Is Information Sharing During Online Medical Consultations a Patient’s Concern? An Extended Theoretical Model

Abstract

Although OMC is a convenient healthcare technology, it poses challenges related to user satisfaction and data confidentiality. Previous studies have overlooked the importance of OMC in densely populated developing countries, where a healthcare application could potentially serve millions of patients. Moreover, patients in developing countries view OMC as more convenient and affordable in terms of saving time and transportation costs from face-to-face medical consultations. On the other hand, there are associated risks such as losing data confidentiality and satisfaction comparing in-person visits. Therefore, the proposed theoretical framework extends the existing UTAUT model by emphasizing user-perceived satisfaction and the perceived risk of adopting OMC. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire and random sampling of 978 Pakistani respondents, and the data were analyzed using partial least square structural modelling. The results indicate that perceived satisfaction (β = 0.219) was the strongest predictor of users’ behavioral intention, followed by performance expectancy (β = 0.204), effort expectancy (β = 0.155), trust (β = 0.147), social influence (β = 0.124), and self-efficacy (β = 0.082), accounting for (R² = 0.553) of the variance in OMC adoption. However, perceived risk (β = 0.012) appeared to be an insignificant factor for behavioral intention in the acceptance of OMC. The findings underscore that as users perceive OMC systems to be more trustworthy, their behavioral intentions to engage with these digital healthcare platforms experience a notable and positive upswing. Saving travel expenses and time is the major benefit for the patients in the developing countries who are struggling in managing their socioeconomic conditions. It is recommended that the government should regulate and promote the use of OMC applications by leveraging patients’ trust towards this technology. In addition, the developing countries with significant rural populations and infrastructure gaps can benefit from strategies that enhance trust in digital platforms and emphasize user satisfaction to drive OMC adoption.