eHealth services are necessary to address health-care issues of accessibility and affordability, especially in a developing country like India. As the world progresses toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations, eHealth plays a crucial role in advancing health-care delivery, particularly concerning SDG3, which focuses on ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages. The usage of eHealth in India is at its nascent stage with its current level of adoption at the lower levels. Our understanding of the factors that influence consumer acceptance of eHealth, both in terms of intention to use and willingness to pay (WTP), is limited. Considering the importance of eHealth for providing quality health care to people in India and achieving SDG3, the purpose of this paper is to study the consumers’ acceptance of eHealth and the factors that inhibit its growth so that these factors can be taken into account by the stakeholders to promote eHealth among the population.
This study is based on primary data collected through structured questionnaire administered to 1,170 respondents in Delhi and its neighboring cities. Quota sampling technique was used so that the respondents in the sample have the required geographical spread and are demographically diverse. For data analysis and development of the conceptual model, Structural Equation Modeling technique was used.
This study develops a consumer acceptance model for eHealth services, wherein the key determinants for the acceptance both in terms of behavioral intention to use and WTP are perceived usefulness of eHealth services, extent of technology use of the individual, their information seeking needs and accessibility of the medical facilities for them. The perceived ease of use of eHealth platform influences the behavioral intention to use eHealth services but not their WTP for them.
Accessibility of medical facilities has a negative relationship with both the intention to use and WTP which means that people who are unable to access quality health care have shown higher interest in using eHealth services. In this study, technology use had a positive relationship with intention to use but a negative one with WTP. This means that people who are more technology savvy are more inclined to use eHealth services but are less likely to pay for these services.
To make eHealth services viable in a developing country like India, effort needs to be put toward promoting the benefits of using eHealth services. A critical aspect that emerged from the interaction with the respondents and the overall results of the study is that though respondents have shown a strong interest in using eHealth services but not enough WTP. Thus, at the initial stage, to create a market for eHealth services, it is suggested that the cost of the technology platform be continued to be borne by the health-care providers, and there is a need to create a revenue model for its financial viability. It will result in better health care for citizens and an increase in the market size of health-care services for health-care providers.
Accessibility of the existing medical facilities also affects the decision to use and pay for eHealth services. People who are unable to access quality health care for themselves and their family, find eHealth services more useful to meet their health-care needs and are, thus, willing to use and pay for these services. eHealth providers can identify and target remote areas where accessibility of health-care facilities is low as a prospective market for different eHealth services.
From a theoretical point of view, it is interesting to integrate the WTP of consumers in the adoption model. In the era of electronic markets, it becomes critical to understand and test the WTP of consumers toward such technology-driven services. For any product or service to be financially viable, it is important that it creates value for all stakeholders.
