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individuals’ attitude and behavior intentions. We expect that effects of source will be more
manifested when responsiveness of a Web site is low. When responsiveness of a Web site is
high, however, effects of source will diminish. We also expect that responsiveness of a Web site
influences the effects of source through its direct and indirect impact on individuals’ attitude
toward the source. In other words, we hypothesize that favorable attitude toward the Web site as
a result of high responsiveness of the Web site will be associated with favorable attitude toward
the source, which then results in favorable health outcomes, while attitude toward the Web site
will also directly affect attitude toward health information and health behavior intentions.
H2a-H2c: When the Web site is little responsive, a government source will be more
effective in enhancing favorable attitude toward health information (H2a), health behavior
intentions (H2b) and attitude toward the Web site (H2c) than a commercial source. When the
Web site is highly responsive, however, effects of a government source and a commercial source
will be similar.
H3: Responsiveness of a Web site will influence attitude toward the source directly, or
indirectly via attitude toward the Web site, while both attitude toward the source and attitude
toward the Web site affect attitude toward health information on the Web site and health
behavior intentions (see Figure 1).
METHOD
Participants
Participants (N = 131) were recruited from two sections of a large undergraduate
marketing class in a southwestern university. Participants received extra course credit for
participation. Approximately 50 percent of participants were female. Sixty five percent of
participants were White, 21 percent Asian American, nine percent Hispanic, five percent “other.”
The mean age was 20 (SD = 1.31) and over 90 percent of participants were either juniors or
seniors, who represented 35 different departments throughout the university.
Convention