Online health consumer behaviour: What informs user decisions on information quality?

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 responsibility 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.