Open AccessOnline Trust and Health Information Websites
Author(s) -
Cynthia L. Corritore,
Susan Wiedenbeck,
Beverly Kracher,
Robert P. Marble
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
international journal of technology and human interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.153
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1548-3916
pISSN - 1548-3908
DOI - 10.4018/jthi.2012100106
Subject(s) - credibility , usability , psychology , variance (accounting) , quality (philosophy) , reliability (semiconductor) , test (biology) , health care , risk perception , perception , applied psychology , internet privacy , computer science , business , political science , paleontology , philosophy , power (physics) , physics , accounting , epistemology , human–computer interaction , quantum mechanics , neuroscience , law , biology
Health care websites are important to people managing their health. But the quality of the information on health care websites varies, so it's hard for users to decide whether to trust their information. This study develops and tests a model of the factors influencing users' initial trust of a health care website. The factors are perceived credibility, risk, and ease of use. A survey instrument was developed to test the model with 176 participants who interacted with a health care website. It had strong statistical reliability and validity, and the model showed a statistically strong fit to the data. Users' website trust was significantly explained by users' perceptions of website credibility, ease of use, and risk. Ease of use directly predicted trust, and affected trust indirectly through credibility. Credibility was a direct predictor of trust and an indirect predictor of trust through risk. Variance explained by the model was high, 0.73.
Accelerating Research
Robert Robinson Avenue,
Oxford Science Park, Oxford
OX4 4GP, United Kingdom
Address
John Eccles HouseRobert Robinson Avenue,
Oxford Science Park, Oxford
OX4 4GP, United Kingdom