Using Frames to Influence Consumer Willingness to Pay for the Patient Health Record: A Randomized Experiment

Abstract

The American College of Medical Informatics rated the lack of willingness to pay for the patient health record (PHR) as the biggest obstacles to its rapid diffusion. Extending research propositions from the decision sciences and political communication, this study tests the influence of different types of emphasis frames on increasing consumer willingness to pay for the PHR. Using a randomized experiment embedded within a probability survey, the effects of 3 different types of emphasis frames (individual-focused, collective-focused, and joint), along with a no-frames control, are tested on a sample of early and later technology adopters. The results indicate a significant relationship between the type of frame and the type of adopter. Early adopters were more susceptible to individual-focused frames that made causal attributions at the individual level, whereas later adopters were significantly influenced by collective-focused frames that made causal attributions at the societal level. Interestingly, the framing effect continued and significantly influenced both early and later adopters' willingness to pay for the PHR. The findings demonstrate the need to carefully communicate the value of a technology to adopters and suggest the possibility of using frames to spur the diffusion of PHRs.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The author thanks Ronald E. Rice, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, for his comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of the article.

Notes

¹The American College of Medical Informatics is composed of elected fellows from the United States and abroad. The symposium to discuss PHRs, the annual American College of Medical Informatics' Symposium, was held in February 2005.