Enhancing the perceived effectiveness of health behaviour change support systems through transparency in persuasive systems design

Behaviour change support systems (BCSS) have received considerable attention owing to their design features that foster healthy habits and promote sustainable behavioural changes. Transformative in nature, BCSS deliberately seeks to intentionally prompt a user’s rational behavioural changes. Systems transparency is a vital underlying element in the ethical design of systems aimed at supporting behaviour change. This research investigates the role of transparency in influencing the perception of a system’s persuasiveness and effectiveness of a mobile health BCSS (mHBCSS) for weight management. A research model was constructed and subsequently validated through an empirical study involving 161 subjects in a randomised controlled trial. The data analysis was conducted using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Results indicate that transparency has a significant influence on the perceived credibility of the mHBCSS (57.8% variance explained in credibility support) and on how people receive system feedback (56.8% variance explained in dialogue support). Primary task, dialogue, and credibility support explained 69.9% of the variance in perceived persuasiveness. Additionally, perceived persuasiveness explained 65.9% of the variance in perceived effectiveness. Our study provides evidence of the importance of designing transparent mHBCSS to boost ethical and practical outcomes.