which facilitated the development of the bar code and this eventually evolved into the Universal Product Code (UPC) as a means of tracking inventory for manufacturing and retail enterprises (Seideman, 1993).
The original bull’s-eye barcode, shown in Table 1, invented by Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver in 1949 resembled a target and evolved into the rectangular shaped UPC code by the 1970s, which led to several other variations before the new configuration known as the quick response (QR) code in the 1990s (Seideman, 1993). Since the presentation of the original bulls-eye design, the barcode has been used in diverse professional industries for purposes related to controlling merchandise distribution, logistic coordination, customer management, and many other paradigms (Baik, 2012).

Since professional organizations have migrated to the latest technological services as a means of attracting new business, employment and recruiting agencies have also integrated the use of social networking media, digital devices, and other forms of information communication technologies (ICT) to advertise job opportunities in lieu of the traditional newspaper employment ads (Magnani, 2001). This enables those in the job market to access employment listings from a myriad of remote devices like personal computers, personal data assistants (PDAs), mobile devices, smartphones, or any other forms of technology capable of accessing the Internet.

The dynamic nature of the Internet has prompted many temporary agencies to include interactive features such as QR codes that can be scanned using a free application (app) users can install on their laptop, computer, or tablets, as well as their iPhone, Android, or any other smartphone (Sullivan, 2011). Once scanned, the “physical world hyperlinks” in the QR code leads the user to a related website of the code creator’s choosing where the user can engage further with the product or organization, called ‘hard linking’ (Anon., 2011; Pupa, 2012). The links in the QR code can engage the user through innovative online technology, including social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, blogs and various other networking innovations that allow user-generated content to provide interactivity (Swan, et al., 1999).

Social media is described as any program or app designed for instant communication through networking and microblogging websites that create online communities using Web 2.0 to facilitate the sharing of information, ideas, videos, personal messages, and other user-created content (Gajendra, et al., 2010). The proliferation of social media has produced social networking, which is the use of the use of specific apps and websites to find users with similar interests to interact with. The growth of social networking has allowed users to easily interactively collaborate with others such that as much as 49% of internet users engage in online social networking (Peacock, 2008).

The dynamic potential of the Internet has also been harnessed to service educational outcomes, spawning the concept of ‘e-learning,’ which has created a whole new educational paradigm (Maddix, 2010). The physical classrooms of traditional brick-and-mortar educational settings are being replaced by virtual academic environments. Similar to social media, the development of the e-learning platform also provides a venue for online collaboration and knowledge sharing (Choi, et al., 2010).

Use of the e-learning platform has even been embraced in professional contexts as businesses turn to online classrooms for virtual training of employees (Smith & Kemmis, 2010). The success associated with online academic programs has caused business operations to study the financial feasibility of developing customized training programs to improve the quality of the services provided to customers (Perry & Pilati, 2011). Conventional online academic programs are very significant to small organizations with educational needs and are used to attract and augment profits through extensive marketing that is interactively tailored to the consumer.

The abundance of uses for the QR code in conjunction with social networking presents numerous opportunities for e-learning since diverse forms of digital technology are Internet capable and provide the user with the ability to connect from anywhere. In business contexts, people that use social networking to improve their professional circumstance have embraced innovative uses for the QR code and its ability to direct access to desired information. The increase in the diverse uses for QR codes outside of the commercial or industrial paradigms of its origin provides a rich platform for investigating the benefits that can be gained.

Purpose of Study

This study attempts to provide an overview of the use of smartphones to share QR codes that permit the expeditious exchange of information for professional purposes. The knowledge sharing under review will occur in two primary types of information systems, which are social networking sites and e-learning systems. Smartphones allow users to install superficially designed apps for the purpose of sharing and exchanging information that facilitates e-learning to the extent that study methods and lifestyles have been significantly changed by the increased use of smartphones.
Researching the changing uses of QR codes for professional social networking and e-learning attempts to diagnose the reality of this phenomenal growth to identify the factors affecting how QR codes are instrumental in the marketing of information in temporary work agencies. The scarcity of research regarding the use of QR codes for social networking and e-learning in temporary work agencies in the Arab countries illustrates that this subject has not received adequate attention.

Research Questions & Hypotheses

The significance of the study is to fully reveal the evolution of modern technologies in the field of e-learning communication, demonstrating how the exchange of information using QR codes has led many countries to think about how to benefit from these social networking technologies in the context of marketing information for temporary work agencies (Sarwar & Soomro, 2013).

Exploration of this topic will be guided by the following research questions:

• RQ 1. Does the inclusion of a QR code simplify the application process over traditional phone, email, Internet, or personal visit methods?
• RQ 2. Does the use of QR codes allow temporary work agencies to reach larger numbers of qualified applicants?
• RQ 3. Does the use of QR codes allow applicants to gives the fastest feedback regarding job openings?
• RQ 4. Does the use of QR codes in social networking improve the transfer of information through e-learning?

While considering these research questions, this study will also seek to prove or disprove the following hypotheses:

• Null Hypothesis 1. The use of QR codes through social networking by temporary work agencies does not influence the exchange of information through e-learning.
• H 1. The inclusion of a QR code simplifies the application process so that it is easier than using traditional phone, email, Internet, or personal visit methods.
• H 2. The use of QR codes allows temporary work agencies to reach larger numbers of qualified applicants.
• H 3. The use of QR codes allows applicants to give feedback regarding job openings much faster.
• H 4. The use of QR codes in social networking improves the transfer of information through e-learning.

Hence this study represents an attempt to maximize the available knowledge regarding the benefits resulting from the use of smartphone apps to exchange information using QR codes so as to facilitate easier e-learning (Matsurnura, et al., 2013).

Research Objectives

The objective of this study is to research the use of QR code smartphones apps by temporary work agencies for exchanging and sharing information using social networking. In achieving this objective, this research will address the topic based on several elements that are identified as follows:

• Discuss how QR code smartphone apps are used in job search networking paradigms to exchange and share information
• Analyze the factors influencing the use of QR code smartphones apps for professional job searches to outline future trends and developments.
• Identify the principle challenges facing the use of QR code smartphone apps to exchange and share information related to access or attainment of employment opportunities.
• Examine the relationship between the use of QR code smartphone apps and the propensity for e-learning

Achieving these objectives through the course of the research will ensure that the research questions are sufficiently answered to prove or disprove the hypotheses.

Review of Literature

Research terms identify the literature review as an assemblage of published information and data pertinent to a specific topic or research question that refers to scholastic findings on a particular subject that provides the context for the investigation and reveals what the examiner is trying to determine (Dunne, 2011). In the process of research, the literature review serves as a condensed repository of the most pertinent facts regarding all the most recent developments within the field of study and can also provide a historical background detailing the growth of the research topic (Houde, 2009). The purpose of this literature review is to discuss relevant background details regarding the historic use of QR codes, the dynamics of marketing and e-learning through social networking, and the use of QR codes in employment marketing.

A literature review is performed to gain deeper understanding of the contextual setting of the research questions and the phenomena examined in the research. The literature review will address the definitional issues and shed light on the differences and thus types of functions QR codes are used for. Using the information gathered from the examination of current literature relative to these identified topics, this review of literature will construct the theoretical framework that will be used to review the research findings.

History of QR Codes

The development of the QR code was preceded by the perpetuation of the barcode and this section will briefly discuss the historic progression of both beginning with the UPC. Barcodes are optical labels that are machine-readable and contain information about the attached product (Build Network, 2014). The very first bull’s-eye barcodes were patented as a ‘Classifying Apparatus and Method’ in 1952 by Woodland, but the scanners and other equipment necessary to implement the invention were too expensive to mass produce, so the design remained unused for 20 years (Mars, 2014). Industry standards during this period were that every company had their own system for tracking product without barcodes, where some used letters, numbers, a combination of both, or had no specific system at all (Seideman, 1993).

The progression of the bulls-eye barcode into the UPC prompted some companies to abandon their distinct methods to register with the new Uniform Code Council (UCC) that was appointed to document the growth of this system (Seideman, 1993). The UPC was officially adopted as the industry standard on April 3, 1973 and the mainstreaming of this system transformed barcodes from a technological curiosity into common business practice (Seideman, 1993). Adoption of the barcode did require a significant monetary commitment since retailers had to spend at least $200,000 for new equipment, install new data processing centers, retrain their employees, and the expenses for the labels cost manufacturers as much as $200 million annually (Seideman, 1993).

By the 1960s, the principle use for the barcode was to keep track of railroad freight cars when the barcode system was upgraded by Sylvania during the 1970s (Seideman, 1993). Through the decades, the barcode design progressed in use commercially, which is catalogued in Table 1, as an internal method to register and track using a barcode reading scanner, but the technology was not used outside of these stringent professional paradigms (Mars, 2014). This paved the way for the evolution of the one-dimensional (1D) barcode into the two-dimensional (2D) QR code, which was innovated within Denso Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota in 1994 to enable the rapid scanning of components in the manufacturing process (Build Network, 2014).

The QR code uses black square dots arranged in both horizontal and vertical patterns on a white background in a cubical grid that can be read by any device with a camera or scanner capable of capturing images and Reed–Solomon error correction software processes the image for interpretation (Kooser, 2011). Each component of the QR code is identified in Figure 1, which is color coded to easily identify the function patterns and encoding regions of the 2D structure as well as the timing patterns and data/error correction code words that are read by the scanning device (Okazaki, et al., 2013).

The scanning device is used to extract data patterns and the original applications for QR codes include product tracking, item identification, time tracking, document management, and general marketing (Schmidmayr, et al., 2008). Conceptualization of the QR code by Denso Wave intended for the technology to allow high-speed component scanning, which invited the expansion of its uses from just tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing into a much broader context that includes commercial tracking as well as apps directed towards mobile-phone users intended to heighten convenience-oriented exploration of QR codes through mobile tagging (Build Network, 2014). The fast readability and superior data storage capacity of the QR code compared to UPC barcodes facilitated its popular expansion outside the automotive industry, stimulated by the development of portable devices with cameras that could be used to capture the image and process the data (Ryu, 2013).

Although the development of the QR code occurred in the early 1990s, it did not entail widespread adoption of barcode-scanning apps for smartphones that were publically available to customers (Seideman, 1993). Since QR codes can be printed on most surfaces, the possible applications for their use has expanded exponentially past placement on the packaging of products to include consumer advertising, newspapers, TV ads, billboards, temporary tattoos, product packaging, clothing labels, cake frosting, and many other common items (Seideman, 1993). This allows the user scanning the code to easily access the desired websites more quickly and the proliferation of usage has expanded to the extent that anyone can create their own QR code by downloading a code generating app for free or for a paid fee (Lin-lin, et al., 2015).

User generated QR codes have become so common because it is structured differently than the traditional barcode in that it uses kanji, alphanumeric, numeric, and byte/binary standardized encoding modes to store data and efficiently direct users to extensions (Seideman, 1993). The diverse compositional variations of the 2D matrix codes, shown in Table 2, allows for customization of the appearance of the code generated (Schmidmayr, et al., 2008).

The ability of the 2D codes to be scanned both vertically and horizontally means that a QR code can store up to 7,089 numbers while a 1D UPC barcode can only store up to 30 numbers (Schmidmayr, et al., 2008). This makes the 2D QR code useful for displaying text to the user, adding a vCard contact to the user’s device, to access a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), or to create an e-mail or text message (Shumack, et al., 2013).

The ability of the QR codes to encode large amounts of data aside from just numbers, such as hyperlink that plays web page video, a link to download a mobile app, updating Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook, and other social media statuses, ‘Like’ a page on Facebook, display map directions, and more (Kooser, 2011). The myriad of messages, images, and various forms of information that can be conveyed using the QR code exponentially increases the potential uses for the technology and enables the code creator to drive traffic, interaction, and conversion to the desired website. The QR codes can provide consumers with useful information using GPS cell tower triangulation or the URL encoded in the QR code and the potential for easy knowledge transfer necessitates consideration of the placement of the code for optimal benefit.

Since its inception in 1994, reports have noted that barcode scanning increased as much as 1,600% in 2010 such that scanning of QR codes outnumbered 1D UPC scans in 2011 and about 22% of the Fortune 50 companies have already used mobile barcodes for various purposes including logistics, advertising, and customer service for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions (Okazaki, et al., 2013). Development of QR codes has expanded even further to include color QR codes as well as dynamic 3D QR codes, all of which can be embellished with unique content, as shown in Table 3, such as brands, logos, pictures, or other graphic designs of the maker’s choosing to engage the customer (Lin, et al., 2013).

Input Image QR Code Generated

The most frequently used type is the static QR codes used to disseminate information to the general-public typically displayed on product packaging or in advertising such as billboards and posters, on television, and in newspapers as well as magazines (Tolliver-Nigro, 2011). Use of QR codes has also expanded because they allow the creator to track information about the number of times a code was scanned, the times of the scans, the operating system of the devices that scanned it, as well as any action taken like visiting the associated website or watching the presented video (Tolliver-Nigro, 2011). These details provide specific information about the efficacy of the associated code.

Dynamic or unique QR codes offer more functionality since the owner can edit the code at any time and can target a specific individual for personalized marketing (Chiang, et al., 2013). These codes differ from the 2D codes in that they are able to provide more information to the creator about the user by tracking more specific information, such as the names and email address of those scanning the code, the number of times they scanned the code, track codes on a website, and provide the associated conversion rates (Okazaki, et al., 2013).

The cross-media functionality experienced with use of the QR code has generated usage in over 141 countries internationally with as much as 83.6% of general consumers in Japan stating that they regularly use and access QR codes (Okazaki, et al., 2013). The ubiquity of mobile phones has propelled the number of American consumers with smartphones capable of scanning barcodes past 115 million (Hammerbeck, 2011).

The rapid dissemination of mobile telephones and other devices with cameras capable of running the software that scans and reads the QR codes has propelled the expansion of the technology to public domains, making 2D barcodes so user friendly that anyone can exploit them for nearly any function across a variety of industries (Berg, 2012). The efficiency and convenience of the QR code platform is also indicated as a contributory factor relative to the intention of purchase, security, and trustworthiness of websites and data presentation. It is also argued that an increase in positive meaning of this attribute can be linked to repeated use.

Origins of Social Networking using QR Codes

This section will discuss how the use of QR codes in social networking has greatly influenced the dissemination of this novel communication tool. It has only been a mere few decades since the introduction of the World Wide Web (Web 1.0) to the general public, which began to revolutionise modern business practices at a very fast pace (Hinchcliffe, 2006). In its inception, experts predicted that “The web we know … is just an embryo of the web to come” (DiNucci, 1999, p. 122). The amalgamation of Internet usage into traditional communication practices facilitated many aspects of current business paradigms.

The advancement of Web 2.0 instigated the construction of many of the Enterprise 2.0 platforms used in mainstream organisations (Metz, 2007). Whereas Web 1.0 used static HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) webpages to display content to users, Web 2.0 uses a more dynamic form of graphical displays to engage the user, such as video, 3D images, QR codes, and other interactive media (Hinchcliffe, 2006). One of the most significant differences between Web 2.0 and traditional Web 1.0 content, illustrated inTable 4, is that there is now the availability of greater collaboration among Internet users, content providers, and globalized commerce (O’Reilly, 2009).

Generally, Web 2.0 technologies are largely interactive and dynamic, allowing users to be much more interconnected through ‘online communities’, which makes it even easier to share information on the Web (O’Reilly, 2009). Since the majority of Web 2.0 social networking features are offered as free services, websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ have grown and continue to grow at a tremendously rapid rate, continually adding new features that build off the technologies currently existing (Newson, et al., 2009).

The evolving nature of Web 2.0 includes many of the interactive features that are considered to be part of the social networking and e-learning phenomenon, such as:

• Blogs or Web logs, which enable users to share their thoughts and updates about their life publically, like keeping a diary on the Web;
• Wikis, which are global websites that allow users to add and update the content and provide the information to all users for free, like an interactive online encyclopaedia, and a popular example is Wikipedia;
• Social networking websites, which includes websites like Facebook and LinkedIn, that allow private and commercial users to build and customize their own profile and communicate with other users; and
• A broad array of web applications that make it possible for users to create QR codes that lead to dynamic, even personalized content (Newson, et al., 2009; O’Reilly, 2009)

In the former Web 1.0 model shown in Table 4, information was posted on websites and users were only able to view or downloaded the content, but the interactive format of the Web 2.0 platforms allows users to exert real-time control and have more involvement in the scope and nature of Web content (Newson, et al., 2009). The modern Web 2.0 format is more organized and is based on serving Web applications to users, with other improved functionalities including open communication with an emphasis on Web-based communities of users and more open sharing of information (O’Reilly, 2006).

Incorporation of Web 2.0 platforms allows the user to provide, collaborate, and interact with data that they have control over, compared to the passive viewing of former versions (O’Reilly, 2006). The convenience of the Enterprise 2.0 is that it does not consist of the implementation of an actual computing system, but rather constitutes the use of emergent social software platforms within companies, or between companies and their partners or customers, such as interactive blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social forums for informal communication, which has created a new social networking paradigm (McAfee, 2006).

Social media and the web have nearly taken the place of traditional libraries for fact finding and information hunting and social networks, such as Google+ and Facebook have nearly replaced traditional modes of finding a mate, communicating, and interacting with friends and loved ones (Evans, 2010). E-mail, instant messaging, text messaging, teleconferencing, newsgroups, web forums, blogs, and other forms of real-time communication make communication possible within seconds (Evans, 2010). Social networking websites like Yahoo, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook have forever changed how people meet, socialize, and interact with one another, which can be tracked and instigated according to the technological devices the user engages with most frequently (Boyd & Ellison, 2007).

The use of social networking has become so prominent that Google had over 500 million international users and Facebook was the second most prominent social networking site in terms of internet traffic (Peacock, 2008). Also growing exponentially, Facebook followed in ranking in terms of traffic, then YouTube and Twitter, the latter of which is a micro blogging site that was started in 2007 and now has around 78 million users worldwide with about 3.7 million users in the UK alone (Okazaki, et al., 2012).

Social networking using Web 2.0 platforms provides users with the combined use of effective enterprise search and discovery, using links to connect information together into a meaningful information ecosystem using the model of the Web (Hinchcliffe, 2006). This makes low-barrier social tools like QR codes available to even novice users for public authorship of enterprise content, tags to let users create emergent organizational structure, extensions to spontaneously provide intelligent content suggestions or recommendations to other users, and signals to let users know when enterprise information they care about has been published or updated (Hinchcliffe, 2006). This includes the development of RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content, such as when a corporate feed of interest changes, that can be inserted into a QR code (Hinchcliffe, 2006).

The ability to provide customer product reviews on commercial websites and the aforementioned capabilities of dynamic social networking tools like QR codes demonstrates how Internet forums have become more extensive and led to the proliferation of blogging as well as the dissemination of news through innovative methods like RSS (Newson, et al., 2009; Rouse, 2011). Although there is no definitive demarcation between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 technologies, with many of the hardware and applications distinction being largely subjective, a few noted descriptive characteristics of Web 2.0 include Ajax and other new technologies, Google Base and other free Web services, mash-ups, dynamic as opposed to static site content, QR codes that allow easy data creation, interactive dictionaries and encyclopaedias, advanced gaming, and modification or deletion by individual users (Rouse, 2011).

In addition to the Enterprise 2.0 tools mentioned, like Facebook and Twitter, other instruments can also be useful to businesses, such as:

• podcasting, which is a combined term for “iPod Broadcasting” credited to Adam Curry, and is also called “The Multimedia blog” format that, can be imbedded in a QR code the same as a simple embedded audio/video clip (Anon., 2015). A true “podcast” channel may be subscribed to using a feed, such as RSS or ATOM, so that users can access this material by pulling that content rather than having it sent from a broadcaster to a recipient;
• voting, which is a simple form of social interactions in IT where users provide a yes/no, thumbs up/down answer or feedback using a QR code that can present visual or other indicators to other users while manipulating the ranking/ordering of presented data;
• social bookmarking constitutes a form of Tagging, sometimes with QR codes, where individuals mark sites they want to remember based on URLs and communicates context or categorization that may not have been seen through a more formalized taxonomy-driven viewpoint (Anon., 2011);
• collaborative filtering is a way of defining the significance and/or ‘value’ of content or other contributions based on the actions of individuals, which can be swayed by implicit actions, like scanning a QR code to indicating popularity, purchasing an item, or explicit actions including ranking or rating, whether textual or through a rating mechanism such as one to five star reviews; and
• agents, which are a search/query functionality that runs in the background of most operations 24/7, allowing relevant information to be delivered to users as it arrives while filtering data according to user preferences

From this, it is seen that the use of social networking has been growing significantly, but this does not provide information on the role and purpose of social media and its implications for e-learning through QR code use (Kubichek, 2008). The exchange and sharing of information through smartphones is distinctive feature of today’s technology, as a result of increased demand and fast technological development of smartphones (Boyd & Ellison, 2007).

Web developers and content writers should ensure that the site has a strong presence on the web within the pages of search engine results. Creation of content is extremely essential when dealing with internet marketing communication within the employment industry (Moorhouse & Caltabiano, 2007). It is necessary to determine the online behavior of the target market before selecting the best channel for internet marketing (Cadotte, 2006).
The content should be given time to enhance its online presence by constantly updating information on current product trends to encourage word of mouth (WOM) communication amongst users (Brown, et al., 2007). This can be in the form of organizational blogs and guest blog postings on the brand. Online marketing communication should allow users to share their experiences on the new brands in the market. The internet leads to the realization of postmodern intelligence in market authorities that are independent (Odih, 2007). This can be through posts and discussions on blog posts which enhances customer loyalty (Vogt & Wojak, 2007).

The necessity of cost reduction methods has increased the use of networking tools that require knowledge or familiarity of social media for workplace related communications, such as web conferencing. Online communication has multiple objectives within professional industries that are geared to enhancing profitability through increased sales, making the primary purpose to using social media within the workplace to enhance customer relations by maintaining a positive relationship (Turban & King, 2003). The role of online marketing communication exploits the consumers’ preference to use social media sites because they are interactive and support a two way mode of communication between enterprises and their employees. Most social media tools like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+ allow organizations to keep in touch with personnel in real time (Mangold & Faulds, 2009).

Employment Marketing and QR Codes

This section will examine how the use of QR codes for the purpose of employment marketing has emerged as a mainstream method of recruiting. A growing number of organizations continue to appreciate the special role that online marketing communication and successful campaigns can play in increasing retail sales. In fact, very few enterprises have not integrated online marketing communication in their marketing activities (Brown, et al., 2007).

An excellent implementation of online marketing methods leads to a very high return on investment in comparison to the traditional marketing methods (Adam, et al., 2009). Online marketing has a great potential of assisting enterprises to reach out to millions of customers every single day. Online catalogues are essential to the marketer because they grant customers 24 hour accessibility to purchase products at their convenience, worldwide merchandise exposure, and the ability to quickly change and publish product and price details.

Online indexes are also vital in improving brand awareness, producing requests for print catalogues, expanding product utilization, amassing potential customer demographics and addresses, and the provision of a two way communication with the organizational consumers. The consequence of a successful online catalogue includes a very strong brand name, protected purchase transactions, easy navigation around the website, and integrating viewers around the site (Adam, et al., 2009). The acknowledged capacity for the expeditious sharing of information using QR codes has prompted numerous markets to adopt the use in their respective marketing campaigns as a tool to increase interaction with their consumer base (Vázquez-Cano, 2014).
With the 2013 unemployment rate being 7.7% in the U.S., many industries requiring skilled laborers are having difficulties attracting employees with the right qualifications (BoLS, 2014; Moorhouse & Caltabiano, 2007). This has facilitated the expansion in the propensity of individuals being engaged in alternative employment arrangements, such as temporary labor, subcontracting, and contracting-out ones services independently (Magnani, 2001). Analysts speculate that the growth of atypical employment arrangements may be in response to the need for firms to save on associated labor costs characteristic within internal labor markets, such as extra-wage costs (Magnani, 2001).

Technological diffusion has improved the accessible venues for recruiters to attract skilled job seekers. Globalization has inspired a plethora of websites focused on employment, such as ZipRecruiter.com, FaceBook.com, Monster.com, Indeed.com, CareerBuilder.com, SimplyHired.com, IdeaList.com, Internships.com, USAJobs.com, and more than 700 others that job seekers flock to in search of employment since these sites individually and collectively constitute a network of hundreds of millions of users in hundreds of countries (Adams & Smith, 2012). These social networking websites connect employers with potential employees and, like many other industries temporary employment agencies have created an online presence in these forums to attract qualified applicants to their job postings (Moorhouse & Caltabiano, 2007).

The ability to interactively engage users has facilitated the use of QR codes as employers attempt to establish a viable marketing plan for new job notifications in an attempt to explore diverse venues to recruit skilled applicants. Marketing is a concept used in business references to describe organizational functions involving a set process for communication, creation, and delivery of value to customers (White, 2012). These concepts are employed in the management of customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization as well as stakeholders, which include financiers, employees, the government, and others according to the dynamics relative to:

• Micromarketing: Focuses on performing activities that anticipate customers’ needs, production of products and services, and delivering them to customers so as to satisfy those needs (Chaffey, et al., 2006).
• Macro-marketing: Concentrates on the social process that effectively transfers the economy’s flow of products and services from producers to consumers to balance/match supply and demand to fulfil the goals and objectives of society (Kotler & Keller, 2012).

The use of QR codes for the marketing of temporary employment positions requires determining what skills desirable applicants will have; development of screening processes to identify potential applicants; and finally determination of the most suitable way to construct the interactive content relative to the position so as to facilitate e-learning that will help screen unqualified viewers (Wickham, et al., 2008). Additionally, access to the QR code is essential, so the method used to promote access to them through advertisements or other means of distribution is essential to ensuring visualization by desirable candidates.

Many recruiters are inserting QR codes on their business cards or on their booths and brochures at job/career fairs to allow potential candidates access to the company’s information or career site without having to wait in line to complete an application (Stafford, 2012). Job seekers can also insert a QR code on their resume to make downloading their CV easier and they can even direct potential employers to the applicant’s professional website (Bowling, 2011).

E-Learning using QR Codes

The term ‘e-learning’ is presupposed to have originated in conjunction with the evolution of the online learning platform during the 1980s and some researchers explicitly define e-learning, others have or imply a certain view or definition of e-learning in their studies (Allen, 2004). The definitions given by distinct researchers occur through conflicting approaches of other definitions, while others generate definitions through the comparison of defining features with other terms that exist (Nichols, 2003; Volery & Lord, 2000).

Specifically, theoretical conflict arises in constructing a static definition that defines e-learning as a paradigm firmly accessible through the application of technological techniques and tools that are web-distributed, web-based, or web-capable (Allen, 2004; Nichols, 2003). The concept of e-learning does not include instructional methods and content delivered through CD-ROM, videotape, or the Intranet, but does consider satellite broadcasts and interactive media such as QR codes (Järvelä, et al., 2007).

Albeit characteristics of technology are entailed in the e-learning definition, some researchers contend that the term ‘technology’ is inadequate when used as a descriptor (Perry & Pilati, 2011). It is believed that some degree of interactivity must be included in the definition to make it applicable, especially in describing the experience of learning (Dringus & Cohen, 2005). Despite this belief, some researchers have added that e-learning is a form of online learning, making the terms interchangeable (Allen, 2004).

What is sufficiently clear is that there is some degree of uncertainty as to what precisely are the traits relevant to the terminology ‘e-learning’ as defined by notable scholars. However, what is obvious is that all types of e-learning, whether they are programs, objects, applications, or websites, can eventually offer an opportunity for people to gain new knowledge. Before attempting to identify how to incorporate e-learning into an organization’s typical practices through the use of QR codes, the leaders should be capable of answering a number of critical interrelated questions. The first issue is on why e-learning makes sense in regards to improving the performance of employees.

This requirement is because e-learning using RQ codes presents a variety of advantages for small businesses. Just like it has assisted in automating and streamlining training and processes in numerous organizations, e-learning can make great contributions to small organizations (Lowenthal, et al., 2009). The focus has been on the money and energy required in designing and creating e-learning for such few individuals, which increases the attractiveness of QR codes since many free code generating apps are available online. Presently, technologies are changing and this implies that e-learning is also becoming feasible for addressing a variety of problems that small organizations face, so managers of both large and small businesses should answer a variety of questions that measure the competencies of employees to gauge their ability to achieve success for the organization (Lowenthal, et al., 2009).

Another question relates to the resources that can be accessed and the associated required knowledge, which places QR codes in a favorable light since they are easy to use for the producer as well as the consumer. Presenting answers to these questions can frequently be a challenge for small businesses.

Theoretical Framework

This section will define the definitive paradigms that construct the theoretical framework for this investigation. Use of the QR code as a tool to facilitate mobile interaction has also revealed unique opportunities for e-learning through social networking. The employment market has sought to exploit these e-learning benefits by using QR codes in social networking as a means of recruiting potential applicants. This subchapter analyzes the theoretical approaches and concepts that are essential and can be linked to the study.

Defining E-Learning

The success of online learning for academics and businesses can be explained through the application of theoretical perspectives. Since the current definition regarding what technologies should be referenced in the e-learning term are exceedingly ambiguous, there exists a question as to the apparent definition or whether to include other terms such as web-based learning, online course learning, web-based training, distance learning, or learning objects while having the belief that the terms can be applied synonymously (Dringus & Cohen, 2005).
A number of scholars have developed theories to explain crucial aspects of online learning, including ideas on the educational benefits of learning models and how these paradigms are used in an online learning setting (Anderson, 2008; Kanuka, 2008). An effective educational theory should address the limitations and affordances of the framework for which it is designed (Anderson, 2008). The constructivist theoretical approach is used as a framework in the definition by a number of researchers that consider e-learning to be a procedural event that involves some transformation of a person’s experience into his or her awareness through the process of constructing knowledge (Maddix, 2010).

The efficacy of the learning settings should be comprised of four essential elements, which are learner-centered, assessment-centered, knowledge-centered, and community-centered (Kanuka, 2008). In the learner-centered component, the tutor or teacher should be aware of a learner’s understanding such as misconceptions and prior knowledge (Kanuka, 2008). The learning environment must recognize the distinct aspects of culture such as knowledge (Anderson, 2008). In this context, online learning can result in enhanced communication because of simultaneous synchronous and asynchronous communication (Uden, 2007).

The knowledge-centered component offers learners or users a massive source of resources of knowledge because of access to the Internet (Kanuka, 2008). Learning theories such as connectivism are focused on establishing linkages that the Internet surpasses (Anderson, 2008). The assessment-centered component uses well-designed online learning environments to be efficient and effective so they can offer a variety of forms of assessment through peers, the instructor, as well as self-assessment (Kanuka, 2008). The community-centered component provides that a well-designed online education community will offer a social setting based on social cognition advocated by Vygotsky, a society-centered online education setting will offer a space for learners to work in a collaborative fashion to establish new knowledge (Kanuka, 2008).

Online learning settings can maintain a great capacity for enhancing communication and can offer activities of assessment which are workplace and project-based (Allen, 2004). These activities help the student benefit from expert as well as peer reviews that are constructed in a collaborative fashion and infused with the opportunity for self-assessment (Arikan & Ozen, 2015). Members of these societies will assist and support each other in an attempt to establish and create knowledge.

Additionally, members of these societies have a strong feeling of mutual belonging to the society and therefore share a commitment to participating and contributing towards the society of learning (Volery & Lord, 2000). Summarily, in the contexts of this study, e-learning learning is defined as the use of wireless enabled mobile digital devices within and between pedagogically designed learning environments or contexts which include Mobile Web 2.0 tools previously identified (Vázquez-Cano, 2014).

Defining Social Networking

Many educators have harnessed Web 2.0 tools for creating engaging student centered learning environments that create social networks to promote communication. This appropriation of Web 2.0 tools within the social constructivist pedagogy facilitates what has been termed ‘pedagogy 2.0’ (McLoughlin & Lee, 2008). From an activity theory perspective, wireless mobile devices are the tools that mediate a wide range of learning activities and facilitate collaborative learning environments through social networking (Uden, 2007).

The growing popularity of a relatively new social learning management system (LMS) and the availability of interactive, easy to use Web 2.0 social networking software tools provide equitable access to QR code creators and scanner/readers. Typically, a smartphone is used as a QR code scanner, displaying the code and converting it to some useful form, such as a standard URL for a website, thereby obviating the need for a user to type it into a web browser.

The extensive social networking conducted in the Web 2.0 environment is intended to reflect evolution in such a user-controlled direction that some industry pundits have already dubbed Web 3.0, stating that Web 2.0 is merely a transitional phase between the Web 1.0 era and this more established phase (Rouse, 2011). Web 3.0 is the modern perception of the Semantic Web, a term coined by Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of Web 1.0 (Metz, 2007). The Semantic Web is essentially an environment in which machines can read Web as we read them and where search engines and software agents are more exact when trolling the Internet to find what we are looking for (Metz, 2007). This concept is primarily based on the notion of a set of standards that turns the Web into one big database (Metz, 2007).

For the contexts of this research, ‘social networking’ specifically describes the use of communication between co-workers, employers, friends, family members, or even strangers to promote dynamic relationships by building person-to-person connections through community or collaborative integrations using an online platform, such as discussion forums, blogs, or consumer-facing websites like Facebook and LinkedIn to create a unique value (Gajendra, et al., 2010). The use of QR codes in social networking permits easier social network analysis (SNA) to detect communications patterns using a visualization of the network, showing the numbers of connections between participants, the strength of connections, and in some cases, the volume of interactions, as represented through various communications (Swan, et al., 1999).

Methodology

This study is based on achieving its objectives and answering its questions with the use of a descriptive analytical approach through social survey of a sample of smartphone users equipped with QR code readers for the purpose of exchanging and sharing information while searching for employment. The study will also conduct a parallel survey of employment recruiting agents that use QR codes through social survey of a sample of recruiters that integrate QR codes in their employment announcements for the purpose of exchanging and sharing information with users searching for employment.

Since the primary data in this research is captured using surveys, both qualitative and quantitative methods will be employed. Although an ethnographic study would also be an appropriate method for conducting this analysis, it is more explicitly detailed than necessary and the focus is rather limited in scope (Babbie, 2007). The combination of qualitative and quantitative strategies results in a mixed method approach provides answers to questions singular methods cannot achieve alone (Creswell, 2009).

Mixed method research is one of the three research paradigms where quantitative and qualitative research methods, techniques, and analysis are mixed in one study to provide a better understanding of the research problem (Babbie, 2007). This method is used because the combination of techniques allows the researcher to better understand the attitudes, opinions, beliefs, behaviors of people. Both qualitative and quantitative methodology was more suited for the preliminary stages of the study because correlational research examines and quantifies the relationship between variables using a numerical index (Saunders, et al., 2009). The mixed methods approach involves collecting, analyzing, and mixing qualitative and quantitative approaches throughout the research process.

For this mixed method study, a phenomenological research approach was used. A phenomenological research approach examines people’s subjective experiences and interpretations of the world. The researcher wants to understand the perception and attitudes of secondary teachers on teaching reading skills (Creswell, 2009). Performing quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data gives the research additional reliability despite the small sample size through redundancy in the comparisons drawn from my own data and the information gathered from the available literature (Babbie, 2007).

Numerous quantitative and qualitative studies were examined at length to provide a comprehensive view of the relevant aspects of the subject within one comprehensive body of work as opposed to consulting the multitude of studies regarding the subject (Graziano & Raulin, 2009). The research strategy for this dissertation initially assumed a qualitative approach to determine whether there are correlations between the indicated variables utilizing empirical as well as other methods to gather research data. In addition, the significant findings exposed through the secondary research were analyzed, which presents findings relevant to the primary research objectives. The integration of details accumulated through the extensive literature review of information is used in conjunction with self-administered surveys. This is an appropriate method to answer the research questions because the qualitative approach allows the determination of the underlying meanings behind the analysis results. Data will consist of details compiled from surveys completed in accordance with the instructions provided as well as relevant information associated with the research questions acquired from an exhaustive literature review. This method will also reveal the relational patterns that may exist between the trends made apparent in the research and impressions of the respondents. Peer reviewed and scholastic studies will be reviewed to extrapolate empirical data that will support or refute the findings of this examination.

Qualitative Research

Examining the use of qualitative research designs such as case studies, historical research, interviews, and ethnography revealed these processes explore a central phenomenon and are characterized with an emerging design, which evolves with the researchers understanding of the situation (Carpenter, et al., 2004). Qualitative research work consists of various processes based on of different systemic questions on the chosen theme, which ultimately leads the researcher to in-depth knowledge on that particular issue (Graziano & Raulin, 2009). A qualitative research strategy will be implemented in order to provide engaging data in an objective sense while portraying detailed perspectives of the impressions of the participants to enable the research to conceptualize their point of view (Babbie, 2007).

The available literature covering the research scope and objectives was first critically assessed to establish possible questions for the surveys (Draugalis, et al., 2008). This ensures that there is a justification for every question and that they correlate with the study objectives, help fill existing literature gaps, and tests various fundamental assumptions (Draugalis, et al., 2008). Assuming a qualitative stance will present the greatest degree of clarity since statistical analyses will quantitatively represent the data.

Quantitative Research

The quantitative research methodology uses deductive approaches following a linear path, which emphasizes explicit standardized procedures to measure variables and test hypotheses to form plausible relationships (Graziano & Raulin, 2009). Since quantitative analysis deals primarily with statistics, quantitative methods can be employed for the data analysis and these methods will be implemented in the codification of the data to be analyzed. The key variables will be relative to indicators that denote reduction of turnover rates, the value of supportive training incentives, and perceived benefits of such training.

The purpose of the analyses of the data will be to find correlations between the research variables. Quantitative research methodology uses deductive approaches following a linear path, which emphasizes explicit standardized procedures to measure variables and test hypotheses to form plausible relationships (Neuman, 2006). The quantitative methodology was more suited for this study because correlational research examines and quantifies the relationship between variables using a numerical index (Salkind, 2008).

Conducting Survey Research

The principle research tool used will be surveys that are administered online so participants can complete and return them at their convenience. The responses of the surveys and interviews will be charted and graphed to easily reveal indicators and dimensions that will indicate correlations between the categorical values (Babbie, 2007). This will also allow the responses to be organized to create conceptual order and establish variable ranges for the factorial examination (Babbie, 2007).

The surveys were created by reviewing existing data collection instruments since this allows researchers to select current versions that have strong validity and reliability (Creswell, 2009). A cross-sectional web-based survey was administered containing assorted multiple choice and Likert scaled question with descriptors ranging from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree in addition to other demographic questions (Creswell, 2009). Cross-sectional surveys allow researchers to collect data about current attitudes, opinions, beliefs, and practices regarding the use of QR codes in employment to facilitate e-learning through social networking using a single application (Creswell, 2009).

Furthermore, researchers can modify an existing instrument to fit the research design by obtaining approval from the original author (Creswell, 2009). The entire process of data collection took four weeks. Issues of bias were addressed by testing the questionnaire two weeks in advance. Upon return, the surveys were edited to conform to the requirements and eliminate errors during the main data collection process (Saunders, et al., 2009).

Descriptive statistical analysis will be calculated from the demographic information to describe trends and or make comparisons among the respondents (Graziano & Raulin, 2009). Microsoft Excel will be used to organize the aggregate collected data and to generate graphical representations for easy analysis of the inferential data as well as describe possible relationships among the variables using the theoretical framework (Babbie, 2007).

Selecting Participants

A stratified sampling method was used in the selection of participants. The job seeker participants were invited to participate in the survey only if they claimed ownership of smartphones equipped with QR code readers and were seeking or had sought employment within the past 3-6 months. An additional criterion was that the participant had to have created or scanned QR codes through the course of their employment search. The criterion for the employment recruiter participants necessitated that they also have smartphones equipped with QR code scanners, but they must use the smartphones for the exchange and sharing of information to facilitate e-learning by placing QR codes in employment advertisements.

The researchers selected and pre-screened participants based on initial qualifying questions related to their use and ownership of a smartphone and their use/familiarity with QR codes. The sample consisted of 30 individuals that have used QR codes in the process of seeking employment within the past 3-6 months and ten recruiters working at temporary employment agencies that use QR codes in the process of announcing employment opportunities and recruiting applicants. All participants were 18 years of age or older and asked to discuss their usage of smartphone applications for employment that involves scanning or creating QR codes for information sharing and exchanging through social networking. This sample size will be small enough to work with in an effective manner but large enough to provide credible data.

Survey Design

A survey was developed for this study, shown in Table 5 of Appendix A and Table 6 of Appendix B, and provided to participants electronically. The survey entailed a series of opened-ended and closed-ended questions with multiple response options. The survey was divided into four parts with the first section covering demographic details, the second section establishing the participants’ employment status, and the last two sections gathering data regarding their use of QR codes, social networking habits, and e-learning.

Responses from the participant’s surveys will be coded to represent the primary variables to reach conclusive determinations that will provide coherent answers to the research question. The specifications of the questions asked through the surveys will give direct indication of the actual perceptions of the participants and will allow for real time relational inferences to be measured. The measurements ascertained through the case study will be compared to the determinations quantified in similar studies designed to make the same determinations.

The surveys were made available online so that the respondents could take and return the surveys anonymously and the data collected is distinguished by numbers to maintain this anonymity. Using empirical methods to conduct this research as well as literary study presents a more complete inquiry regarding the determination of the research question. Stringent identification of the research variables allows the detection of patterns in the responses of the participants which present a concise picture of the relationships between the variables.
The surveys will contain open-ended and closed-ended questions that will be coded into categories for analysis (Babbie, 2007). Double-barrelled questions will be meticulously avoided and all the questions will have direct relevance to the specifics of the study (Babbie, 2007). Negative and biased terminology will also be excluded from the questionnaire to avoid misinterpretations or biased results (Babbie, 2007).

The survey assumed a general format and constructed using easily interpreted coding for the closed-ended questions as well as a matrix format for the open-ended questions. In addition to the self-administered questionnaires, the respondents will also be qualitatively interviewed by a proxy examiner to allow the interviews to be as objective as possible. Data from the questionnaires were transcribed into an Excel document for analysis.

The surveys were distributed using a website that dispensed the questions through email using social media. They questionnaire was developed using a free application called Survey Monkey, available at surveymonkey.com. All consent forms and privacy policies were distributed alongside the survey questions. For recruiters working with temporary employment agencies, the problem of effectiveness is more complicated as there are numerous ways to quantify data and the results can be as many as the possibilities, all with different meanings (Bauer, et al., 2005).
Some studies have shown that that traditional marketing efforts (TME) and online marketing efforts (OME) are separate marketing performance elements and they need different tools of measurement such that the predictive abilities of the OME to predict marketing performance, while TME are predicting financial performance can be determined and analyzed (Barlow, et al., 2004). Traditional expressions of effectiveness refer to return of investment, which can be influenced by market orientation and marketing performance can be expressed in non-financial results as attracting the consumer, engaging, retaining, learning and relating to the consumer (Mattsson, 2009).

Ethical Considerations

Informed consent forms was distributed and signed digitally by participants before the study commences (Orb, et al., 2001). Risks associated with collaboration and the rights of participants to preserve their anonymity will be communicated. Digitally received questionnaires were encrypted so IP addresses were not be transmitted with data. The researchers ensured that all risks associated with the research were minimized and the purpose of the study was clearly outlined for participants. Personal identification data was not collected during the selection of participants.

Assumptions and Bias

The study suggests an initial sample size of 40 total participants and this enabled the researcher to perform an advanced statistical analysis. The research is expected to provide a set of results that reflect the reality of the phenomenon that is the subject of the study and identify the factors affecting it as well as the challenges that hinder the benefits of QR code usage and particular areas of social networking and e-learning as they relate to employment. The integrity of the participants’ responses is the largest assumption in this research since the primary data is based upon this.

Limitations

As the self-report of smartphone users has its reliability related limitations and users might not remember all the instances they used one particular application, the research will have a potential above 5% error rate, which will be added to the variations table when analyzing the results. However, due to privacy considerations, and the cost related to creating a monitoring app that can be downloaded to the smartphones to provide real time reliable data, the authors were ready to compromise in order to comply with privacy preferences of participants and preserve their integrity.

Research Findings

The purpose of this research was to illustrate the trending growth in the use of QR codes to facilitate e-learning through social networking for the purpose of employment outreach. These elements are all factors that compel an organization to set up procedural uses for QR codes in their daily activities. Communication is the principle aspect of all interactions, be it verbal or non-verbal. The ability to express our thoughts, feelings, ideas, needs, and other social messages is primarily considered to be one of the attributes that distinguishes humans from all other animals on our planet, placing humanity in the role as the dominant species.

Verbal communication is a traditional hallmark of human cognition, which includes grammatically structured language, causal-logical reasoning, mental state attribution, metacognition, analogical inferences, culture, and many other attributes of language (Penn, et al., 2008). Human communication gives them the unique ability to participate in cultural activities with shared goals and intentions using at least two kinds of similarity judgments, which are “…judgments of perceptual similarity based on the relation between observed features of stimuli; and judgments of non-perceptual relational similarity based on logical, functional, and/or structural similarities between relations and systematic correspondences between the abstract roles that elements play in those relations” (Penn, et al., 2008, p. 115).

Discovering the various ways perceptions, emotions, and nonverbal expressions affect self-concepts, behaviors, and defensive and supportive messages and create positive and negative communication climates can have a dramatic bearing on interpersonal communications and the relationships we have with others. The research conducted employed a survey that used various questions to measure the use of QR codes with a total of 30 job seeker participants and ten employment recruiter participants that successfully completed the questionnaire for inclusion in this study. This chapter will present the results of the inquiry based on data collection which consists of several themes reflect the objectives of the study and try to answer the research questions.

Primary Research Findings

The dynamic changes of the educational model, especially regarding the established policies that provide subsidies and facilities for instructive training programs are designed to improve the labor skills and productivity of personnel. The use of QR codes for e-learning through social networking during the pursuit of employment is of great import for temporary work agencies since their business depends on the ability to quickly recruit qualified individuals for clients that need temporary employees. The first part of the findings will demarcate the demographic and other details of the job seeker participants followed by the remainder of the research findings from the recruiter participants’ survey. The responses to the questions are graphically illustrated to accompany the descriptive details.

Secondary Research Findings

The secondary research is used as a baseline to qualify the findings determined from examination of the primary research presented. The Dennison, L., Morrison, L., Conway, G., Yardley, L (2013) Opportunities and challenges for smartphone applications in supporting health behavior change: qualitative study. J Med Internet Res 2013;15(4):e86 of the Internet into the framework of big business has created numerous challenges for marketing. Product branding and marketing had previously been done via print ads, television commercials, and visual displays in retail venues and on billboards, but the insurgence of the Internet has created a virtual marketplace where product branding creates a complex challenge due to the absence of sensory interaction between the customer and the product that usually occurs naturally within traditional retail venues (Chaffey, 2009).

Companies that engage in Internet commerce need to establish strong Internet brands, or i-Brands (Li, et al., 1999), that conveys the corporate identity and instills a sense of familiarity and trust within the consumer that clearly distinguishes the product from that of all competitors and imitators, establishing the product at a premium above all others. However, the Internet has proven to be a very complex marketing tool to master in which timing is vital to the success of the campaign more so than in traditional venues, leaving many companies with the difficult task of establishing a strong brand image over the Internet.

The communicative power of the internet has essentially replaced much of the traditional tools particularly in the world of traditional advertising in print and broadcast media. The scale of interaction and communication capability provided by the Internet is the one of the greatest affordances and benefits available to education and the business world. It is essential to note that the Web 1.0 is a multifaceted technology which offers an increasing set of information management and communication tools that can be harnessed for the purposes of providing education (Metz, 2007).

Therefore the provision of some form of appropriate wireless mobile computing device is required to employ the use of QR codes, which may take the form of a netbook, a laptop, or a smartphone depending upon what is appropriate for the intended task. Mobile learning (m-learning) technologies provide the ability to engage in learning conversations between various users within authentic e-learning environments in any context.

It is the potential for e-learning to bridge pedagogically designed learning contexts, facilitate learner generated contexts, and both personal and collaborative content while providing personalization and ubiquitous social connectedness that sets it apart from more traditional learning environments (Kanuka, 2008). The ‘social software’ tools known as Web 2.0 share many synergies with social constructivist learning pedagogies.

Some experts contend that by 2016, there will be 10 billion mobile phones connected to the Internet globally based on existing usage patterns that indicated that the data circulating via mobile phone devices in 2011 amounted to eight times the size of the global Internet data in 2000 (Okazaki, et al., 2012; Yee & Hargis, 2009). Average smartphone use in 2013 was about 150 MB of data per month per user and this amount is expected to increase to 2.6 gigabytes by 2016 (Yee & Hargis, 2009). The rapid growth of ad-hoc and Wi-Fi networks supports the development of information sharing through smartphones, which have become one of the indispensable products for people’s life (Cheng & Li, 2013).
While the applications developed for smartphones have been designed to make human interaction faster and more effective, several industries, such as education, research and even health care are discovering the benefits of using instant data sharing (Dahlstrom, et al., 2013). The below study is designed to reveal the main benefits and risks associated with the increased use of smartphones by professionals, as well as students (Mtega, et al., 2012).

According to recent research, the technological changes and developments in smartphone software and operating systems have made three more prominent than the rest: iOS, Android, and Windows Phone (Meeker & Wu, 2013). Although 20 years ago people at a concert were just participating and telling friends about their experience after, today they are able to take an image or video using their smartphones and instantly share them on social networking sites such that the amount of digital content that was created and shared online grew by 800 percent over the past five years (Meeker & Wu, 2013).

The number of photos uploaded daily on different internet platforms skyrocketed in the past five years as well, with Facebook being the largest platform for hosting user-generated content and YouTube is also very popular since this social media can be used through smartphone applications (Meeker & Wu, 2013). The growth of smartphone subscribers per year is significant all around the world; 28% in the USA and 31% in China with overall global growth of 31% (Meeker & Wu, 2013).

Data traffic of smartphones users typically involves browsing, accessing digital media, and sending or reading e-mail (Falaki, et al., 2010). As of 2011, almost half of the total U.S. population is using mobile media due to the prolific dissemination of smartphones (Radwanick & Aquino, 2011). This smartphone adoption drives the growth of mobile media use, consumption of online communication, information, and data sharing, and accessing email on mobile devices as well as real time social networking (Radwanick & Aquino, 2011).
Although there are significant security threats present regarding sharing and exchanging information using smartphones, the use of QR codes implements an additional source of control since access to the QR code must facilitate access (Barnes & Scornavacca, 2004; Enck, 2011). As collaborative learning and the educational use of smartphones continues to grow, the use of the QR code as a tool for education and collaborative purposes provides a pedagogical advantage of mobile smartphone applications that have already been confirmed by numerous previous users, in particular focus on e-learning tools (Cochrane & Bateman, 2010; Järvelä, et al., 2007).

The affordability of smartphones improves the administrative applications for real time event collaboration that supports learning as well as self-regulation and organization of group study. However, collaborative smartphone apps are not only suitable to enhance the outcomes of education, but can be used in other fields as well (Bornemann, 2012). Sharing and exchanging photos, videos, collaborating and exchanging documents through Google Docs, and many other applications of social networking are made convenient through the access provided by smartphones (Ertekin & Pelton, 2014).

This includes cloud computing applications that are likely to be used in several fields to improve communication and speed up the exchange of information (Dowling, 2011). The diversity of benefits related to information sharing through smartphones within professional contexts confirms that there are several potential benefits of smartphone application use related to the inclusion of QR codes to facilitate e-learning through social networking (Dennison, et al., 2013). As the above review has revealed, there are endless opportunities that lie in the software designed to enable smartphones to share, transmit, and exchange information such as the QR code (André & Ferreira, 2014). The below study design will attempt to reveal current trends, opportunities and risks related to students’ and educators’ use of these applications.

Online marketing therefore, encourages the utilization of any product or service and also builds people’s interest by directing them to buy a particular product vial the word of mouth (Brown, et al., 2007; Godes & Mayzlin, 2004). Concise and accurate communication is a very important aspect in any professional forum. The internet has become a marketing tool that has pushed the marketing challenge to new levels. Around the world, Internet advertising has steadily grown from virtually nothing in 1996 into an $8.4 billion business as of the first quarter of 2012 (IAB, 2012). Since technology revolutionized marketing, the last decade has increased speculation in e-marketing, internet marketing, e-advertising or an over-arching online marketing communication. These industries have now evolved into an indispensable communications platform for an engaging set of tools to reach wider audiences at a least possible cost in promoting brand awareness and increasing sales.

Conclusion

This section will summarily present the overall determinations gathered from this research, conclude the study with a statement of the established findings, and present recommendations for further study in the next chapter. This research project has examined the feasibility and potential success associated with implementing the use of QR codes in employment networks to facilitate e-learning through social networking. Online advertising is the term commonly used to refer to all forms of key word advertisement used in-game, through e-mails, banners, and platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, which globalization has made increasingly relevant to attracting customers and building relationships (Carpenter & Fairhurst, 2005).

Internet marketing describes a form of promotion that utilizes the Web1.0 to deliver marketing information in order to attract an extensive network of customers. Examples of internet advertising include contextual ads displayed on the result pages when individuals browse by using search engines, online classified advertising, social network advertising, e-mail marketing, advertising networks, and interstitial ads. An interstitial ad can take many forms online, such as a full-page a prestitial ad that appears before the actual webpage that is more like a TV commercial that is inserted in the normal flow of editorial content structure on a website, providing several kinds of animation for the viewer to watch or interact with (Mattsson, 2009).

Although there has been a general trend towards e-commerce, this does not imply that traditional marketing methods are now irrelevant (White, 2012). The seven Ps of marketing which include promotion, place, product and price are as relevant to internet marketing as they are to offline marketing to promote consumer satisfaction and loyalty (MaGrath, 1986). However, e-commerce addresses several issues that have to be considered and may call for a reexamination into the marketing mix decisions. E-commerce technological strategies provide novel service/product and new options of placing as well as new strategies of pricing, although other research asserts that the primary effects of online marketing has been on the aspect of promotion. The diverse selection of participants used in this study will assist in generalizing the results so that the benefits indicated in this research can be realized in other small businesses.

Summary of Research Findings

The research aimed to answer specific questions, the first of which was: Does the inclusion of a QR code simplify the application process over traditional phone, email, Internet, or personal visit methods? Based on the survey results for the job seeker participants as well as the employment recruiter participants and the compiled knowledge gained from the literature review, it can be ascertained that the null hypothesis that postulates the use of QR codes through social networking by temporary work agencies does not influence the exchange of information through e-learning is incorrect and the first hypothesis that states the inclusion of a QR code simplifies the application process so that it is easier than using traditional phone, email, Internet, or personal visit methods is correct. This is demonstrated in Figure 12, which demonstrates job seeker perceptions of the added convenience QR codes add to the job application submission procedure. The perceptions of the recruiter participants regarding the convenience associated with including QR codes is illustrated in Figure 12, which shows that recruiters also find value in the use of QR codes.
The second research question: Does the use of QR codes allow temporary work agencies to reach larger numbers of qualified applicants? is also answered in Figure 12, which represents the impressions of the recruiter and they support the second hypothesis, which states: The use of QR codes allows temporary work agencies to reach larger numbers of qualified applicants.
The third research question seeks to determine: Does the use of QR codes allow applicants to gives the fastest feedback regarding job openings? Job seeker participant perceptions of this question are represented in Figure 11 and Figure 12 while Figure 19 demonstrates employment recruiter participant impressions and all three instances support the third hypothesis that: The use of QR codes allows applicants to give feedback regarding job openings much faster.

The fourth and final research question asks: Does the use of QR codes in social networking improve the transfer of information through e-learning? This question is briefly addressed in the job seeker respondent answers to survey question 14 to which 24 indicated they gained new knowledge when performing the action indicated by a QR code after they scanned it. This is also addressed by the employment recruiter participants and depicted in Figure 20 and collectively supports the fourth hypothesis, which states that: The use of QR codes in social networking improves the transfer of information through e-learning.

This research project proposed a few specific questions for examination and addressed each from the perspective of the job seeker as well as personnel recruiters working for temporary employment agencies. These questions were able to gauge impressions of the use of QR codes in the context of the modern job market, which directly impacts the determinations regarding the efficacy of the use of QR codes.

Furthermore, there has been an increased emphasis on training and development programs that are considered an investment in areas that will optimize expenditure, such as integrated technology systems (Nien-Chi & Min-Shi, 2011). There are other significant benefits of online learning, such as the availability of materials, the convenience of use, and the ability of the online learner to comprehended the materials or lessons at a personal own pace before proceeding on to other material, leading to enhanced comprehension (Maddix, 2010).
The literature review discusses how the rapidly transforming business landscape means that there are currently many human resource management challenges which will continue to evolve. The evolution of the online learning environment has changed and adjusted the paradigms of learning in a significant manner (Maddix, 2010). Furthermore, the diversity of the online environment presents an additional benefit for professionals using QR codes because they can control the content that those scanning the code access.

Aside from traditional classroom-based instructor-led learning, the potential for e-learning through the use of QR codes allows users to create an environment where learners are guided by content instead of an instructor (Böhm & Ruthardt, 2014). In this form of learning environment, the instructor is responsible for controlling the instructional pacing and sequencing. In addition, all learners take part in activities during a certain specified period. Conversely, the self-paced environment associated with electronic learning is distinct from other learning environments.
This limited personal interaction can result in a loss of networking opportunities that would normally facilitate the sharing of cultural knowledge. Electronic learning is shown to restrict the understanding of learners’ perspectives of culture as presented by the instructor and implies that communication can be problematic, while other research indicates that online learning can result in enhanced communication because of synchronous and asynchronous communication scenarios (Liao, 2008).

Similarly, students may have restricted opportunities to exchange information and ideas with other learners that could potentially contribute to their learning by enabling them to benefit from their peers’ experiences and mistakes (Nagel, Blignaut, & Cronjé, 2009). The electronic format does not allow instructors to use the same non-visual cues as traditional formats, which may result in misunderstandings or delays when information is transmitted (Skinner, 2007). Such situations can deprive students from opportunities to gain self-confidence and interpersonal skills through work presentations (Skinner, 2007). Finally, the delayed nature of relayed communications between the learner and instructor can slow or weaken the learning process and facilitate diminished scores on tests requiring analytical thought (Nagel, Blignaut, & Cronjé, 2009).

Another important aspect of online learning involves knowledge sharing, which is also an important concept within the business world and can be described as a collective process of social interaction, which involves the exchange of not only knowledge, but also skills and experiences through discussion posts and responses (Kama?ak & Bulutlar, 2010). These processes involve both knowledge donating and knowledge collecting, whereas knowledge collecting involves attempts being made to entice others to share what they know and knowledge collecting constitutes an individual’s willful act of communicating their intellectual capital (Mukherjee, 2011). In all forms of knowledge sharing, each distinct act involves active communication with others to transfer knowledge, or advising others to share access to intellectual property (Van Den Hooff & De Ridder, 2004).

Many professional corporations consider the professional knowledge of their employees to be a major asset that should be shared with team members (Foulkes & Whitman, 1985). Sharing knowledge within the online classroom is preparation for the type of professional atmosphere that corporate positions will require when collaborating with coworkers. The knowledge one possesses provides a competitive advantage to the company employing the individual and this is also a benefit of the learning environment of the online classroom since each student can read the posts of other students, providing the benefit of their knowledge.

Electronic learning in small businesses is a large, untapped, market that small business operations can access and implement to increase value and availability of programs. Comprehending the quality of effectiveness of electronic learning programs within a small business operation can allow business owners to show potential value to consumers, and determine if such programs would lead to operational success.

Overall Conclusions

The prevalence of positive feedback regarding the quality and efficacy of the online learning environment provided by the scuba diving company presents a new direction for furthering the training and instructional opportunities offered by the company. The small amount of negative feedback is also relevant and useful in that it shows where QR code use can be improved so that it is able to benefit a wider array of people. Communication within the online community presents opportunities for people to be learners as well as educators (Maddix, 2010). Better cognitive outcomes are realized when people collaboratively form online communities in which knowledge is shared (Nagel, Blignaut, & Cronjé, 2009).

Sharing of relevant information enhances the details gathered from examination of the required reading and can facilitate deeper exploration of the topic under review (Skinner, 2007). This is how learning is enhanced through knowing your peers within the online classroom. Although there remain questions regarding whether the benefits gained through online learning outweigh the benefits lost through the human contact provided in traditional physical classrooms, the study was successful in answering each research question.

Additionally, the process-driven classification of objects helps users new to the formation of object-oriented design create a complete object model, which is a challenge even for software engineers, to facilitate the efficient development of Web-based applications (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). The degree of importance the integration of the QR code as a marketing object has led to it being hailed as the most essential development in the use app development and many large- and mid-size enterprises have implemented mass produced enterprise software packages to collaborate their business activities (Dysart, 2014). Businesses have collaborated their human resource management, sales, marketing, distribution/logistics, manufacturing, and accounting departments so that QR codes could be better incorporated into the communication processes, which have not only integrated information but also reengineered and radically improved business processes as well (Dysart, 2014).

Recommendations

This section will conclude with recommendations that will also include ideas to improve the program based on the user feedback gathered.

Implications for Professional Practice

Organizations occasionally provide online programs to help small businesses and guide business operations. Some of these online learning programs are free and assist businesses in learning about their rights and obligations under consumer laws in respective regions. The presence of sizeable externalities in the learning-by-using process guarantees that after a while the skill publicly available on the market is indistinguishable from the one developed through investment in costly firm-specific human capital (Magnani, 2001).

However, the lack of required elements that facilitates the implementation of e-learning within the working environment has produced slow implementation of electronic learning programs by small businesses. The success of the online program with the majority of the surveyed participants demonstrates that such a learning system can assist in resolving a number of challenges faced by the staff of these businesses. Incorporation of an e-learning program into a business’s strategic plan can be amalgamated with e-learning using a virtual network, education partnerships, knowledge management system, or other strategies and techniques, and this will allow a smaller business to improve the efficacy of a program in addition to the office efficiency on a basis of sustained e-learning.

Offering incentives of additional training to employees or consumers leads to the provisioning of qualified applicants that are able to take more advanced classes, which produced increased revenues. The course should be suitable for individuals of all educational levels so it can be comprehensively offered. For a more detailed needs assessment, the onsite facilitator should create and conduct a survey during the onsite introduction to the course that focuses on personal goals, prior knowledge of topic areas, IT skills, and attitudes.

The role as coordinator must successfully implement the program to ensure that appropriate instructors as well as guest experts are available for each of the units and brief them individually on the aims and objectives of the program and on the target learners. The program facilitator must also be able to explain the specific objectives of the unit to which they are contributing, provide guidance on the content as well as nature of their particular contribution, and provide basic training, as required, in the use of the learning platform and videoconferencing for instruction. Additionally, they must be able to provide guidance on the principles of distance learning, including appropriate methodologies, negotiate with the local facility to ensure access to a high specification videoconference system with technical support, work in close collaboration with the on-campus facilitator, and closely monitor each unit so they can provide appropriate intervention as required.

The on-campus facilitator should additionally undertake responsibilities in which they liaise with university administration on budgetary resource allocations, organize admissions as well as enrolments, and assess entry level computer skills of learners. They will further be required to assess the learners’ level of comfort with using the online educational platform, provide support or training as elicited by assessment, ensure access to a high specification videoconference system, and provide a face-to-face contact for learner support.

Following implementation of the program, summative evaluation will be used to gather information about its effectiveness, efficiency, and benefits. In order to evaluate effectiveness, the ensuing assessment will attempt to establish whether there is congruence between the course objectives and the instructional program to answer the question: “Did the instruction solve the problem that led to the need for the instruction in the first place?” To provide an answer to this question, the evaluation will focus on student performance according to the completion of the required training program deliverables. Performance in these areas will be measured against the course and unit objectives. To evaluate the effectiveness of the course in terms of the level of student satisfaction with it, data will be collected from a final reflective paper and from responses to a questionnaire submitted by students on completion of the course. The reflections and responses will also be helpful in deciding on amendments to the next iteration of the course.

Areas for Future Research

No relevant biases were attributed to the study that could potentially jeopardize the overall results of the study or validity of the study. The reference materials utilized were cited properly and all were qualitative, referenced, scholarly studies that used sources generally considered reliable with relevant data concerning the research topic. All ethical guidelines were adhered to through the course of this research project. The age of each member of the sample group was confirmed and each participant was fully informed regarding the parameters of the study and gave their full consent before they participated. There were no quality control issues noted during the course of this study.

However, the research was conducted in a specific context in terms of the use of QR codes for social networking in the pursuit of employment opportunities from the perspective of the job seeker as well as the personnel recruiter working with temporary employment agencies, which limits the generalizability of the research result and presents a limitation. Since the researcher cannot ensure a similar or same result could be obtained under different demographic, geographic, or market conditions, the result may not be applicable to other contexts. Therefore, further research should be conducted to extend the universality and applicability of the result from the hypotheses.

Theoretical studies are frequently critiqued as having a lack of coherence that is commonly the focus of empirical work. Numerous studies have been conducted to definitively determine the association between how QR codes are used in employment contexts. Further research and analysis will be important to understand what factors are important for each of these categories and how each of these factors influences the approach and incidence of marketing the availability of desirable employment positions. These relationships need to be explored and tested more comprehensively using statistical analysis within a multivariate framework.

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