Predicting virtual care continuance intention in the post-COVID world: Empirical evidence from an emerging economy

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an unexpected rise in the use of virtual care, with four crores of new users joining the virtual care services. Retaining these new users would pave the way for the widespread usage of virtual care, which would undoubtedly boost the healthcare industry, especially in an emerging economy like India, which has a population of 1.39 billion people. This paper attempts to determine what factors influence virtual care continuation intention in the post-COVID world among individuals who began utilizing virtual care during COVID-19. The study employed the theoretical scaffoldings of the theory of planned behavior to fulfill the motive. This cross-sectional study is based on a survey conducted among 321 Indians who have commenced using virtual care services amidst COVID-19. The outcomes of a two-staged Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modeling revealed that perceived benefits, attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control substantially impact virtual care continuance intention. The study has managerial implications for healthcare marketers that help manipulate virtual care continuance intention in the post-pandemic world.

KEYWORDS:

• Virtual care
• COVID-19
• Perceived benefits
• Continuance intention
• TPB

Disclosure statement

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

Ethical issues

The manuscript is compliant with ethics guidelines.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF), Granted by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India (No. F. 82-27/2019 (SA-III).

Notes on contributors

Muhammed Sajid

Muhammed Sajid is a research scholar at the School of Management Studies, CUSAT in Cochin, India. He is an MBA graduate from the University of Kerala. Formal education includes a Bachelor of Commerce and a PG diploma in marketing management. His research interests include Sustainable Marketing and Healthcare Marketing.

K.A. Zakkariya

K. A. Zakkariya is a Professor in Human Resource Management, and Marketing at the School of Management Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology, India and is also the Director of DDU Kaushal Kendra, the Centre for Vocational Education in the University. He has been a member of various academic and administrative bodies of different universities in the country and was the former Director of Aligarh University Centre, Malappuram, India. He has 25 years of teaching and research experience and has more than 90 research publications in journals and books of national and international repute and is a reviewer to many journals, including the International Journal of Educational Management and Society and Business Review.

Meera Peethambaran

Meera Peethambaran is a doctoral scholar at the Department of Management, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani). She is an M.Phil from the Institute of Management in Kerala (IMK), University of Kerala. Her areas of interest include Healthcare Marketing, Positive Psychology, Employee Emotions and Leadership.