Online health consumer behaviour: What informs user decisions on information quality?
Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Computers in Human Behavior Reports
Abstract
Around the world, the use of Online Health Information (OHI) is on the increase. This is even more prevalent in
developing economies where poor healthcare access and delivery present OHI as a potent alternative to physician
consultations. This phenomenon grants the online health information seeker the sole decision-making re sponsibility of determining the quality of OHI. Given the potential consequences of incorrect medical advice, it is
important to understand what criteria constitutes quality OHI from the perspective of users so as to inform better
OHI publication and design. Using choice-based conjoint analysis as a preference modelling technique, the results
indicate that, in order of importance, OHI seekers view the credibility of the author or their affiliation as a key
measure of OHI quality, while the provision of internal search functionality is viewed as a measure of design
quality. OHI seekers however showed a less preference for web portals that store and process user data. The OHI
quality preferences obtained in the study were used to audit selected OHI portals to ascertain their level of
conformity with the observed user preferences.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Online health information, Online health consumer behaviour, Information quality