Understanding quality factors of electronic health service in an emerging economy

Abstract

In the context of an emerging economy, this research investigates consumers’ experiences with electronic health service systems and their impact on satisfaction and future usage intention. It draws from a user engagement and a value co-creation perspective to examine complex transferring mechanisms and boundary conditions. Survey data from users of online health service systems were collected from an emerging market and subjected to regression analysis to test the hypotheses. Consumers’ experience-based attributions of the electronic system – system and information quality as well as content reliability – have a positive impact on intention to use, which are mediated by satisfaction. Interaction of the consumer with the system moderates the effects of both information system quality and information quality on satisfaction. The indirect effects of information and system quality on intention to use via satisfaction differ based on the consumer interaction. Also, effects of information quality and content reliability on intention to use are moderated by consumers’ perceptions of behavioral control. The study provides further evidence in the link between quality and satisfaction in the use of electronic health services systems in the context of an emerging market. The study focuses on explicating complex associations and focus on mediation and moderation effects only. This deepens our understanding of transferring mechanisms and boundary conditions, and provides more insights into the theory than just investigating the direct effects.

Keywords:

• Consumer engagement
• Health information
• Health service quality
• Value co-creation

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Md Al-Emran

Md Al-Emran is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at McNeese State University, Louisiana. He received his Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Additionally, he obtained his bachelor’s degree in Economics and two MBA degrees in Marketing. Emran authored several peer-reviewed journal articles and also presented at international conferences. His research interests include consumer behavior, retailing, customer satisfaction, emerging economy, cross-cultural marketing, and digital marketing.

Shahidul Islam

Shahidul Islam is an Associate Professor at Department of Marketing, Comilla University, Bangladesh. He earned his Ph.D. (Distinction) from the School of Business and Economics, Universiti of Brunei Darussalam, where he was awarded the highly competitive and prestigious UBD Graduate Research Scholarship. His area of research interests includes healthcare services, transformative service research, and value cocreation. He has published papers in refereed national and international journals including Journal of Consumer Marketing, Benchmarking: An International Journal, International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Journal of Islamic Marketing, Dhaka University Journal of Business Studies, The Journal of Rural Development, and South Asian Journal of Business Studies among others.

Ahasan Harun

Ahasan Harun is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He is a member of the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI), the Institute of Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), and the Decision Sciences Institute Southwest Region (SWDSI). He has authored several scholarly peer reviewed journal articles and presented research at international conferences. His current research interests include healthcare management and service recovery.