What makes online news interesting? Personal and situational interest and the effect on behavioral intentions

Abstract

We conducted a study in which participants interacted with human-interest news stories in video, audio or text format. We gathered post-task impressions of participants' interest in and curiosity about the stories, and their behavioral intentions to link to related content or recommend the stories to others. We explored the individual and situational dimensions of interest in participants' responses, and how these related to behavioral intentions. We discuss implications for information system and study design.