The effect of interactivity on smokers' intention to quit: A linear or curvilinear relationship?

Abstract This paper reports the effect of website interactivity on change in smokers' behavioral intention to quit with a pretest-posttest design experiment. An online experiment with 92 smokers tested the effect of the number of interactive features on the website ranging from zero to three. An inverted U-shaped quadratic trend was found in perceived interactivity, which indirectly influenced the change score of participants’ behavioral intention to quit after browsing. Only one or two interactive features, not three, led to a significant increase in the change score compared with the control condition, by increasing vividness of the stimulus website and decreasing defensive responses. However, for smokers who are highly addicted, the website with three interactive features decreased their defensive responses and led to greater change in behavioral intention to quit compared with other less interactive conditions.

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