Helping others is helping oneself: A mixed-methods investigation of antecedents driving consumer engagement in the value co-creation of mHealth platforms

Abstract

Consumer engagement in co-creation is crucial for maintaining a successful and sustainable mobile health (mHealth) ecosystem, as multiple stages of mHealth services require consumer engagement, collaboration, and evaluation. Unlike online health communities and offline medical institutions, mHealth encompasses a technology focus and human-technology interaction. Compared to healthcare providers primarily driven by economic interests, there is a lack of empirical evidence concerning what drives consumer engagement in the co-creation of mHealth. Thus, we adopted a mixed-method design consisting of two qualitative and two quantitative studies. Specifically, we identified four key dimensions through an exploratory qualitative study: quality, interactive factors, technical cognition, and trust. Then, we further analyzed the interrelationship between constructs and proposed our proposed framework based on the DeLone and McLean IS success (D&M) model. Two quantitative studies validated the applicability of the proposed framework in large sample sizes and cross-country contexts (China and the US). In addition, considering the possible asymmetric relationship between the antecedents and consumer engagement, we utilized the fsQCA method to reveal its configuration patterns. Our results further enrich the stream of mHealth research in the information system (IS) fields and value co-creation in technology-enabled healthcare services. Moreover, our focus on technology factors provides opportunities for system design and improvement of mHealth.