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Behavior Change Support Systems: A Research Model and Agenda

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This article introduces the concept of a behavior change support system and suggests it as a key construct for research on persuasive systems design, technologies, and applications. Key concepts for behavior change support systems are defined and a research agenda for them is outlined. The article suggests that a change in complying, a behavior change, and an attitude change (C-, B- or A-Change) constitute the archetypes of a behavioral change. Change in itself is either of a forming, altering or reinforcing outcome (F-, A- or R-Outcome). This research model will become helpful in researching and designing persuasive technology.
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T. Ploug, P. Hasle, H. Oinas-Kukkonen (Eds.): PERSUASIVE 2010, LNCS 6137, pp. 4–14, 2010.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010
Behavior Change Support Systems: A Research Model
and Agenda
Harri Oinas-Kukkonen
University of Oulu, Department of Information Processing Science
Rakentajantie 3, 90570 Oulu, Finland
Harri.Oinas-Kukkonen@oulu.fi
Abstract. This article introduces the concept of a behavior change support
system and suggests it as a key construct for research on persuasive systems
design, technologies, and applications. Key concepts for behavior change
support systems are defined and a research agenda for them is outlined. The
article suggests that a change in complying, a behavior change, and an attitude
change (C-, B- or A-Change) constitute the archetypes of a behavioral change.
Change in itself is either of a forming, altering or reinforcing outcome (F-, A-
or R-Outcome). This research model will become helpful in researching and
designing persuasive technology.
Keywords: Socio-technical system, behavioral outcomes, psychological
outcomes, behavioral change, persuasive technology.
1 Introduction
The emergence of web 2.0 concepts and technologies to create, access, and share
information in new ways has opened up opportunities for also developing new kinds
of information systems for influencing users. For instance, one of the most prominent
areas for future healthcare improvement is the role of the web in fostering improved
health and healthier lifestyles [1]. Researchers have reported positive results in areas
such as the management of smoking cessation, hazardous drinking, obesity, diabetes,
asthma, tinnitus, stress, anxiety and depression, complicated grief, and insomnia [2].
Other application areas include directing users towards proper exercise behaviors [3],
better sitting habits [4], healthier eating [5], and greener energy behaviors [6], among
others. All these target behavioral changes in the end-users.
Both software developers and the general audience should be aware of the various
ways of and approaches to how people may be, are being, and will be influenced
through the information technology (IT) designs. Moreover, the contemporary and
future web will keep opening up a myriad of opportunities for building various kinds
of software applications and benefiting from them. In this article, we define behavior
change support systems (BCSS) as a key construct for research in persuasive
Behavior Change Support Systems: A Research Model and Agenda 5
technology [7].1 For achieving better outcomes from BCSSs, they should be designed
by using persuasive systems design frameworks and models [8].
This article is conceptual and theory-creating by its nature. The article is structured
as follows: Section 2 will discuss the related research. Section 3 will define and
discuss the concept of a behavior change support system. Section 4 will discuss the
research implications and future research directions. Finally, section 5 will draw
conclusions based on the earlier sections. In general, the article lays ground for future
research in this new frontier of research on BCSSs.
2 Related Research
The study of users’ attitudes and behavior has a long history in information systems
(IS) research [9]. Lessons have been drawn from social psychology [10, 11] and
cognitive psychology [12], and new models and frameworks have been developed,
such as the Technology Acceptance Model [13] and the Unified Theory of Use and
Acceptance of Technology [14]. These theories are useful for understanding attitudes
and behaviors related to information systems and their use, and some of them are
well-known among IS researchers. Besides these general attitude and behavior-related
theories, there are also useful attitude and/or behavior change related theories such as
the Elaboration Likelihood Model [15]. These change-related theories are not very
well-known among IS researchers, however.
A key element in behavior and attitude change is persuasion. Persuasive design and
technology has received growing interest among researchers for a little over a decade
now [cf. 16].2 Fogg’s seminal book [18] was the first conceptualization suggested for
software designers, stating that information technology may play the role of a tool, a
medium, or a social actor for its users.3 Bogost [20] proposed an approach to
developing persuasive games. More elaborate conceptual and design frameworks for
on and off-the-Web information systems have been suggested, such as the Persuasive
Systems Design model [21, 22]. Recently, one of the major development trends has
been the persuasion patterns of social network based information systems, in
particular in conjunction with Facebook.
A wide variety of BCSSs have been developed, such as an easy-to-use password
creation mechanism to help create stronger passwords [23], an interactive picture
frame for adopting better sitting habits while working at the computer [4], a
ubiquitous sensor-based kitchen application for improving home cooking by
providing calorie awareness regarding the food ingredients used in the meals prepared
[5], and a personal health information system to influence the health behaviors of
rural women in India through offering them information for increasing their
awareness about menses and maternal health [24].
1 Persuasive technology is the field of research, whereas a BCSS is an object of study within
the field.
2 Affective computing [17] may be recognized as a sister-field of persuasive technology, or
perhaps from the persuasive viewpoint as a sub-field of it, which directly focuses on the
emotions information technologies evoke.
3 Sharp criticism of persuasive technology and Fogg’s book has been offered by Atkinson [19].
6 H. Oinas-Kukkonen
3 Behavior Change Support Systems
Even if the web and other information technologies are often considered as just tools
to accomplish goals, they are never neutral. Rather, they are ‘always on.’ This means
that people are constantly being persuaded in a similar manner to how teachers
persuade students in schools, and there is nothing bad in this in itself, of course. To
put it simply, information technology always influences people’s attitudes and
behaviors in one way or another. In some cases, the influence may even be an
unintentional side effect of the design. Thus, software designers but also the general
audience should be well aware of the various ways and approaches how people may
be, are being, and will be influenced through IT design. Moreover, there is a plethora
of applications that can be developed with the purpose of behavioral change.4 For
these reasons, it is important to define and adopt into use the concept of a behavior
change support system.
In our definition, persuasive technology is the field of research, whereas a BCSS is
an object of study within the field. The main research interests in BCSSs include not
only human-computer interaction and computer-mediated communication, but also
topics such as approaches, methodologies, processes and tools to develop such
systems and ways for studying the organizational, social, and end-user impacts of
them. The research emphasizes software qualities and characteristics, systems
analysis and design, and end-user behavior and perceptions. Technologically, the
research may tackle socio-technical platforms, systems, services or applications, or
the software features in them, developed for persuasive purposes.
A BCSS is defined here as follows:
A behavior change support system (BCSS) is an information system designed to
form, alter or reinforce attitudes, behaviors or an act of complying without using
deception, coercion or inducements.
Persuasion relies on the user’s voluntary participation in the persuasion process.
Naturally, in addition to persuasion, other forms of attempts at influence do also exist.
For instance, a pop-up window or a hyperlink may be purposefully deceitful; coercion
implies force and the possibly economic sanctions; inducements are exchanges of
money, goods, or services for actions by the person being influenced. By definition,
these are not persuasive elements.
3.1 Types of Change
In this article, we divide behavioral changes into three categories, namely a change in an
act of complying, a behavior change or an attitude change.5 Respectively, these may be
called C-, B-, and A-Change, in ascending order of difficulty. Different persuasive goals
and strategies may be needed for applications supporting different types of changes.
4 It should be noted that even if we speak about behavioral changes, we do not posit a
behaviorist or any mechanistic psychological view towards human beings. End-users may use
these applications to support achieving their goals, maintaining a constructivist view (cf., the
field of education) towards human behavior.
5 For the sake of simplicity, we use the term “behavior” change rather than “behavioral”
change even if the BCSS covers all three behavioral change types.
Behavior Change Support Systems: A Research Model and Agenda 7
3.1.1 C-Change
With a C-Change, the goal of the behavioral change is simply to make sure that the
end-user complies with the requests of the system. For instance, the goal of a
healthcare application may be to guarantee that its users take their daily blood
pressure medication. The users may or may not have the proper motivation for doing
so, but, nevertheless, the key in this approach is to provide triggers for the user to take
action and to comply with the requests of the application. First achieving a C-Change
may help achieve a B-Change later.
It should also be noted that a myriad of software applications that have been
created for purposes other than a behavioral change per se utilize, in the micro scale,
the same design principles and techniques as systems supporting behavior changes.
3.1.2 B-Change
The goal of systems supporting a B-Change is to elicit a more enduring change than
simple compliance once or a few times. A one-time behavior change may be achieved
more easily, whereas long-term behavior change (not to even speak about a
permanent behavior change) is much more difficult to achieve.
3.1.3 A-Change
The goal of systems supporting an A-Change is to influence the end-users’ attitudes
rather than behavior only. An attitude change that directs behavior may be the most
difficult type of change to achieve but we maintain that persuasion-in-full occurs only
when attitude change takes place, and that a sustainable B-Change happens only
through an A-Change. In some cases, behavior change support systems should aim
bolstering both an A-Change and a B-Change simultaneously. This is particularly
important in areas such as providing support for overcoming addictive behaviors,
where users in spite of high motivation and proper attitudes may lack the skills to put
their knowledge and attitudes into practice (a B-Change is needed), but at the same
time their motivation and self-efficacy may need further strengthening (an A-Change
is needed).
3.2 Outcome/Change Design Matrix
In the abovementioned definition, three potential, successful voluntary outcomes are
the formation, alteration or reinforcement of attitudes, behaviors or complying. A
forming outcome (F-Outcome) means the formulation of a pattern for a situation
where one did not exist beforehand, e.g., abstaining from substance abuse. An altering
outcome (A-Outcome) means changes in a person’s response to an issue, e.g.,
increasing the level of exercise, decreasing the amount of drinking, or stopping
smoking. A reinforcing outcome (R-Outcome) means the reinforcement of current
attitudes or behaviors, making them more resistant to change.
A design matrix can be constructed from the intended outcomes and the types of
change. See Table 1. When designing a BCSS, the developers should carefully think
about which of these nine different goals the application will be built for. The
persuasion context may change dramatically when moving from one slot to another.
8 H. Oinas-Kukkonen
Table 1. Outcome/Change Design Matrix
C-Change B-Change A-Change
F-Outcome Forming an act of
complying (F/C)
Forming a behavior
(F/B)
Forming an attitude
(F/A)
A-Outcome Altering an act of
complying (A/C)
Altering a behavior
(A/B)
Altering an attitude
(A/A)
R-Outcome Reinforcing an act
of complying (R/C)
Reinforcing a
behavior (R/B)
Reinforcing an
attitude (R/A)
3.3 Design of Software System Qualities
Behavior change support systems utilize either computer-mediated or computer-
human persuasion. Computer-mediated persuasion means that people are persuading
others through computers, e.g., e-mail, instant messages, or social network systems.
Even if the web cannot communicate in the same way as humans do, some patterns of
interaction similar to social communication may be utilized also in computer-human
persuasion. In the case of BCSSs, there must exist other stakeholders who have the
intention of influencing someone’s attitudes or behavior, as computers do not have
intentions of their own. These stakeholders are those who create or produce BCSSs,
those who give access to or distribute them to others, or the very person adopting or
using such a system [18]. BCSSs emphasize – but are not limited to – autogenous
approaches in which people use information technology to change their own attitudes
or behaviors through building upon their own motivation or goal. They also request a
positive user experience and stickiness, which encourage the user to engage with them
regularly over an extended period of time.
Building BCSSs requires insight from software and information systems design as
well as psychology. Lessons learned from psychology include: (1) the fact that people
like their views about the world to be organized and consistent, (2) that persuasion is
often incremental, and (3) that the direct and indirect routes are key persuasion
strategies [22]. Important software design requirements to be always kept in mind
when developing BCSSs are that: (1) behavior change support systems should be both
useful and easy to use, and (2) persuasion through behavior change support systems
should always be transparent. Quite understandably, if a system is useless or difficult
to use, it is unlikely that it could be very persuasive. The transparency requirement
emphasizes the need for revealing the designer bias behind a BCSS.
The Persuasive Systems Design model [21, 22] is the state of the art
conceptualization for designing and developing BCSSs. According to the PSD model,
careful analysis of the persuasion context (the intent, event, and strategy of persuasion)
is needed to discern opportune and/or inopportune moments for delivering the
message(s). Many design aspects in developing BCSSs are general software design
issues rather than specific to BCSSs only. These include, for instance, usefulness, ease
of use, ease of access, high information quality, simplicity, convenience, attractiveness,
lack of errors, responsiveness, high overall positive user experience, and user loyalty.
The PSD model suggests a set of design principles under four categories, namely
primary task, human-computer dialogue, perceived system credibility, and social
influence. See Figure 1. The design principles of the primary task category focus on
supporting the carrying out of the user’s primary activities. Design principles related
Behavior Change Support Systems: A Research Model and Agenda 9
to human-computer dialogue help move towards achieving the goal set for using the
BCSS. The perceived system credibility design principles relate to how to design a
system so that it is more believable and thereby more persuasive. The design
principles in the social influence category describe how to design the system so that it
motivates users by leveraging social influence.
Other users
User
Social
influence
Perceived
system credibility
Human-compute
r
dialogue
Primary task
support
!
Fig. 1. Four categories of design principles for BCSSs
Tørning and Oinas-Kukkonen [25] have analyzed the scientific research publications
in the PERSUASIVE conferences during 2006-2008 as regards the software system
features and the abovementioned categories. According to their study, the most utilized
features have been tailoring, tunneling, reduction, and self-monitoring (representing the
primary task category), suggestion (for supporting human-computer dialogue), surface
credibility (in support of perceived system credibility), and social comparison, normative
influence, and social learning (relating to social influence).
Many types of research on software system features have been conducted. For
instance, Harper et al. [26] studied the roles that social influence and social
comparison may play in online communities for motivating members rather than
editors to contribute and moderate content. Andrew et al. [27] studied the challenges
in implementing suggestion and how it differs from and overlaps with other
techniques, in particular tunneling, reduction, and self-monitoring. Räisänen et al.
[28] studied the right-time suggestions of messages. Cugelman et al. [29]
demonstrated that system credibility, in particular the system’s trustworthiness,
affects a user’s behavioral intent. Gamberini et al. [30] showed that in some situations
a persuasive strategy based on reciprocity is more effective than one based on reward,
as well as that the presence of social proof features seems counterproductive when
using a reciprocity strategy, whereas it seems to improve compliance with a request
when using a reward strategy. At a more general level, Zhu [8] conducted a meta-
study of persuasive techniques in BCSSs motivating for regular physical activity. The
results of this study suggest that very few previous studies resulted in achieving the
intended goal. Only a few studies took advantage of any persuasive techniques, and
10 H. Oinas-Kukkonen
none of these interventions were conceptually designed through persuasive design
frameworks. The conclusion of this study was that designing a new generation of
BCSSs should be based on such frameworks.
4 Research Agenda for BCSS
Tørning and Oinas-Kukkonen [25] report some interesting findings regarding the
current state of research on BCSSs:
Thus far there has been much more research on C- and B-Change than on A-
Change. Only about 16% of the research has addressed A-Change. This may due to
the fact that C- and B-Change are in most cases easier to study than A-Change.
Nevertheless, in the future more emphasis should be placed on A-Change.
In the current research literature, there seems to be a tendency of describing the
software systems and the persuasion context (use, user, and technology contexts) at
too general a level. Black-box thinking of the software systems – with no actual
description of what was implemented and how – may make the research results
obsolete. The differences between problem domains are so huge that very general
claims can be seldom argued for. For instance, in most of the experimental research
students are regarded as a homogenous mass. More specific information is often
limited to gender and age. Yet, a deep understanding of the user segments is highly
important for designing successful persuasive systems. Specific target audiences may
request very different kinds of software features. Just consider the differences
between small schoolchildren, tweens, teens, and perhaps even young adults in
comparison to lumping them all together as students.
When describing a persuasive system, a very clear description of the technology
context is needed. After all, much of the success or failure of an application can be
attributed in many cases to the fluent navigation and smooth interaction arising from
the technological infrastructure rather than to the design of the system. Relying on
black-box thinking is a symptom of a severe misunderstanding of conducting BCSS
research.
The message and route for persuasion are also often not described at such a level of
detail that it would be possible to determine whether a direct or indirect approach
actually has been applied and whether that has played a role in the success or failure
of the system. Moreover, it should be clearly defined whether one or multiple
arguments were presented, and what kinds of arguments were presented.
Often, the empirical and experimental research does not reveal much about the
motives behind the system under study. The designer bias should necessarily be
revealed much more clearly.
Admittedly, space is often too limited in scientific papers to provide many details
about the system. For this reason, the actual system descriptions easily become
radically shortened or are even cut out from the papers. Moreover, the field would
benefit from a shift in research emphasis from proof of concept approaches into
theorizing for persuasive systems design.
Quite surprisingly, ethical considerations have remained largely unaddressed in
persuasive technology research. Many important issues need to be recognized, such as
the actual voluntariness for change in using the application and potential ways for
Behavior Change Support Systems: A Research Model and Agenda 11
abusing the system. There may also be situations where computer-mediated
persuasion takes place without the user being aware of it. These ‘grey areas’ should
be carefully considered.
Open research questions to be tackled in future research include the following:
How can “change” be measured? Are there differences in measuring C-,
B- and A-Changes?
What challenges do A-, B- and C-Change pose for BCSS research? What
are the connections between C-, B- and A-Change?
How can we conduct experiments in such a manner that it will be really
possible to pinpoint a change to have been caused by a BCSS, or even
more precisely, by a specific software feature in it?
How do the BCSSs developed for R-, A- and F-Outcomes differ from
each other?
How can we build BCSSs in such a manner that they will be unobtrusive
with users’ primary tasks?
What are the roles of cognition and emotion in BCSSs?
What is the relationship between convincing and persuasion in BCSSs?
What is the role of goal setting in different kinds of BCSSs? How can the
change in the user’s goals be supported?
When should a BCSS use a direct/indirect persuasion strategy?
Which software features have the greatest impact in different settings?
Which combinations of software features have the greatest impact?
Which modes of interaction are more persuasive than others? How can the
fit between these interaction modes and catering for certain types of
behaviors be recognized and measured?
What are the differences between problem domains (e.g., increased
exercising vs. weight management, or reduced energy consumption vs.
overcoming addictions)?
What are the challenges in the development of persuasive platforms/
systems/services/applications/features?
What is the difference between developing a BCSS as a software system
vs. as a software service (e.g., a mash-up)?
What challenges result from the requirement for a service to be available
24/7?
How can we cope with it when the technological platform which the
BCSS has been built upon changes dramatically?
What is the difference between persuasiveness and perceived
persuasiveness? How should perceived persuasiveness be studied?
How and to what extent should the bias behind a BCSS be explicated?
How can we map psychological and behavioral theories within BCSS
research?
What research issues (other than ones relating to the user interface) need
to be tackled?
What are viable business models for BCSSs?
12 H. Oinas-Kukkonen
What are the cultural and gender differences in BCSSs?
How can we recognize and analyze the unintended side-effects of using a
BCSS? What kind of abuses of a BCSS can be recognized and how?
As can be seen above, many questions remain to be addressed. Indeed, even if many
research efforts have already been conducted thus far, we are still in the very early
steps of research into persuasive technology and behavior change support systems.
In sum, what distinguishes research into BCSSs from research into other
information systems and technologies is that BCSSs are inherently transformative,
deliberately attempting to cause a cognitive and/or an emotional change in the mental
state of a user to transform the user’s current state into another planned state.
Empirical BCSS research provides a unique opportunity for quantifying measures for
system success. This requires explicitly stating the aim of the system, how the success
was to be measured, and the extent to which the system succeeded in achieving this
measure. It has to be explicitly defined what really takes place through the software
system to be able to demonstrate to what extent an outcome/change is really due to
the system, or a feature or a set of features in it. Thus, sound ways of defining the
systems and their goals clearly are needed. Otherwise, it will be difficult or perhaps
even impossible to translate lessons learned from the results into related problem and
application domains.
5 Conclusions
Human-computer interaction and social interaction through information systems can
be used to influence people’s behavior. Yet, even the relatively well-known
persuasion techniques need to be adapted to match computing specificities. Moreover,
the development of BCSSs is much more than just a user interface issue. It relates to
technological services, applications, platforms, and functionality, the quality and
content of information, personal goals set by the end-users, and social environments,
among other issues. In many cases, the BCSSs must be available 24/7, they have to
address global and cultural issues with a multitude of standards, habits, and beliefs,
and they have to be adaptable into a variety of business models.
Persuasive technology as a field has the responsibility of educating the general
audience about the pros and cons of people’s behaviors being influenced by
information systems, whereas web and other software developers must realize that
they exercise enormous power over the users because their designs always influence
them in one way or another, whether they intend them to or not. Moreover, the
contemporary and future web will keep opening up a myriad of opportunities for
building various kinds of behavior change support systems and benefiting from them.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank the Academy of Finland and the National Technology Agency of
Finland for financial support for this research, and my doctoral students Marja
Harjumaa, Tuomas Lehto, Teppo Räisänen, Katarina Segerståhl and Donald Steiny
for their collaborations in my research endeavors within persuasive technology.
Behavior Change Support Systems: A Research Model and Agenda 13
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... The determinants of compliance intention have been primarily drawn from the theory of planned behavior and self-determination theory (Yang et al. 2020), but these have not been examined within BCSS. BCSS are sociotechnical information systems with psychological and behavioral outcomes designed to form, alter, or reinforce attitudes, behavior, or an act of complying without deception or coercion (Oinas-Kukkonen 2010). Depending on the expected outcomes, applications supporting any of these 3 categories of change (attitude, behavior, or compliance) may require different persuasive principles (Kelders et al. 2012;Oinas-Kukkonen 2010). ...
... BCSS are sociotechnical information systems with psychological and behavioral outcomes designed to form, alter, or reinforce attitudes, behavior, or an act of complying without deception or coercion (Oinas-Kukkonen 2010). Depending on the expected outcomes, applications supporting any of these 3 categories of change (attitude, behavior, or compliance) may require different persuasive principles (Kelders et al. 2012;Oinas-Kukkonen 2010). However, research in BCSS has predominantly used principles of the persuasive systems design (PSD) model by Oinas-Kukkonen and Harjumaa (2009) to investigate and create systems supporting several forms of behavior change such as sustainable behavior and use continuous intention e.g., (Shevchuk et al. 2019;Wiafe et al. 2022). ...
... However, research in BCSS has predominantly used principles of the persuasive systems design (PSD) model by Oinas-Kukkonen and Harjumaa (2009) to investigate and create systems supporting several forms of behavior change such as sustainable behavior and use continuous intention e.g., (Shevchuk et al. 2019;Wiafe et al. 2022). Studies dive into behavior change without considering behavioral change as an incremental movement from an act to compliance to attitude change through behavior change (Oinas-Kukkonen 2010). Consequently, compliance remains a rarely investigated problem in BCSS. ...
Conference Paper
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The effectiveness of behavior change support systems (BCSS) in promoting health and well-being is unflinching. However, its long-term effectiveness is hindered by non-compliance. Research in BCSS that focuses on compliance is scarce, particularly the determinants of compliance intention are not well established. To address this gap, this study investigated the determinants of compliance intention in BCSS by extending the persuasive system design model to include competence, effectiveness, enjoyment, and persuasiveness. By surveying a sample of prospective BCSS users (N=234), partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the proposed model. The findings suggest that the prospective users’ perceptions of primary task support and dialogue support, as well as social support and credibility support significantly influenced their perceptions of self-competence and system effectiveness respectively. These perceptions influenced enjoyment, then persuasiveness, and finally compliance intention. Future studies will validate these findings on the compliance behavior of BCSS.
... The term "behaviour change support system" (BCSS), inspired by persuasive technology, was coined by Oinas-Kukkonen. It is defined as an "information system designed to shape, modify, or strengthen attitudes and behaviours without resorting to deceit, force, or incentives" [6] [7]. ...
Article
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INTRODUCTION: In the field of information system design, mobile-based platforms have emerged as a significant and indispensable component in recent years. This research examines the incorporation of sustainable responsibility by a household appliance brand into the consumer experience of a retail mobile application through experience design.OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of this study is to develop strategies for consumer experience design driven by sustainability, thereby fostering the adoption of sustainable consumption behaviours that yield positive implications for the environment, public life, and brand values.METHODS: A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was employed, encompassing preliminary user interviews, questionnaire surveys, and in-depth user interviews. Initially, design research explored consumers' comprehension of sustainability, sustainable consumption demands, behavioural habits, and experiential expectations. Subsequently, design strategies were derived through insight clustering analysis, considering functional information, interaction experience, and marketing interaction.RESULTS: The study illustrated sustainable consumer experience design through the interface and interaction design of a retail mobile application, serving as a touchpoint for an online retail system. The overall effectiveness of the design solution was assessed through usability and consumer experience tests and the results were positive and evidently conducive to improve the retail mobile application.CONCLUSION: Based on the evaluation of the design proposal, three key elements were identified for the experience design of retail mobile systems driven by sustainable responsibility: accentuating the sustainable attributes of products, enhancing consumer autonomy and competence, and aligning marketing endeavours with sustainable values.
... Até à data, os computadores não demonstraram capacidade para formar as suas próprias intenções, ou de tomarem as suas próprias decisões, e como tal não são agentes morais livres: são o resultado das escolhas de quem os desenvolveu (Berdichevsky & Neuenschwander, 1999;ver também Alhammad & Gulliver, 2014a;Fogg, 1998;Harjumaa & Oinas-Kukkonen, 2007;Magee & Kalyanaraman, 2010;Oinas-Kukkonen, 2010, 2013Oinas-Kukkonen & Harjumaa, 2009;Torning, 2014). ...
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O presente trabalho avalia de que forma as características persuasivas das plataformas de comércio eletrónico influenciam a experiência de compra online dos consumidores. A interseção de persuasão com tecnologia consubstancia-se em sistemas computadorizados interativos que aplicam intencionalmente os princípios psicológicos da persuasão para induzir alterações nas atitudes e comportamentos dos indivíduos. O desenvolvimento destes sistemas é designado de design persuasivo. O enquadramento teórico cruza persuasão, tecnologia e design enquanto campos de investigação, fornecendo as bases para a compreensão dos determinantes do comportamento humano, dos processos para a sua modificação, dos efeitos contextuais da tecnologia, e dos quadros conceptuais para a sua análise e desenvolvimento. Delimita-se depois o campo de aplicação: identificam-se as características do comércio eletrónico, das suas plataformas e dos seus promotores; e mapeiam-se as especificidades da jornada de compra e os determinantes do comportamento dos consumidores. O estudo empírico caracteriza e analisa a implementação de um conjunto de 35 princípios persuasivos (estratégias de design baseadas em impulsos do comportamento humano) em 160 interfaces de websites e aplicações móveis — Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, Booking.com, eBay, Farfetch, Gearbest e Nike — e determina as diferenças decorrentes de especificidades tecnológicas e comportamentais dos consumidores. A análise de 5.600 instâncias de princípios persuasivos, ao longo de quatro tipologias de interfaces, permitiu obter um conjunto substancial de resultados: verificar a disseminação e profusão das estratégias persuasivas; confirmar uma significativa variação contextual na sua incidência e materializações; caracterizar táticas e descrever ilações dos seus efeitos. Os contributos deste estudo são inovadores em diversos sentidos: é precursor na análise e comparação do design persuasivo das plataformas atendendo a diferentes pontos de contacto (websites e aplicações móveis) e dispositivos (computadores, tablets e smartphones); é o primeiro a propor um mapeamento dos componentes persuasivos por casos puros (intencionais, inequívocos e/ou unânimes) e limite (desintencionais, ambíguos e/ou discutíveis) para cada princípio persuasivo; é o primeiro a mapear a incidência e materialização destes princípios entre as tipologias de interfaces mais relevantes para a experiência de compra online; é o primeiro a utilizar simultaneamente na sua análise os dois modelos mais relevantes (PSD e Cialdini), traçando relações entre estes; é o primeiro a efetuar uma análise com a última revisão do modelo de Cialdini (ao qual foi adicionado o princípio de unidade).
... However, though the Milky Way app provides app-tailored content to its users, the addition of a personalization feature was commonly requested. Oinas-Kukkonen [35] asserts the importance of understanding diverse user segments for designing successful persuasive systems and states that "specific target audiences may request very different kinds of software features". It has been pointed out that tailoring and personalizing mHealth apps enhance their effectiveness and thus increase their capability for persuasion [36]. ...
Chapter
Women’s perceptions of persuasive design principles implemented in a mHealth app to support breastfeeding have not been previously explored. This study aims to explore the persuasive features of a persuasive mHealth app (the Milky Way app) from the perspective of breastfeeding women to recognize design, functionality, and usability issues. The study used an online survey to gather women’s perceptions of the persuasive design principles assimilated in the Milky Way mHealth app and explore their overall experience with the app. Quantitative responses were analyzed with descriptive analysis to explore women’s perceptions of the implemented PSD features. A qualitative thematic analysis method was used to analyze participants’ responses input to the online survey. A total of 168 women participated in the study survey. The results of the One-Sample T-Test showed that the perception scores of the various PSD features are statistically significant and higher than the neutral rating of 3 (p < .001). This indicates that participants perceived the features implementations as persuasive. A total of 96 women provided qualitative inputs, with an overall of 288 text inputs. Three themes emerged: Overall user experience, Opportunities for app improvements, and Technical aspects. The Milky Way app was perceived as an informative and credible app that is feasible for breastfeeding promotion and support. The results from this study strongly supported the use of the Milky way app for promoting breastfeeding, with particularly positive feedback received from breastfeeding mothers. Practical design recommendations for improving the app based on the findings are offered. KeywordsPersuasive system designmHealthBreastfeedingPersuasive systembehaviour
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In Global North countries, persuasive apps supporting households in reducing their energy consumption are widespread, as promising policy tools for the energy and climate transition. Despite their growing diffusion, fed by the large-scale smart meter roll-out currently ongoing in many energy systems, rigorous studies providing evidence on their effects are still missing, especially for the long-term. We address this research gap by analysing a one-year long app-based electricity saving intervention performed in Switzerland between 2018 and 2019, involving 55 self-selected households. Adopting a quasi-experimental approach and considering four full years of energy consumption data, we estimate the app's average treatment effect over time and perform heterogeneity analyses on household subgroups , on varying their characteristics and intensity of app use. The app reduced consumption and CO2 emissions during the intervention (average treatment effect on the treated equal to 4.95%, statistically significant at the 0.05 level; Cohen's d effect size equal to 0.35). However, one year later the effect disappeared. Our results put policies based on persuasive app use into perspective: taken in isolation, persuasive apps may exhibit limitations regarding long-lasting effects. To avoid relapse, future interventions might embed app use into broader processes explicitly aimed at redefining shared norms and conventions on household energy consumption practices, for instance within living lab processes.
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Background There is a dearth of knowledge on reliable adherence prediction measures in behavior change support systems (BCSSs). Existing reviews have predominately focused on self-reporting measures of adherence. These measures are susceptible to overestimation or underestimation of adherence behavior. Objective This systematic review seeks to identify and summarize trends in the use of machine learning approaches to predict adherence to BCSSs. Methods Systematic literature searches were conducted in the Scopus and PubMed electronic databases between January 2011 and August 2022. The initial search retrieved 2182 journal papers, but only 11 of these papers were eligible for this review. Results A total of 4 categories of adherence problems in BCSSs were identified: adherence to digital cognitive and behavioral interventions, medication adherence, physical activity adherence, and diet adherence. The use of machine learning techniques for real-time adherence prediction in BCSSs is gaining research attention. A total of 13 unique supervised learning techniques were identified and the majority of them were traditional machine learning techniques (eg, support vector machine). Long short-term memory, multilayer perception, and ensemble learning are currently the only advanced learning techniques. Despite the heterogeneity in the feature selection approaches, most prediction models achieved good classification accuracies. This indicates that the features or predictors used were a good representation of the adherence problem. Conclusions Using machine learning algorithms to predict the adherence behavior of a BCSS user can facilitate the reinforcement of adherence behavior. This can be achieved by developing intelligent BCSSs that can provide users with more personalized, tailored, and timely suggestions.
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Abstrak: Konsep pembelajaran Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) mampu menerima sejumlah besar pengguna dan ianya memerlukan sedikit pengetahuan asas berkaitan subjek yang diambil. Teknologi ini berupaya mewujudkan dinamisme dan personalisasi pengalaman pembelajaran pengguna yang lebih luas. Bagi memastikan sistem e-pembelajaran MOOCs ini dapat memberi manfaat kepada pengguna, penyelidik perlu memahami dan mempertimbangkan faktor kognisi dan motivasi pengguna. Teknologi persuasif boleh diaplikasikan dan disepadukan untuk memudahkan penyesuaian pelajar di samping mempercepatkan perubahan sikap mereka tanpa menggunakan paksaan. Teknologi ini akan mewujudkan hubungan antara individu melalui interaksi pengantaraan komputer atau interaksi manusia-komputer-manusia, serta interaksi antara individu dan komputer. Oleh kerana kejayaan dalam penggunaan sistem e-pembelajaran bergantung kepada kesediaan dan penerimaan pelajar, tahap penggunaan sistem e-pembelajaran yang rendah sebelum ini menyebabkan manfaat pembelajaran dalam talian tidak dapat diterima secara optimum. Penyelidikan terhadap topik ini masih berada pada peringkat awal yang mana pendapat atau persepsi pelajar tidak dikaji sepenuhnya. Justeru, kajian ini memfokuskan kepada penilaian heurisitik terhadap tahap persuasif sistem Pembelajaran Terbuka (PT) yang digunakan di institusi pengajian tinggi Malaysia. Penilaian heuristik sistem Pembelajaran Terbuka (PT) melibatkan dua pakar penilai dan penilaian ini dilakukan dalam bentuk perbincangan bersemuka. Kedua-dua pakar penilai merupakan pencipta kandungan bagi sistem PT yang juga pakar dalam bidang e-pembelajaran dan terlibat daripada fasa awal penggunaan sistem PT di Malaysia. Penilaian yang dilakukan terhadap sistem PT ini menfokuskan empat kategori persuasif iaitu; 1) sokongan tugasan utama; 2) sokongan dialog; 3) sokongan kredibiliti; dan 4) sokongan sosial. Empat kategori persuasif ini digariskan dalam Model Pembangunan Reka Bentuk Persuasif (PRP). Hasil kajian ini menyimpulkan bahawa kedua-dua pakar bersetuju bahawa kategori sokongan dialog perlu ditambah baik dengan menfokuskan kepada penambahbaikan ciri-ciri peringatan yang berkesan pada sistem PT. Prinsip peringatan merupakan salah satu prinsip persuasif yang digariskan dalam Model Pembangunan Reka Bentuk Persuasif (PRP).
Thesis
Pour répondre aux défis environnementaux, à la saturation des axes routiers, au bien-être des habitants… les autorités organisatrices de mobilité estiment qu’elles devront renforcer les actions favorisant le report modal qui ont été entreprises ces dernières années et faire preuve d’innovation pour en déployer de nouvelles. En complément des mesures traditionnelles (renfort d’offre de mobilité et mesures coercitives), des mesures de management de la mobilité (sensibilisation, information, pédagogie…) sont timidement déployées depuis plusieurs dizaines d’années et font l’objet d’un intérêt croissant ces dernières années. Toutefois, leur manque d’ancrage théorique permet difficilement de prendre la mesure de leur contribution au report modal. Nous avons donc proposé de transposer à la mobilité le modèle transthéorique (TTM) initialement créé pour accompagner les fumeurs à arrêter la cigarette. Ce modèle décrit le changement de comportement comme un processus en 5 étapes. Nous montrons que sa transposition à la mobilité met en évidence le processus long du changement de pratique modale. Il décrit le report modal comme un changement en plusieurs étapes dont chacune implique des dispositifs appropriés pour favoriser le passage de l’individu à l’étape suivante. Or, nous montrons également que les mesures actuelles pour encourager le passage de la voiture vers des solutions de mobilité alternatives se concentrent principalement sur l’étape du passage à l’action. Elles visent alors à impulser un changement de pratique observable. Les outils pour mesurer le changement modal se concentrent aussi sur le comportement observable (réduction du kilométrage en voiture, évolution des parts modales…). Nous montrons que le recours au modèle transthéorique pourrait faire évoluer cette approche du report modal et permettrait de concevoir des dispositifs plus variés parce qu’il permet de prendre en compte le processus qui précède le passage à l’action, jusqu’alors ignoré par les acteurs de la mobilité. En formalisant ces étapes préliminaires du changement de comportement de mobilité, le modèle transthéorique permet dès lors d’agir sur ces aspects. Nous avons analysé l’applicabilité du modèle à la mobilité en fondant un dispositif visant le report modal sur cette formalisation. Dans le cadre de cet exercice, nous avons créé puis déployé un système de messages incitatifs au report modal intégré à une application d’information voyageurs multimodale et nous avons évalué ses effets sur le changement de comportement. Nous avons ainsi montré que le modèle est particulièrement adapté à une visée opérationnelle. Il facilite le cadrage du projet pour identifier le type de dispositif le plus adapté à déployer. Il permet également de mesurer les effets des dispositifs sur les étapes qui précèdent le changement observable de comportement pour ainsi faire apparaître des effets jusqu’alors invisibles.
Chapter
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The current global pandemic requires higher learning institutions in Malaysia to change their learning and teaching methods from face-to-face to online. One of the e-learning systems used in Malaysia is the Open Learning (OL) system. This OL system is an e-learning system with the concept of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Previous studies have stated that student involvement in MOOCs is low. To increase student involvement in using the OL system, this study has implemented one of the principles of persuasive design outlined in the Persuasive Design Development (PSD) Model, which is the reminder principle. The persuasive reminder features include heuristic and systematic reminder e-mails. Two assignments on the subject of Jihad, according to Al-Quran and Al-Sunnah, were used in the user experiment. One assignment used persuasive reminder e-mails, while another did not use persuasive reminder e-mails. A total of 57 respondents were involved in evaluating persuasive reminder features. The number of views and comments were the two indicators chosen to measure student engagement. The results showed an increase of more than 80% in the number of views indicating an increase in the level of student involvement in assignments that use persuasive reminder e-mails. Some respondents were interviewed to obtain responses related to persuasive reminder e-mails. The interviews found that combining heuristic and systematic reminder e-mail elements can change students' attitudes towards using the OL system.
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Presents an integrative theoretical framework to explain and to predict psychological changes achieved by different modes of treatment. This theory states that psychological procedures, whatever their form, alter the level and strength of self-efficacy. It is hypothesized that expectations of personal efficacy determine whether coping behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will be sustained in the face of obstacles and aversive experiences. Persistence in activities that are subjectively threatening but in fact relatively safe produces, through experiences of mastery, further enhancement of self-efficacy and corresponding reductions in defensive behavior. In the proposed model, expectations of personal efficacy are derived from 4 principal sources of information: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. Factors influencing the cognitive processing of efficacy information arise from enactive, vicarious, exhortative, and emotive sources. The differential power of diverse therapeutic procedures is analyzed in terms of the postulated cognitive mechanism of operation. Findings are reported from microanalyses of enactive, vicarious, and emotive modes of treatment that support the hypothesized relationship between perceived self-efficacy and behavioral changes. (21/2 p ref)
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Research dealing with various aspects of* the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1985, 1987) is reviewed, and some unresolved issues are discussed. In broad terms, the theory is found to be well supported by empirical evidence. Intentions to perform behaviors of different kinds can be predicted with high accuracy from attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control; and these intentions, together with perceptions of behavioral control, account for considerable variance in actual behavior. Attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control are shown to be related to appropriate sets of salient behavioral, normative, and control beliefs about the behavior, but the exact nature of these relations is still uncertain. Expectancy— value formulations are found to be only partly successful in dealing with these relations. Optimal rescaling of expectancy and value measures is offered as a means of dealing with measurement limitations. Finally, inclusion of past behavior in the prediction equation is shown to provide a means of testing the theory*s sufficiency, another issue that remains unresolved. The limited available evidence concerning this question shows that the theory is predicting behavior quite well in comparison to the ceiling imposed by behavioral reliability.
Article
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A growing number of information technology systems and services are being developed to change users’ attitudes or behavior or both. Despite the fact that attitudinal theories from social psychology have been quite extensively applied to the study of user intentions and behavior, these theories have been developed for predicting user acceptance of the information technology rather than for providing systematic analysis and design methods for developing persuasive software solutions. This article is conceptual and theory-creating by its nature, suggesting a framework for Persuasive Systems Design (PSD). It discusses the process of designing and evaluating persuasive systems and describes what kind of content and software functionality may be found in the final product. It also highlights seven underlying postulates behind persuasive systems and ways to analyze the persuasion context (the intent, the event, and the strategy). The article further lists 28 design principles for persuasive system content and functionality, describing example software requirements and implementations. Some of the design principles are novel. Moreover, a new categorization of these principles is proposed, consisting of the primary task, dialogue, system credibility, and social support categories.
Article
This paper presents Persuasive Health Information systems (PHIs), which has been deployed over a period of eight months at a pilot site to improve health information dissemination among rural women in India. The design process of the PHI integrates social cues from the persuasive technology and the theory of planned behaviour for shaping social beliefs and health practices of rural women. Two field studies were conducted to design and evaluate the PHIs. The results from study one revealed social beliefs and practices related to primary health that formulated the design requirements for the PHIs. On the basis of these requirements, the social beliefs were addressed by applying persuasive social cues to the design of the form, content, and interaction of the PHIs. The results from study two involved comparative engagement between PHIs and an existing health information system supported by a local nongovernmental organization. The results indicate that application of persuasive technology can persuade the rural women to change their existing social beliefs and health practices in a positive manner. This paper contributes by providing theoretical understanding of what restricts the information transfer among rural women in terms of health care practices and how it can be addressed by applying persuasive technology for the design of health information systems. We hope that health practitioners, ICT developers and the design community would benefit from this approach in developing information systems for health care, e-government, and education in a rural context.
Article
Persuasive technologies pervade much of our everyday lives today in areas from marketing to public health. In the latter case, persuasive technology represents a promising area of application. However, we know much too little about how to design effective interventions to support sustained behaviour change and improved well-being. The purpose of the present paper was to contribute in two ways. First, we want to contribute to current practice in designing such interventions. Second, we try to identify key research questions that could be a point of departure for a more detailed and comprehensive future research program. We do this by means of expressing 28 propositions. In sum, the propositions reflect that the construction of digital interventions should be seen as an iterative process which should take into account both content and design factors. However, we argue that intervention research and practical design experience is not just something that follows basic research at a polite distance, but rather is its inherent complement.
Conference Paper
Poor sitting habits and bad sitting posture are often the cause for musculoskeletal disorders like back pain. Also office employees are affected, because they carry out the majority of their work sitting in front of computers. Therefore we aim at sensitizing and motivating office employees regarding preventive healthcare. We have developed a persuasive interface in form of an interactive picture frame which integrates unobtrusively into the working environment --- the perFrame. This frame contains a moving portrait of a person the employee loves or likes. It provides affective feedback in order to persuade employees for better sitting habits while working with a computer. We conducted a preliminary in-situ study, deploying these picture frames on the desktops of eight office employees. The results highlight the employees' acceptance of our application as well as its potential to foster awareness and achieve persuasion regarding healthy behavior in the office.
Article
A growing number of information technology systems and services are being developed to change users attitudes or behavior or both. Despite the fact that attitudinal theories from social psychology have been quite extensively applied to the study of user intentions and behavior, these theories have been developed for predicting user acceptance of the information technology rather than for providing systematic analysis and design methods for developing persuasive software solutions. This article is conceptual and theory-creating by its nature, suggesting a framework for Persuasive Systems Design (PSD). It discusses the process of designing and evaluating persuasive systems and describes what kind of content and software functionality may be found in the final product. It also highlights seven underlying postulates behind persuasive systems and ways to analyze the persuasion context (the intent, the event, and the strategy). The article further lists 28 design principles for persuasive system content and functionality, describing example software requirements and implementations. Some of the design principles are novel. Moreover, a new categorization of these principles is proposed, consisting of the primary task, dialogue, system credibility, and social support categories.