Delving into corner shapes in interface design (i.e., circular vs. angular), we experimentally delineated two routes whereby users with strong privacy risk beliefs can be persuaded into adopting a mobile payment app through a bill-split use case. By introducing cognitive load as an ability factor and perceived privacy risk as a motivation force, this study bridges literature on user interface design with social psychology to unpack how subtle design cues impact app adoption through the lens of privacy assurance. The interplay among shapes, tasks, and user traits demonstrates the contextual efficacy of circular design to evoke social presence and the benefit of angular design to enhance processing fluency, which tap into users’ affective and cognitive needs in face of privacy risks under varied cognitive demands to encourage adoption.

Although voice commerce using voice assistants (VA) in shopping is burgeoning, little is known about the effect of the manner of interaction with VAs in shopping. To fill this gap, this study applied the concept of message interactivity by investigating the key factors that influence intention to use VAs embedded in smart speakers for online shopping. Specifically, we analyzed consumers’ responses to the adoption of VAs with the mediating variable, such as social presence and performance risk as well as the moderating variable, machine heuristic using a lab experiment (N = 62). Our results showed that individuals who experienced contingent conversations with Alexa reported greater feelings of social presence, and less perceptions of performance risk. Moreover, these social presence and performance risk mediated the effect of message interactivity on perceived usefulness, which in turn, predicted the intention to use a VA for an online commerce platform. These results also suggested that voice commerce platforms can increase the positive impact of message interactivity by amplifying machine heuristic.

This paper introduces the concept of “news informatics” to refer to journalistic presentation of big data in online sites. For users to be engaged with such data-driven public information, it is important to incorporate interactive tools so that each person can extract personally relevant information. Drawing upon a communication model of interactivity, we designed a data-rich site with three different types of interactive features—namely, modality interactivity, message interactivity, and source interactivity—and empirically tested their relative and combined effects on user engagement and user experience with a 2 (modality) × 3 (source) × 2 (message) field experiment (N =166). Findings shed light on how interface designers, online news editors and journalists can maximize user engagement with data-rich news content. Certain interactivity combinations are found to be better than others, with a structural equation model (SEM) revealing the underlying theoretical mechanisms and providing implications for the design of news informatics.

Individuals can react to the same media content in significantly different ways depending on their emotions, yet only little attention has been paid to this topic in the context of interactive media usage. Filling this gap, the current study investigates how the valence of emotion affects the persuasive impact of interactive health messages. We conducted a 2 (emotion: positive vs. negative) × 2 (interactivity: interactive website vs. non-interactive webpage) between-subjects factorial design experiment (N = 225) and measured participants’ interface assessment, website/message attitudes, behaviour intentions and recognition memory. The results showed that interactivity elicited more favourable interface assessments and website attitudes only for those experiencing positive emotions, which indirectly enhanced their message attitudes and behavioural intentions toward the anti-drug-driving message. In contrast, negative emotions aided recognition memory of the interactive part of the website. The findings bridge the human–computer interaction and cognitive psychology literature and suggest how user emotions can be used as a design strategy to enhance positive attitudes toward websites.

This study investigates how serendipitous suggestions enhance user engagement with and sociality perceptions of movie recommendation system (RS). We constructed a mock-up recommendation system that provided either serendipitous or personalised movie suggestions to users. Based on the uses and gratifications theory, entertainment and information-seeking motives were hypothesized to moderate the impact of serendipitous suggestions on users’ sociality perceptions of the system. Results from an experiment (N = 161) showed that even though available genres and the perceived recency and accuracy of suggested motives were kept constant across the conditions, the serendipitous suggestions scored higher on the reward dimension of user engagement than the personalized suggestions. Greater user engagement enhanced participants’ sociality perceptions of the system such as being helpful, friendly, and competent. User motives significantly moderated the effects of serendipitous suggestions; entertainment motives boosted the positive impact of serendipity on user engagement and sociality perception, whereas information-seeking motives mitigated its impact.

This study examines whether interactive affordances of an anti-secondhand-smoking website can induce college students’ behavioral and attitudinal changes. A single factor experiment (the interactive vs. control condition) with 239 non-smoking college students was conducted to investigate the mechanism by which modality interactivity enhances user attitudes toward the website and their intention to avoid second-hand smoke (SHS). Built upon previous interactivity and user interface literature, interface assessment and perceived contingency were hypothesized to mediate the effects of interactivity on persuasive outcomes. The results demonstrated the main effect of modality interactivity on attitudes towards the website and its indirect effect on SHS avoidance intention after controlling for issue involvement and self-efficacy in avoiding SHS. Both relationships were significantly and positively mediated by interface assessment but not by perceived contingency. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

From scrolling and clicking to dragging, flipping, sliding, hovering, and zooming, the wide array of interaction techniques has vastly expanded the range of user actions on an interface. Each of these interaction techniques affords a distinct action. But do these techniques differ in their ability to engage users and contribute to their user experience? Furthermore, do they affect how users view the content and how much they learn from it? We address these questions via two between-subjects laboratory experiments. Study 1 (N = 128) investigated the relative effects of six on-screen interaction techniques (click-to-download, drag, mouseover, slide, zoom, and 3D carousel) on users' assessment of—as well as their engagement with—an informational website. The site for each condition was identical in content and design, except for the interaction technique used, so that we could isolate the effects of each technique on various cognitive, attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. Study 2 (N = 127) examined the relative effects of four combinations of interaction techniques (slide+click, slide+mouseover, drag+mouseover, and drag+zoom) on the same dependent variables. Data from Study 1 suggest that although the 3D carousel generates more user action, the slide is better at aiding memory. The zoom-in/out tool was the least favored, whereas the mouseover feature fostered greater engagement among power users. Findings from Study 2, which was conducted with a different content domain, replicated the positive effects of slide and negative effects of drag in influencing user experience. Path analyses, using structural equation modeling, revealed the importance of users' assessment of the interface (perceived levels of natural mapping, intuitiveness, and ease of use), which can have significant consequences for user engagement as well as resulting attitudes and behavioral outcomes. Design insights, theories, and techniques to test and capture user experience are discussed.

A paradigmatic quality of interactive interfaces is that they allow users to express themselves, thereby converting message receivers into communication sources. We define this quality as Source Interactivity [26, 29], and test its effects on user experience with a field experiment (N=141) of a portal site featuring cosmetic customization, functional customization and blogging (active versus filter). In demonstrating the psychological influence of source-based interactivity on such outcomes as user engagement, sense of agency, sense of community, intrinsic motivation and attitudes toward the interface, we discuss how designers can use them for creating interactive tools for self-expression.