Abstract
<p class="0abstractCxSpFirst">Health-related websites are increasingly accessed on the Internet. More online users are using health-related websites, and rely on it to get answers for their health questions. Health care providers try to develop websites that focus on the users’ needs. One of the key factors, to develop users' driven health-related websites, is supporting users’ engagement.</p><p class="0abstractCxSpLast">This study proposes a research model that investigates factors that are critical to users’ engagement in health-related websites. Three factors were identified accordingly; website usability, website interactivity, and users' perceived health information quality. A limited amount of research has previously explored such a thorough list.</p>240 respondents participated in an online survey, to test the research model. Results show that the engagement antecedents identified by the study are significant, and explain a great percentage of the variance for the engagement. The study concluded by implications for theory and practice.
Highlights
Research found that online users frequently access health-related websites to search for online health information [1]
Interactive communication that provide quick and recent responses may contribute to a sense of online social presence, which may be perceived as beneficial by online users
This study proposes that perceived information quality will positively influence users’ engagement in health-related websites, because developing and evaluating a reliable measure of information quality, assists in improving engagement elements, such as attention, affect, aesthetics, novelty, interest, control, feedback, challenge, and motivation [12]
Summary
Research found that online users frequently access health-related websites to search for online health information [1]. By these users, are considered as beneficial and engaging dialogues. Interactive communication that provide quick and recent responses may contribute to a sense of online social presence, which may be perceived as beneficial by online users. Interactivity has been defined as responsiveness, control, and reciprocity between a website and their users. Interactivity is a type of two-way communication between a user and the website [2]. Significance of website interactivity is well established in IS literature. Liu & Shrum (2002) found that the effect of interactivity on online users’ behavior requires more investigations, to generate specific design guidelines for online websites to be more interactive [2]
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