Motivational Impacts on Intent to Use Health-Related Social Media

Abstract

Today, the healthcare industry is challenged with promoting health and disease prevention through various customer outreach initiatives. Social media tools enable customers to aquire health information without the need to visit their doctor. Yet, healthcare providers do not understand what motivates customers to use such technology for health-related purposes. In this study, an online survey was conducted with 4,058 participants. Using SEM techniques, the results indicate that previous experience with online health-related searches serves as a direct and indirect motivational driver. While the direct relationship between prior experience with online health-related searches can be mostly posi..