The routine use of mobile health services in the presence of health consciousness

• Published in: Electronic commerce research and applications Vol. 35; p. 100847
• Main Authors: Meng, Fanbo, Guo, Xitong, Peng, Zeyu, Zhang, Xiaofei, Vogel, Doug
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.05.2019
• Subjects: Elaboration likelihood model; Health consciousness; Mobile health; Routine use intention; Health consciousness; Routine use intention; Elaboration likelihood model; Mobile health
• ISSN: 1567-4223; 1873-7846
• DOI: 10.1016/j.elerap.2019.100847

•Higher mHealth argument quality and source credibility lead to stronger routine use.•Health-conscious did not indicate a strong willingness to use mHealth routinely.•Health consciousness does not shape the effect of argument quality on routine use.•Health consciousness strengthens the effect of source credibility on routine use. With the continuous and rapid escalation of the digitization of healthcare, mobile health offers great promise for improving a person’s quality of life. Indeed, mHealth service providers are expending enormous efforts to persuade users to increase their routine usage in order to improve performance gains. However, the effects of the persuasion process on users’ routine use intention remain unexplored. In this study, we integrate health consciousness with the elaboration likelihood model to examine routine use intention. We test our research model and hypotheses with a survey of 270 subjects. The results confirm that argument quality and source credibility significantly influence routine use intention. Unexpectedly, health consciousness does not directly impact routine use intention but does strengthen its relationship with source credibility. However, there are no moderating effects with respect to argument quality. The limitations of our study and the theoretical and practical implications are discussed.