Assessing the Adoption of e-Health Technology in a Developing Country: An Extension of the UTAUT Model

Electronic healthcare services are becoming an increasingly essential form of information and communication technology (ICT) that enables the fast and smooth delivery of health care, specifically in countries with scarce resources such as Pakistan. A better understanding of factors contributing to the adoption of electronic health care is needed, yet this remains an under-researched phenomenon. Grounded in the united theory of acceptance and use of technology, this article attempts to fill the gap by proposing and empirically testing the contribution of trust, privacy, task-technology fit, and personal innovativeness of patients' intentions to adopt electronic health technology. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 353 patients in major hospitals in Islamabad, Pakistan. This study used Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling for the analysis. Results indicate that the intention to adopt electronic health technology is determined mostly by effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, task-technology fit, trust, privacy, and personal innovativeness in information technology. The study concludes with several managerial implications and future research directions, which give further opportunities to researchers and practitioners in the field of e-health technology.

Automated summary

Electronic healthcare services are increasingly important in countries with scarce resources like Pakistan, but factors contributing to their adoption remain under-researched. This study, grounded in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, investigates the impact of trust, privacy, task-technology fit, and personal innovativeness on patients' intentions to adopt electronic health technology.