Owing to the unique dynamics of user interaction in virtual reality (VR), this study investigated how the determinants of compliance in conventional persuasive systems similarly affect compliance in VR. Compliance was measured subjectively and objectively in a persuasive VR environment. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze data from 231 users of the environment. The results showed that credibility support strongly predicted perceived competence, while social support had only a negligible effect. Both primary task support and dialogue support significantly influenced perceived effectiveness, albeit with weak effect sizes. Perceived effectiveness exerted a stronger effect on perceived enjoyment than perceived competence, and perceived enjoyment strongly predicted perceived persuasiveness, which in turn significantly influenced perceived compliance. However, perceived compliance did not align with actual compliance. This highlights an intention–behavior gap. Overall, the findings confirm the transferability of compliance drivers from conventional persuasive systems to VR.

Abstract The integration of technology offers opportunities to use persuasive systems for promoting behavior change and tackling obesity, a critical global health issue. The Persuasive Systems Design (PSD) framework offers strategies and features that can be systematically applied to digital interventions. However, it remains unclear which system characteristics and user characteristics interact in influencing health outcomes. This study investigates how user’s perceptions of PSD features (system characteristics), interact with crucial user characteristics, namely, Stages of Change (SOC), and Need for Reflection (NFR), to influence waist circumference reduction after six months of utilizing a mobile health behavior change support system. Data from 96 participants in a randomized controlled trial were analyzed after six months of mobile health behavior change support system use. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling was employed. SOC explained 22.2% of waist circumference reduction variance. Furthermore, users who perceived a system as highly persuasive were more likely to progress through SOC ( R 2 = 0.119). Among PSD features, Dialogue Support and Primary Task Support explained 55% of the variance in perceived persuasiveness. Additionally, both Dialogue Support and Credibility Support had a mutual effect on Primary Task Support ( R 2 = 0.688). Finally, the user’s NFR explained 11.3% of the variance in dialogue support. The out-of-sample predictive power supports the reliability of the model's findings. The model's robustness in showing that SOC can predict waist circumference decrease highlights the potential for better-customized mobile health behavior change support system solutions. Tailoring interventions to individuals' SOC enables personalized, effective behavior change, aligning with their readiness and improving success rates.

Addiction is one of the most important health issues around the world. It affects individuals, families, and societies while traditional approaches struggle with relapse and drop-out rates, accessibility problems, and aftercare support. However, behavior change support systems can offer substantial support by integrating evidence-based counseling strategies with Persuasive Systems Design. This paper presents a framework for mapping psychological approaches (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Minnesota Model, Contingency Management, and Family/Couples Therapies) with specific Persuasive Systems Design principles. This approach fills the gap between treatment and technology by showing how counseling strategies and persuasive software features can support addiction recovery together at different stages of recovery.

Although behavior change support systems (BCSS) have the potential to improve compliance using persuasive software features, there is a dearth of empirical evidence on how these features impact perceived compliance. This study aimed to investigate how and to what extent the persuasiv systems design (PSD) principles in physical activity BCSS influence perceived compliance. Quantitative data from 403 participants (165 users and 238 prospective users of BCSS designed for PA) was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Results revealed differences in how the PSD principles impact perceived compliance between users and prospective users. Perceptions of dialogue support, credibility support, and social support were more relevant to prospective users than to users. Thus, designers should pay more attention to these principles to attract and engage prospective users of BCSS. Conversely, primary task support was more relevant to users than to prospective users. This indicates that once prospective users transition to active users, the focus should shift towards providing persuasive features that facilitate the performance of the primary task. These findings underscore the importance of developing intelligent BCSS that can adapt to the evolving needs and preferences of users at different stages of their interactions with a system.

Systems designed with persuasive software features can influence users to adopt attitudes and/or behaviours that contribute to better health outcomes. Studies on Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) interventions have shown how they can be used to support lifestyle changes. Meta-analytic reviews of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are needed to appraise, summarise, and show their effects on health. To this end, we investigated the effectiveness of digital health interventions (DHI) designed for CHD and examined the impact of persuasive features in the DHIs. We performed a systematic search using three academic databases for scientific papers on CHD and digital interventions from 2010 to 2020, yielding 1556 papers. The systematic review and meta-analysis included 12 RCTs after screening. Our findings show that digital health interventions had an impact on diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, total cholesterol, glycated haemoglobin, glucose, triglyceride, heart rate, and depression but not body mass index. We present effective interventions and insights into persuasive software features that were associated with effective DHIs. More research is needed to investigate the effectiveness of persuasive features in other contexts and other factors that can impact the effectiveness of DHIs.

This study investigates how users’ perception of persuasive social support features influences perceptions of their health competence in health and fitness apps. Within the support of existing theories/frameworks on social support, the study develops a research model and hypotheses. Quantitative data was collected from 469 health and fitness app users and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The results demonstrates that providing users with a means to share their experiences out of the desire to boost their ego and gain social recognition as well as a means to learn new behaviors by observing and imitating other’s behaviors within the app increases their confidence in their capabilities to perform and maintain positive health and fitness behaviors and outcomes using the app. The findings suggest that users’ perception of their health competence can be significantly improved when social support features are incorporated into health and fitness apps.

Cialdini’s six principles of influence are commercially used but less common to encourage healthy behaviors. This study examines how these influence strategies relate to the persuasive systems design (PSD) model constructs implemented in commercial mobile fitness applications. Our research questions address whether susceptibility to influence strategies strengthen the relationships between persuasive constructs and, if so, which strategies and software features are promising to leverage the persuasive effects of systems designed to change health behaviors. This study presents results from a survey of system users (N=147) and their self-reported susceptibility to the six principles. All PSD model constructs showed significantly unequal distribution for some influence strategy, indicating that susceptibility to these strategies affects how users evaluate systems. The commitment principle correlated positively with all persuasive constructs, while reciprocation, scarcity and liking all significantly affected system evaluations. Susceptibility to influence strategies also moderated the relationships between PSD model constructs, but the moderation was often negative with small effect sizes. Our preliminary results indicate that practitioners could benefit from utilizing these influence strategies, especially susceptibility to commitment and reciprocation, which are stable and often high. However, the interaction between these strategies and persuasive systems is not straightforward and would benefit from further research.

Persuasive systems in different domains have been used to support people in changing their behaviours. These systems motivate desirable behaviour in users by providing relevant information, tracking user progress, and giving them feedback. This study investigates the persuasive features of a web-based information system that supports the enforcement of user commitments. A structural equation modelling approach and analysis of open text responses are used to identify the factors that affect the intention to continue to use the system, to gather users’ perspectives on how the system helps them to stick to their goals and the improvements that could be made. Data (N = 227) collected from the system's users is tested against the proposed research model. The results show that 30% of users’ continuance intention is explained by the implemented persuasive software feature categories (computer-human dialogue support, primary task support, perceived credibility, and social support) and perceived competence. Of these categories, primary task support has the strongest effect on perceived competence and continuance intention. The results also reveal how the system helps users to be consistent in their goals and the lack of specialised social support features. The study concludes with a discussion and recommendations for future research.

A gamified approach to promoting reflection and to engaging users in rehearsing decision-making in a dietary context was studied. The game was based on the principles of the Implicit Attitude Test, but was not a complete IAT in itself like the original test at projectimplicit.net: by categorising food items under positive or negative associations the players gained points according to their categorisation speed but the score was merely indicative of attitudinal alignment with the target response. Showing the scores was a vehicle for reflection, and repeated playing constituted response rehearsal. Research questions: (1) does a gamified process of drawing attention to implicit attitudes evoke self-reflection and (2) does gamification of response rehearsal contribute positively to behaviour change? We expected the exposure to one’s own choices in the game to heighten the awareness of personal food choices. Experiment participants (N = 58) played the game over a five-day period. Constructs of Rehearsal, Reflection, Perceived Persuasiveness, and Perceived Health Behaviour Change were analysed using PLS-SEM. The findings point to rehearsal having a role in how reflection and perceived persuasiveness are connected. Reflection was involved in the self-reported behaviour change, and perceived persuasiveness can promote behaviour change. Open-ended questions showed awareness of choice having a behavioural effect.

Mobile applications and self-tracking devices help us to maintain health and support our goals in changing our behaviors. Most of these tools aim to increase our self-knowledge by providing information upon which to reflect. However, merely spending time reflecting does not always lead to insightful outcomes. In this study surveying users of mobile health and fitness applications (N = 147), we have used structural equation modeling to explore the need for and roles of reflection and insight in the persuasive systems design model. The findings suggest that both dialogue support and primary task support features influence the need for reflection, paving the way to personal insight. The perceived credibility of the system played different roles for women and men and seemed to originate from different sources. In addition, we found significant roles for the attitude and unobtrusiveness of the system. This article contributes to positioning the reflective capabilities of a system in the design framework of persuasive systems and makes preliminary suggestions regarding how to transform the need for reflection into insights. It also exemplifies how to evaluate behavior change technologies by assessing the psychological outcomes of the intervention.

Persuasive technologies are designed to influence people and induce them to change their attitudes and behaviours, bringing advantages to their users. Behaviour change support systems are at the heart of persuasive technology research. However, the sought benefits cannot be achieved if the systems fail to engage and retain the users. The present study provides a detailed description of a theory-driven effort to empirically (N=314) explain and predict users’ continuance intention towards a behaviour change support system for weight loss. Deriving from extant theories, a research model is constructed and tested through partial least-squares (PLS) analysis. In the proffered model, primary task support affects perceived effort and perceived effectiveness. Computer–human dialogue support has strong connections to primary task support, perceived social support and perceived effectiveness. Perceived credibility has a significant relationship to the continuance intention. Social identification has a strong connection to perceived social support, which, in turn, has a significant effect on perceived effectiveness and continuance intention. Finally, perceived effectiveness has a significant impact on use continuance. Investigating the aspects related to the continued use of behaviour change support systems is feasible, as it will guide future implementations of such systems.

Personalized technologies aim to enhance user experience by taking into account users’ interests, preferences, and other relevant information. Persuasive technologies aim to modify user attitudes, intentions, or behavior through computer-human dialogue and social influence. While both personalized and persuasive technologies influence user interaction and behavior, we posit that this influence could be significantly increased if the two technologies were combined to create personalized and persuasive systems. For example, the persuasive power of a one-size-fits-all persuasive intervention could be enhanced by considering the users being influenced and their susceptibility to the persuasion being offered. Likewise, personalized technologies could cash in on increased success, in terms of user satisfaction, revenue, and user experience, if their services used persuasive techniques. Hence, the coupling of personalization and persuasion has the potential to enhance the impact of both technologies. This new, developing area clearly offers mutual benefits to both research areas, as we illustrate in this special issue.

Emerging socio-technical environments facilitate the advancement of existing social activities and creation of innovative forms of online social influence. Social networks and microblogging services are few of the most frequently used forms of online interaction. These channels provide means for intensive communication embodying persuasion in one way or the other. This paper presents features of Twitter to uncover inbuilt persuasion patterns that influence users' behaviors and attitudes. An online survey of Twitter users in Latvia was carried out receiving 403 valid responses for quantitative data analysis. Recent frameworks for designing persuasive systems and measuring the success of Behavior Change Support Systems (BCSSs) were applied in the evaluation process. The main findings from this study relate to incremental behavior and attitude change among Twitter users. Other results magnify the understanding of social influence patterns amongst Twitter users. These findings could be used for further research focused on the persuasive potential of Twitter.

Many web-based services utilize both desktop and mobile terminals in delivering content and functionality to their users. In terms of user experience (UX), the overall chain of interactions, including mobile and non-mobile settings, becomes a central design target. The aim of this study was to investigate, what are the key elements of user experience associated with these, cross-platform interactions. This paper presents the findings from a four week long field study with three web-based cross-platform services. During the study, participants used the services on both their PCs and mobile devices. Diaries and interviews were used for gathering users' experiences with the services. Based on our findings and reflection with related work, we argue that central elements of cross-platform service UX include fit for cross-contextual activities, flow of interactions and content, and perceived service coherence. We propose an initial conceptual framework of cross-platform user experience. The framework can be used to guide the design of cross-platform web services, as it draws attention to elements of user experience that are essentially influenced by the characteristics of cross-platform settings.

Many software applications today aim at changing the behaviors and/or attitudes of their users. Some of these persuasive systems are targeted to support healthier lifestyles through motivating exercise. Incorporating persuasive strategies into software functionality may help achieve desired changes. However, as needs for behavior change become more specialized, in-depth knowledge of how the various strategies function is needed. This article describes findings from a three-month-long qualitative field trial, exploring how a training program in a new prototype heart rate monitor promotes proper exercising. A framework for evaluating and designing persuasive systems was used to identify distinct strategies and techniques that were embedded into the system. Users' responses to these strategies were explored. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on persuasive design by: 1) demonstrating how persuasive techniques can be identified in and embedded into system functionality, and 2) adding to the understanding of how persuasive techniques function.

This paper provides an overview of the current state of the art in persuasive systems design. All peer-reviewed full papers published at the first three International Conferences on Persuasive Technology were analyzed employing a literature review framework. Results from this analysis are discussed and directions for future research are suggested. Most research papers so far have been experimental. Five out of six of these papers (84.4%) have addressed behavioral change rather than an attitude change. Tailoring, tunneling, reduction and social comparison have been the most studied methods for persuasion. Quite, surprisingly ethical considerations have remained largely unaddressed in these papers. In general, many of the research papers seem to describe the investigated persuasive systems in a relatively vague manner leaving room for some improvement.

A growing number of information technology systems and services are being developed for persuasive purposes, i.e. to change users' attitudes or behaviour or both. Despite the fact that attitudinal theories from social psychology have been quite extensively applied to the study of user intentions and behaviour, computer scientists and user interface designers are not very familiar with the theories related to attitude change. Moreover, these theories are not directly applicable for developing software and information systems. This paper builds upon the attitude change theories from social psychology recognising dimensions and approaches that help move towards a practical conceptual framework for understanding and designing persuasion in information systems.