An Empirical Study on the Intentional Behaviors of Healthcare Consumers in a Telehealthcare System in Taiwan
Due to an aging population and the impact of chronic disease, health insurance costs in Taiwan have increased year by year. In order to allow people access to great medical care from home or within their community, the Taiwanese government has promoted a number of telehealthcare policies. Most related research emphasizes the technology involved in such policies, but this study considers instead the combination of a technology acceptance model, a health belief model, and measures of trust within the community to probe the Taiwanese telehealthcare system. This study was developed to examine factors that affect the usage, attitudes, and intentions of healthcare consumers within a telehealthcare system. 284 responses were collected via an online survey and analyzed using SPSS 23 and smart PLS2.0. The results showed that perceived ease of use and usefulness were affected by social trust, perceived usefulness was affected by perceived ease of use, users’ attitudes were affected by perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, and user intention was affected by perceived usefulness, perceived seriousness, perceived benefits, and cues to action.
