TY - JOUR
T1 - Computational persuasion technologies, explainability, and ethical-legal implications
T2 - A systematic literature review
AU - Calvaresi, Davide
AU - Carli, Rachele
AU - Tiribelli, Simona
AU - Buzcu, Berk
AU - Aydogan, Reyhan
AU - Di Vincenzo, Andrea
AU - Mualla, Yazan
AU - Schumacher, Michael
AU - Calbimonte, Jean Paul
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - This paper conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) to evaluate the effectiveness of computational persuasion technology (CPT) in the eHealth domain. Over the past fifteen years, CPT has been used in various scenarios, from promoting healthy diets to supporting chronic disease management. Despite the proliferation of intelligent systems and Web-based applications, the ethical and legal nuances of these technologies have become increasingly significant. The review follows a structured methodology, assessing 92 primary studies through sixteen research questions covering demographics, application scenarios, user requirements, objectives, functionalities, technologies, advantages, limitations, proposed solutions, ethical and legal implications, and the role of explainable AI (XAI). The findings indicate that while CPT holds promise in inducing behavioral change, many prototypes remain untested on a large scale (60% of surveyed studies only developed at a conceptual level), and long-term effectiveness is still uncertain (36% report attaining their goals, but none focuses on long-term assessment). The study highlights the need for more comparative analyses of persuasion models and tailored approaches to meet diverse user needs. Ethical and legal concerns, such as patient consent, data privacy, and potential for users’ manipulation, are under-explored and require deeper investigation. The paper recommends a bottom-up regulatory approach to create more effective and flexible ethical and legal guidelines for CPT applications.
AB - This paper conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) to evaluate the effectiveness of computational persuasion technology (CPT) in the eHealth domain. Over the past fifteen years, CPT has been used in various scenarios, from promoting healthy diets to supporting chronic disease management. Despite the proliferation of intelligent systems and Web-based applications, the ethical and legal nuances of these technologies have become increasingly significant. The review follows a structured methodology, assessing 92 primary studies through sixteen research questions covering demographics, application scenarios, user requirements, objectives, functionalities, technologies, advantages, limitations, proposed solutions, ethical and legal implications, and the role of explainable AI (XAI). The findings indicate that while CPT holds promise in inducing behavioral change, many prototypes remain untested on a large scale (60% of surveyed studies only developed at a conceptual level), and long-term effectiveness is still uncertain (36% report attaining their goals, but none focuses on long-term assessment). The study highlights the need for more comparative analyses of persuasion models and tailored approaches to meet diverse user needs. Ethical and legal concerns, such as patient consent, data privacy, and potential for users’ manipulation, are under-explored and require deeper investigation. The paper recommends a bottom-up regulatory approach to create more effective and flexible ethical and legal guidelines for CPT applications.
KW - Behavior change
KW - Computational persuasion
KW - eHealth
KW - Ethics
KW - Legal implications
KW - Systematic literature review
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85214224795&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.chbr.2024.100577
DO - 10.1016/j.chbr.2024.100577
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85214224795
SN - 2451-9588
VL - 17
JO - Computers in Human Behavior Reports
JF - Computers in Human Behavior Reports
M1 - 100577
ER -