Although virtual healthcare assistants have been extensively adopted in the healthcare industry, users still question their reliability. Based on the Computers are Social Actor (CASA) paradigm, the current study conducted an experiment to examine how different chatbot design cues (Chatbot vs. Layperson vs. Doctor) affect users’ trust towards virtual healthcare assistants. Results indicate that the doctor-like design cues and bot-like design cues (vs. layperson-like design cues) elicited significantly greater perceived chatbot expertise, which enhanced users’ trust in health information. This study further found the significant moderating effects of users’ perceived threat on chatbot expertise and privacy concerns. Positive effects of the doctor-like design cue and the bot-like design cue on perceived expertise were found to be significant only for those whose perceived threat was high. Interestingly, the doctor-like design cues led to greater (less) privacy concerns when the perceived threat level was low (high). The findings provide human–computer interaction researchers and chatbot UX/UI designers with important theoretical and practical implications.

A healthcare provider’s gender not only influences patients’ health-related behaviors but also the reliability of health information. Grounded in the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) theory and prior health literature, the current study examines how healthcare chatbots’ gender cues and user gender affect intentions to use the chatbot and chatbot expertise perceptions. Using a 3 (Chatbot Gender Cues: Chatbot vs. Male Doctor vs. Female Doctor) X 2 (User Gender: Male vs. Female) between-subjects experiment, this study indicates that the female-doctor design cues led to significantly higher perceived warmth and communication satisfaction, which subsequently increased social presence and future intentions to use the chatbot. Results also indicated a significant gender congruence effect between female users and the female-doctor design cue chatbot to yield greater communication satisfaction. This study, however, did not find a significant difference in perceived expertise between male versus female doctor design cues. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

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 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.