Brand-Related and Information-Sharing Cues as Decision Aid for Smartphone Users at Different Levels of Persuasion Knowledge to Assess mHealth App Credibility: An Eye-Tracking Study

This study aims to examine the impact of brand logos and personal information requests on visual attention to mHealth app interfaces and app credibility judgments among smartphone users at varying levels of persuasion knowledge. A mixed-factorial lab experiment was employed, incorporating variables such as the presence of a brand logo, personal information requirements, and app repetition, and was analyzed using eye-tracking and self-report methods. It revealed that brand logos unexpectedly enhanced app credibility, suggesting that recognizable brand visual symbols may help users make credibility judgments in information-rich settings such as app stores. Users with greater persuasion knowledge processed visual cues more efficiently, requiring less time to assess and understand marketing elements, highlighting the relationship between cognitive factors and visual perception in evaluating app credibility. The findings enhance our understanding of the persuasion knowledge theoretical model, especially within the mobile health context. It confirms that novice users rely more on decision aids than experts do, suggesting that knowledge of technology and marketing improves the interpretation of visual cues, aiding decision-making in information-rich settings.