Understanding Users’ Continuance Usage Behavior Towards Digital Health Information System Driven by the Digital Revolution Under COVID-19 Context: An Extended UTAUT Model

Abstract

Background: Improving the health status of users through the use of digital health information systems has drawn the attention of practitioners and academics under the tide of the digital revolution, specifically in the time of global pandemic of COVID-19, and as a result, online medical consultation has developed rapidly. Purpose: Empirical studies, however, are lacking in terms of gaining insight into use digital health information system driven by the digital revolution under COVID-19 and identifying the factors for retaining users and encouraging their continuing use. To solve this problem, this study seeks to explore the factors that influence users’ intention to use digital health information system. Methods: This study extended the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model by introducing components of perceived risks into the model. Structural equation modeling was adopted to evaluate the research model based on an empirical survey of 241 users in China. Results: As indicated by the results, users’ continuance usage behavior to digital health information system is shaped by intention to use and facilitating conditions, with effort expectancy, social influence, perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment exerting indirect positive effects on continuance usage behavior via intention to use. In contrast, perceived risk and perceived cost have indirect negative impact on continuance usage behavior. Conclusion: The findings of this study can not only help the practitioners better understand the users’ continuance usage behavior towards digital health information system driven by digital revolution in the time of COVID-19 pandemic and further tap into the potential market but also make up the short of traditional technology acceptance model explanatory by the extended UTAUT model.