Effect of Contact Information on the Credibility of Online Health Information
IEEE Transactions on Professional CommunicationPublished 19 May 2009
Kris Freeman, Jan H. Spyridakis
Citations35
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score0.75
SNIP1.22
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TL;DR
Qualitative results indicate that the ldquoContact Usrdquo link served as a peripheral cue to credibility, rather than triggering conscious analysis, and how the effectiveness of credibility cues can vary according to reader characteristics is discussed.
Abstract
This study analyzed the effects of publisher contact information on the credibility of online health information. Participants (n = 144) rated the credibility of Web pages with a ldquoContact Usrdquo link more highly than pages that had no contact information. Other types of contact information (street addresses and email links) did not significantly affect the credibility ratings. Qualitative results indicate that the ldquoContact Usrdquo link served as a peripheral cue to credibility, rather than triggering conscious analysis. This paper also discusses how the effectiveness of credibility cues can vary according to reader characteristics.
Keywords
Social SciencesHealth Professions
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