Investigating mobile application effectiveness in sales education: A qualitative cognitive appraisal

Abstract

Background: Mobile applications have become increasingly effective teaching tools in higher education. Cognitive appraisal theory (CAT), which examines how individuals appraise situations, experience emotions and employ coping mechanisms, has rarely been applied to educational technology assessment. This study evaluates a mobile app used by marketing students at the University of Johannesburg for practical sales training in partnership with the Direct Selling Association of South Africa.
Objectives: To understand students’ cognitive appraisal of the mobile app as a teaching tool, gauge their emotional responses and analyse their coping mechanisms.
Method: A single-case study design with a qualitative approach, involving 10 students who completed 2 years of practical sales modules using the mobile app. Semistructured telephone interviews were analysed using a hybrid thematic analysis that combined deductive coding (CAT framework) and inductive in vivo coding.
Results: Participants responded favourably to the mobile app, though their cognitive appraisal patterns diverged from established theoretical frameworks. Students employed problem-focused coping mechanisms when managing technology-induced stress.
Conclusion: The mobile app proved pedagogically effective, though students processed the technology differently from CAT traditionally predicts.
Contribution: First application of CAT to sales education technology in higher education identified four unexpected research gaps extending theoretical understanding of technology-mediated learning.