Department of Information Management, School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2022 Jan 4;22(1):24. doi: 10.1186/s12913-021-07339-7.
Mobile health applications (mHealth apps) have created innovative service channels for patients with chronic diseases. These innovative service channels require physicians to actively use mHealth apps. However, few studies investigate physicians' participation in mHealth apps.
This study aims to empirically explore factors affecting physicians' usage behaviors of mHealth apps. Based on the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) and mHealth apps features, we propose a research model including altruism, cognitive trust, and online ratings.
We collected data from physicians who have used mHealth apps and conducted a factor analysis to verify the convergence and discriminative effects. We used a hierarchical regression method to test the path coefficients and statistical significance of our research model. In addition, we adopted bootstrapping approach and further analyzed the mediating effects of behavioral intention between all antecedent variables and physicians' usage behavior. Finally, we conducted three robustness analyses to test the validity of results and tested the constructs to verify the common method bias.
Our results support the effects of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and altruism on the behavioral intentions of physicians using mHealth apps. Moreover, facilitating conditions and habits positively affect physicians using mHealth apps through the mediating effort of behavioral intention. Physicians' cognitive trust and online rating have significant effects on their usage behaviors through the mediating efforts of behavioral intention.
This study contributes to the existing literature on UTAUT2 extension of physicians' acceptance of mHealth apps by adding altruism, cognitive trust, and online ratings. The results of this study provide a novel perspective in understanding the factors affecting physicians' usage behaviors on mHealth apps in China and provide such apps' managers with an insight into the promotion of physicians' active acceptance and usage behaviors.
移动医疗应用程序（mHealth 应用程序）为慢性病患者创造了创新的服务渠道。这些创新的服务渠道需要医生积极使用 mHealth 应用程序。然而，很少有研究调查医生对 mHealth 应用程序的参与度。
本研究旨在实证探讨影响医生使用 mHealth 应用程序的因素。基于扩展的技术接受统一理论（UTAUT2）和 mHealth 应用程序的特点，我们提出了一个研究模型，包括利他主义、认知信任和在线评分。
我们从使用过 mHealth 应用程序的医生那里收集数据，并进行了因素分析以验证收敛和区分效果。我们使用分层回归方法来检验研究模型的路径系数和统计显著性。此外，我们采用了自举方法，进一步分析了行为意图在所有前置变量和医生使用行为之间的中介效应。最后，我们进行了三项稳健性分析，以检验结果的有效性，并测试了结构以验证共同方法偏差。
我们的结果支持绩效期望、努力期望、社会影响和利他主义对医生使用 mHealth 应用程序的行为意图的影响。此外，便利条件和习惯通过行为意图的中介作用对医生使用 mHealth 应用程序产生积极影响。医生的认知信任和在线评分通过行为意图的中介作用对其使用行为产生显著影响。
本研究通过添加利他主义、认知信任和在线评分，为 UTAUT2 扩展医生对 mHealth 应用程序的接受度的现有文献做出了贡献。本研究的结果为理解影响中国医生使用 mHealth 应用程序行为的因素提供了新的视角，并为这些应用程序的管理者提供了一个了解促进医生积极接受和使用行为的视角。
