TY - JOUR
T1 - Seeking medical advice in mobile applications
T2 - How social cue design and privacy concerns influence trust and behavioral intention in impersonal patient–physician interactions
AU - Zhang, Jiaxin
AU - Luximon, Yan
AU - Li, Qingchuan
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the MOE (Ministry of Education in China) Liberal arts and Social Sciences Foundation (Project No. 21YJC760040 ), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (grant number ZVV7), and The First Batch of 2020 MOE Industry-University Collaborative Education Program (Program No. 202002035010, Kingfar- CES “Human Factors and Ergonomics” Program).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/5
Y1 - 2022/5
N2 - Mobile medical consultations are increasingly prevalent, offering various benefits. However, there is still inadequate research about how to build trust in the impersonal patient–physician interaction. This study attempted to facilitate impersonal patient–physician interactions by investigating the effects of social cue design and privacy concerns on two types of trust—trust in physicians and trust in the applications—and understanding how these two types of trust influence behavioral intention in mobile medical consultations. To construct the research model, we collected online survey data from 429 mobile medical consultation users and analyzed the structural model using the partial least square method. The results showed that the social cue design factors not only have various effects on the two types of trust but also decrease privacy concerns. Privacy concerns hinder both types of trust. The impacts of the two types of trust on patients' intention to continue using the service, disclose information, and follow medical advice are also revealed. Our findings allow suggestions for researchers to further investigate the establishment of trust in the impersonal interaction context and provide implications for practitioners to improve mobile medical consultation services.
AB - Mobile medical consultations are increasingly prevalent, offering various benefits. However, there is still inadequate research about how to build trust in the impersonal patient–physician interaction. This study attempted to facilitate impersonal patient–physician interactions by investigating the effects of social cue design and privacy concerns on two types of trust—trust in physicians and trust in the applications—and understanding how these two types of trust influence behavioral intention in mobile medical consultations. To construct the research model, we collected online survey data from 429 mobile medical consultation users and analyzed the structural model using the partial least square method. The results showed that the social cue design factors not only have various effects on the two types of trust but also decrease privacy concerns. Privacy concerns hinder both types of trust. The impacts of the two types of trust on patients' intention to continue using the service, disclose information, and follow medical advice are also revealed. Our findings allow suggestions for researchers to further investigate the establishment of trust in the impersonal interaction context and provide implications for practitioners to improve mobile medical consultation services.
KW - Behavioral intention
KW - Mobile medical consultation
KW - Patient–physician interaction
KW - Social presence
KW - Social validation
KW - Trust
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85122302504&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.chb.2021.107178
DO - 10.1016/j.chb.2021.107178
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85122302504
SN - 0747-5632
VL - 130
JO - Computers in Human Behavior
JF - Computers in Human Behavior
M1 - 107178
ER -