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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Media Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1514571
This article is part of the Research Topic Bridging the Gap: Understanding Adoption and Acceptance of Emerging Healthcare Technologies View all 3 articles

User Avoidance Behavior in Pharmaceutical E-commerce Intelligent Customer Service: A Stressor-Strain-Outcome Perspective

Provisionally accepted
Jia Jing Jia Jing 1LU CHEN LU CHEN 1*Chengzhen Wu Chengzhen Wu 2MANLING XIAO MANLING XIAO 3
  • 1 Changzhou University, Changzhou, China
  • 2 Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
  • 3 Konkuk University, Seoul, Seoul, Republic of Korea

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: This study explores the implementation of Intelligent Customer Service (ICS) in pharmaceutical e-commerce, aiming to enhance user acceptance and service efficiency while addressing the psychological factors influencing user behavior. It expands the boundaries of technology acceptance research by focusing on ICS use and avoidance in high-risk environments. Method: A total of 418 valid questionnaires were collected from participants, ensuring data quality through rigorous screening. The study employed SPSS for data normality tests and SmartPLS for structural equation modeling to analyze the relationships between emotional stress, system overload, and user avoidance behavior.The findings indicate that system overload, information overload, and service overload significantly contribute to user emotional stress, which in turn drives avoidance behavior. The analysis revealed strong explanatory power (R² values ranging from 0.450 to 0.586) and confirmed the mediating role of emotional stress in the relationship between overload factors and user avoidance.Discussion: This research highlights the critical role of emotional stress in user interactions with ICS, suggesting that pharmaceutical e-commerce companies must refine their ICS design to meet diverse user needs and reduce cognitive burdens. By leveraging big data and establishing robust feedback mechanisms, companies can enhance user experience and loyalty. The study also identifies limitations in demographic representation and suggests future research should incorporate qualitative methods for a deeper understanding of user behavior.

    Keywords: intelligent customer service1, pharmaceutical e-commerce2, user avoidance behavior3, cognitive overload4, stressor-strain-outcome5, electronic health literacy6

    Received: 22 Oct 2024; Accepted: 16 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Jing, CHEN, Wu and XIAO. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: LU CHEN, Changzhou University, Changzhou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.