Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 28, 2025

Integrating Computerized Linguistic and Social Network Analyses to Capture Addiction Recovery Capital in an Online Community
Published on: May 31, 2019
Unpacking public resistance to health Chatbots: a parallel mediation analysis
Xiqian Zou1, Yuxiang Na2, Kaisheng Lai2
1School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Introduction:
Despite the numerous potential benefits of health chatbots for personal health management, a substantial proportion of people oppose the use of such software applications. Building on the innovation resistance theory (IRT) and the prototype willingness model (PWM), this study investigated the functional barriers, psychological barriers, and negative prototype perception antecedents of individuals' resistance to health chatbots, as well as the rational and irrational psychological mechanisms underlying their linkages.
Methods:
Data from 398 participants were used to construct a partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM).
Results:
Resistance intention mediated the relationship between functional barriers, psychological barriers, and resistance behavioral tendency, respectively. Furthermore, The relationship between negative prototype perceptions and resistance behavioral tendency was mediated by resistance intention and resistance willingness. Moreover, negative prototype perceptions were a more effective predictor of resistance behavioral tendency through resistance willingness than functional and psychological barriers.
Discussion:
By investigating the role of irrational factors in health chatbot resistance, this study expands the scope of the IRT to explain the psychological mechanisms underlying individuals' resistance to health chatbots. Interventions to address people's resistance to health chatbots are discussed.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Social Proof
Obedience
Stereotype Content Model
Barriers to Effective Communication II
Cultural barriers:
Differences in values, beliefs, religion, knowledge, and tradition can significantly impact communication. Awareness of nonverbal cues is critical, especially when conversing with a patient from a different culture. What appears appropriate in one culture may be inappropriate in another.
Semantic barriers:
As a result of their tendency to use...
Conformity
Milgram's Obedience to Authority

