Descriptive Norms and eHealth Use Among Older Adults: A Cross-Country Comparative Study

ABSTRACT

eHealth use enables older adults to access and manage healthcare resources, and benefits their health; however, older adults’ uptake of eHealth remains low across societies. Social influences such as descriptive norms may be of critical importance in promoting the elderly’s usage of eHealth. Based on the Integrative Model of Behavioral Prediction, this study investigates how descriptive norms relate to eHealth use among the elderly in China and the United States. Analysis of the combined sample (N = 1,070) showed that descriptive norms were positively related to eHealth use. Also, descriptive norms were indirectly associated with eHealth use via injunctive norms, attitudes and self-efficacy. Moderated mediation analysis indicated that these direct and indirect relationships differed across the two countries. This study highlights the important role of descriptive norms in promoting older adults’ eHealth use behavior and addresses potential country differences in how the elderly respond to descriptive norms. Several important theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics statement

Survey respondents provided informed consent. The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Boards in authors’ institution.

Additional information

Funding

This study is supported by CFPR Faculty Development Grant [N-101-000-177-001].