Personalization reactance in online medical consultations: effects of two-sided personalization and health topic sensitivity on reactance

Abstract Personalization strategy in commercial contexts has often been criticized for eliciting individuals’ reactance. Will this happen to physician–patient communication in online medical consultations (OMCs)? Two experiments attempted to probe the direct, indirect, and conditional effects of personalization on reactance in OMC. Specifically, perceived threats to freedom and perceived physician caring were examined as two mediators underlying the relationship between personalization and reactance. Health topic sensitivity was investigated as a moderator. Results from both studies revealed that there was no main effect of personalization on reactance, yet personalization induced perceived threats to freedom and perceived physician caring, which affected reactance in a way that might cancel out each other. The effects of personalization (versus depersonalization) on perceived threats to freedom and reactance were more salient at the lower level of health topic sensitivity. These suggest that personalization with its two-sided nature exerts both desired and undesired influences and health topic sensitivity can be a prominent contextual factor in personalization reactance during OMC.