Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Jun 26, 2020
Open Peer Review Period: Jun 26, 2020 - Aug 11, 2020
Date Accepted: Dec 17, 2020
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Perceived Factors influencing the Public Intention to Use E-consultation: Analysis of Web-Based Survey Data
ABSTRACT
Background:
Unbalanced distribution of medical resources is becoming a big challenge, particularly in selecting doctors. E-consultation could provide patients with more choices of doctors and break out the constraints of time and space. But the acceptance of e-consultation is still poor and the mechanism of adoption is unclear.
Objective:
This study aimed to identify the factors influencing the public intention to use e-consultation and explore the effect path of factors and behavior intention.
Methods:
The hypotheses of our research model were developed based on technology acceptance model and perceived risk theory. A Web-based survey was conducted by Sojump and the 29 items questionnaire with 5-point Likert scales completed by 934 respondents. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Item evaluation and reliability, validity, path loading, goodness of fit, and multiple-group analysis were used to check moderation effects.
Results:
Standardized factor loadings of items were between 0.551 and 0.873. Composite reliability of 9 constructs ranged from 0.706 to 0.840. Average variance extracted ranged from 0.387 to 0.640. The fitness indices showed that the collected data fitted well with the research model. Perceived usefulness was the strongest positive factor effecting behavior intention (β=0.399, P<0.001). Perceived ease of use had no statistically significant effect on behavior intention (β=0.117, P=0.066) but a positive effect on perceived usefulness (β=0.537, P<.001). Perceived risk could be well explained by financial risk (β=0.972, P<.001), privacy risk (β=0.774, P<.001), social risk (β=0.871, P<.001), time risk (β=0.894, P<0.001), and psychological risk (β=0.774, P<.001). Perceived risk had negative effects on perceived usefulness (β=-0.375, P<0.001) and behavior intention (β=-0.297, P<.001). Personal innovativeness had a positive influence on perceived ease of use (β=0.241, P<.001) and a slight effect on behavior intention (β=0.124, P=0.001). Age(CMIN=133.457, P<.001) and usage experience(CMIN=82.495, P=.019) had a significantly slight moderation effect on the paths.
Conclusions:
Perceived usefulness and perceived risk have significant effects on public intention to use e-consultation. Therefore, platform and manufacturer must improve the function of e-consultation, which will promote the public intention to use e-consultation fundamentally. And to control the perceived risk of public, government should play an important role in enforcing management of e-consultation markets and approving corresponding medical insurance policies. Besides, personal innovativeness had an effect on behavior intention. And the path of factors had differences among different characteristic people. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the strategies to fit more groups better.
Citation
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