JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The internet has become a major source of health information for general consumers. Online health information quality (OHIQ) varies widely across websites and applications. It is critical to understand factors that shape consumers’ evaluation of OHIQ and the role OHIQ plays in their appraisal and use of health information and information systems.

Objective:

To identify antecedents and consequences of consumers’ evaluation of OHIQ as a means to consolidate the OHIQ research stream and inform future studies on OHIQ.

Methods:

We systematically searched 10 databases, examined reference lists, and conducted manual searches. Empirical studies that investigated consumers’ evaluation of OHIQ, credibility, or trust and their respective relationships with antecedents or consequences were included.

Results:

We included 147 studies reported in 136 papers in the analysis. Among the antecedents of OHIQ, system navigability (ρ = .56), aesthetics (ρ = .49), and ease-of-understanding of information (ρ = .49) had the strongest relationships with OHIQ. The strongest consequences of OHIQ were consumers’ intentions to use health information systems (ρ = .58) and satisfaction with health information (ρ = .46). OHIQ relationships were moderated by numerous culture dimension, research design, and publication moderators.

Conclusions:

Consumers largely rely on peripheral cues and less on cues that require more information processing (e.g., content comprehensiveness) to determine OHIQ. Surprisingly, the relationship between individual differences and OHIQ is trivial. OHIQ wields stronger effects on cognitive appraisals and behavioral intentions compared to behavior. Despite efforts to include various moderators, a substantial amount of variance is still unexplained, indicating that additional moderators need to be studied. This meta-analysis provides broad and consistent evidence for the OHIQ relationships which have been fractured and incongruent in empirical studies.