Interactivity as a Double-Edged Sword: Parsing Out the Effects of Modality Interactivity on Anti-Smoking Message Processing and Persuasion

Abstract

This study combines the heuristic-systematic model of persuasion with user interface literature to examine how website interactivity influences processing of anti-smoking messages and smoking outcome beliefs. We conducted a pilot experiment with 112 current smokers and found that the interactive website elicited more heuristic processing among participants, which diminished their outcome beliefs and website attitudes. However, their positive interface perception functioned as a salient cue that led to greater systematic processing, which outperformed the negative impact of interactivity. It is recommended for future research to examine the effect of interactivity on persuasion with other types of interface features and health messages.

Keywords

modality interactivity perceived interactivity smoking heuristic processing systematic processing website attitudes smoking outcome beliefs

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bohner

Moskowitz

G. B.

Chaiken

(1995). The interplay of heuristic and systematic processing of social information. European Review of Social Psychology, 6, 33-68.

Brown

S. L.

Smith

E. Z.

(2007). The inhibitory effect of a distressing anti-smoking message on risk perceptions in smokers. Psychology & Health, 22, 255-268. doi:10.1080/14768320600843127

Burgoon

J. K.

Bonito

J. A.

Bengtsson

Cederberg

Lundeberg

Allspach

(2000). Interactivity in human–computer interaction: A study of credibility, understanding, and influence. Computers in Human Behavior, 16, 553-574. doi:10.1016/S0747-5632(00)00029-7.

Chaiken

(1980). Heuristic versus systematic information processing and the use of source versus message cues in persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 752-766. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.39.5.752

Chaiken

Maheswaran

(1994). Heuristic processing can bias systematic processing: Effects of source credibility, argument ambiguity, and task importance on attitude judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 460-460. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.66.3.460

Chapman

Wong

W. L.

Smith

(1993). Self-exempting beliefs about smoking and health: Differences between smokers and ex-smokers. American Journal of Public Health, 83, 215-219. doi:10.2105/AJPH.83.2.215

Chen

Shechter

Chaiken

(1996). Getting at the truth or getting along: Accuracy-versus impression-motivated heuristic and systematic processing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 262-275. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.71.2.262

Choi

Y. K.

Taylor

C. R.

(2014). How do 3-dimensional images promote products on the Internet? Journal of Business Research, 67, 2164-2170.

Chung

Zhao

(2004). Effects of perceived interactivity on web site preference and memory: Role of personal motivation. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(1). doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2004.tb00232.x

10.

Cohen

(1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

11.

Cyr

Head

Ivanov

(2009). Perceived interactivity leading to e-loyalty: Development of a model for cognitive–affective user responses. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 67, 850-869. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2009.07.004

12.

Eagly

A. H.

Chaiken

(1993). The psychology of attitudes. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.

13.

Eveland

W. P.

Jr. Dunwoody

(2002). An investigation of elaboration and selective scanning as mediators of learning from the Web versus print. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 46, 34-53. doi:10.1207/s15506878jobem4601_3

14.

Faul

Erdfelder

Buchner

Lang

A. G.

(2009). Statistical power analyses using G* Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41, 1149-1160.

15.

Gibson

J. J.

(1977). The theory of affordances. In Shaw

R. E.

Bransford

(Eds.), Perceiving, acting, and knowing (pp. 67-82). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

16.

Griffin

R. J.

Dunwoody

Neuwirth

(1999). Proposed model of the relationship of risk information seeking and processing to the development of preventive behaviors. Environmental Research, 80, S230-S245.

17.

Griffin

R. J.

Neuwirth

Giese

Dunwoody

(2002). Linking the heuristic-systematic model and depth of processing. Communication Research, 29, 705-732.

18.

Hayes

A. F.

(2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

19.

Jee

Lee

W. N.

(2002). Antecedents and consequences of perceived interactivity: An exploratory study. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 3, 34-45. doi:10.1080/15252019.2002.10722066

20.

Jiang

Chan

Tan

B. C.

Chua

W. S.

(2010). Effects of interactivity on website involvement and purchase intention. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 11, 34-59.

21.

Kahlor

Dunwoody

Griffin

R. J.

Neuwirth

Giese

(2003). Studying heuristic-systematic processing of risk communication. Risk Analysis: An International Journal, 23, 355-368.

22.

Khalil

G. E.

Wang

Calabro

K. S.

Mitra

Shegog

Prokhorov

A. V.

(2017). From the experience of interactivity and entertainment to lower intention to smoke: A randomized controlled trial and path analysis of a web-based smoking prevention program for adolescents. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19(2), e44. doi:10.2196/jmir.7174

23.

Kiousis

(2002). Interactivity: A concept explication. New Media & Society, 4, 355-383. doi:10.1177/146144402320564392

24.

Koh

Y. J.

Sundar

S. S.

(2010). Heuristic versus systematic processing of specialist versus generalist sources in online media. Human Communication Research, 36, 103-124.

25.

Lee

E. J.

Kim

Y. W.

(2016). Effects of infographics on news elaboration, acquisition, and evaluation: Prior knowledge and issue involvement as moderators. New Media & Society, 18, 1579-1598. doi:10.1177/1461444814567982

26.

Liu

(2003). Developing a scale to measure the interactivity of websites. Journal of Advertising Research, 43, 207-216. doi:10.1017/S0021849903030204

27.

Liu

Shrum

L. J.

(2009). A dual-process model of interactivity effects. Journal of Advertising, 38, 53-68.

28.

Kim

Dou

X. Y.

Kumar

(2014). Promote physical activity among college students: Using media richness and interactivity in web design. Computers in Human Behavior, 41, 40-50. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2014.08.012

29.

Maheswaran

Chaiken

(1991). Promoting systematic processing in low-motivation settings: Effect of incongruent information on processing and judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 13-25.

30.

Malthouse

E. C.

Calder

B. J.

Kim

S. J.

Vandenbosch

(2016). Evidence that user-generated content that produces engagement increases purchase behaviours. Journal of Marketing Management, 32, 427-444. doi:10.1080/0267257X.2016.1148066

31.

Metzger

M. J.

Flanagin

A. J.

(2013). Credibility and trust of information in online environments: The use of cognitive heuristics. Journal of Pragmatics, 59, 210-220.

32.

Natter

H. M.

Berry

D. C.

(2005). Effects of active information processing on the understanding of risk information. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 19(1), 123-135.

33.

Neuwirth

Frederick

Mayo

(2002). Person-effects and heuristic-systematic processing. Communication Research, 29, 320-359.

34.

Sundar

S. S.

(2015). How does interactivity persuade? An experimental test of interactivity on cognitive absorption, elaboration, and attitudes. Journal of Communication, 65, 213-236. doi:10.1111/jcom.12147

35.

O’Keefe

D. J.

(2003). Message properties, mediating states, and manipulation checks: Claims, evidence, and data analysis in experimental persuasive message effects research. Communication Theory, 13, 251-274.

36.

Perloff

R. M.

(2017). Dynamics of persuasion: Communication and attitudes in the twenty-first century. New York, NY: Routledge.

37.

Petty

R. E.

Cacioppo

J. T.

(1986). The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 19, 123-205. Retrieved from http://www.psy.ohio-state.edu/petty/documents/1986ADVANCESsPettyCacioppo.pdf

38.

Rains

S. A.

Karmikel

C. D.

(2009). Health information-seeking and perceptions of website credibility: Examining Web-use orientation, message characteristics, and structural features of websites. Computers in Human Behavior, 25, 544-553.

39.

Rhodes

Roskos-Ewoldsen

D. R.

Edison

Bradford

M. B.

(2008). Attitude and norm accessibility affect processing of anti-smoking messages. Health Psychology, 27(3 Suppl.), S224-S232.

40.

Schemer

Matthes

Wirth

(2008). Toward improving the validity and reliability of media information processing measures in surveys. Communication Methods and Measures, 2, 193-225.

41.

Sundar

S. S.

(2007). Social psychology of interactivity in human-website interaction. In Joinson

A. N.

McKenna

K. Y. A.

Postmes

Reips

U. D.

(Eds.), The Oxford handbook of internet psychology (pp. 89-104). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

42.

Sundar

S. S.

Jia

Waddell

T. F.

Huang

(2015). Toward a theory of interactive media effects (TIME): Four models for explaining how interface features affect user psychology. In Sundar

S. S.

(Ed.), The handbook of the psychology of communication Technology (pp. 47-86). Malden, MA: John Wiley.

43.

Sundar

S. S.

Kalyanaraman

(2004). Arousal, memory, and impression-formation effects of animation speed in web advertising. Journal of Advertising, 33, 7-17.

44.

Tormala

Z. L.

Briñol

Petty

R. E.

(2006). When credibility attacks: The reverse impact of source credibility on persuasion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 684-691. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2005.10.005

45.

Tortosa-Edo

López-Navarro

M. A.

Llorens-Monzonís

Rodríguez-Artola

R. M.

(2014). The antecedent role of personal environmental values in the relationships among trust in companies, information processing and risk perception. Journal of Risk Research, 17, 1019-1035.

46.

Van Breukelen

G. J.

(2006). ANCOVA versus change from baseline had more power in randomized studies and more bias in nonrandomized studies. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 59, 920-925. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2006.02.007

47.

Van Noort

Voorveld

H. A.

van Reijmersdal

E. A.

(2012). Interactivity in brand websites: Cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses explained by consumers’ online flow experience. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 26, 223-234.

48.

Wang

L. C.

Baker

Wagner

J. A.

Wakefield

(2007). Can a retail website be social? Journal of Marketing, 71, 143-157.

49.

Wang

Sundar

S. S.

(2018). How does parallax scrolling influence user experience? A test of TIME (Theory of Interactive Media Effects). International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 34, 533-543. doi:10.1080/10447318.2017.1373457

50.

Wathen

C. N.

Burkell

(2002). Believe it or not: Factors influencing credibility on the Web. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 53, 134-144. doi:10.1002/asi.10016

51.

Wegener

D. T.

Downing

Krosnick

J. A.

Petty

R. E.

(1995). Measures and manipulations of strength-related properties of attitudes: Current practice and future directions. Attitude strength: Antecedents and consequences, 4, 455-487.

52.

Wong

S. L.

Shields

Leatherdale

Malaison

Hammond

(2012). Assessment of validity of self-reported smoking status. Health Reports, 23, 47-53.

53.

(2005). The mediating role of perceived interactivity in the effect of actual interactivity on attitude toward the website. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 5, 29-39. doi:10.1080/15252019.2005.10722099

54.

Sundar

S. S.

(2016). Interactivity and memory: Information processing of interactive versus non-interactive content. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 620-629.

55.

Yang

(2016). Effects of popularity-based news recommendations (“most-viewed”) on users’ exposure to online news. Media Psychology, 19, 243-271. doi:10.1080/15213269.2015.1006333

56.

Zaichkowsky

J. L.

(1985). Measuring the involvement construct. Journal of Consumer Research, 12, 341-352.

57.

Zhao

(2012). Enhancing perceived interactivity through network externalities: An empirical study on micro-blogging service satisfaction and continuance intention. Decision Support Systems, 53, 825-834. doi:10.1016/j.dss.2012.05.019