How do self-motivation and social motivation contribute to consumers’ acceptance of m-health services?

Objectives

The study aimed to propose a unified model integrating the technology acceptance model (TAM), social-determination theory (SDT), and social motivation to examine the roles of self-motivation (i.e., autonomy, relatedness, and competency) and social motivation (i.e., social influence and social recognition) in consumer acceptance of m-health services. In addition, the study aimed to explore whether relationships among the antecedent factors and consumer acceptance of m-health services would be moderated by consumers’ demographic characteristics.

Methods

Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach was used to test the proposed model with data from 614 Chinese m-health users. Multi-group analyses were performed to examine whether the results were different or equivalent across demographic backgrounds.

Results

Usage behavior was significantly influenced by behavioral intention. While self-motivations mostly exerted impacts on behavioral intention through the mediating roles of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, social motivations affected behavioral intention both directly and indirectly through the mediating roles of perceived usefulness. In addition, most of the hypothesized relations remained unchanged across gender, age, and usage experience.

Conclusions

This study reveals the important roles of varied self- and social motivations in developing consumer acceptance of m-health services. To facilitate consumers’ acceptance, m-health services should be designed to meet consumers’ internal requirements on autonomy and relatedness and earn recognition from social perspectives. The findings provide insights into the design and implementation of m-health services in support of consumer acceptance across different demographic backgrounds.

Public interest summary

M-health has long been considered as a promising tool to support individuals’ health care activities and achieve improved efficiency and quality in the delivery of health care services. However, the introduction of m-health to consumers has proven difficult, and wide acceptance has not been achieved. We conducted a field survey of 614 Chinese m-health users to identify the roles of self-motivation and social motivation in consumers’ acceptance of m-health services. We found that self-motivation can exert impacts on consumers’ acceptance through the mediating roles of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, while social motivation affected acceptance both directly and indirectly through the mediating roles of perceived usefulness. In addition, these effects mostly remained unchanged across consumers’ gender, age, and usage experience. Based on our findings, we propose implications to design and implement m-health services in support of consumer acceptance across different demographic backgrounds.