Search results

m-health services for different age groups are becoming an emerging field in the health-care industry, especially in low-resource environments such as developing countries such as Bangladesh. Hence, this study’s primary aim is to identify the factors that influence the middle-aged and elderly’s intention to use m-health services.

This study applied the extended version of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology to explore middle-aged and elderly’s intention to use m-health services. There were 235 respondents, of which 123 (52.34%) were in the middle-aged group, whereas 112 (47.66%) were in the older group. Both groups were found to have more male participants than female participants. The partial least square (PLS) method was used to analyze data.

The study found that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating condition, technological anxiety and resistance to change (p < 0.05) had a significant influence on middle-aged intention to use m-health services. Social influence and perceived physical condition (p > 0.05) had no significant effect on middle-aged intention to use m-health services. On the other hand, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating condition and resistance to change (p <* 0.05) significantly influenced the elderly’s intention to use m-health services. However, the social impact of perceived physical condition and technological anxiety (p > 0.05) had no significant effect on the elderly’s intention to use m-health services.

A good number of studies are available in the current literature, examining the factors adoption of m-health services in both developed and developing economy context. However, very few studies examine the factors that influence behavioral intention to use m-health services concerning the two different age groups, such as middle-aged and elderly. Moreover, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is a shortage of literature on this topic built on the comparative analysis between the two age groups.

The purpose of this study is to introduce new tools to develop a more precise and focused bibliometric analysis on the field of digitalization in healthcare management. Furthermore, this study aims to provide an overview of the existing resources in healthcare management and education and other developing interdisciplinary fields.

This work uses bibliometric analysis to conduct a comprehensive review to map the use of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 (UTAUT2) research models in healthcare academic studies. Bibliometric studies are considered an important tool to evaluate research studies and to gain a comprehensive view of the state of the art.

Although UTAUT dates to 2003, our bibliometric analysis reveals that only since 2016 has the model, together with UTAUT2 (2012), had relevant application in the literature. Nonetheless, studies have shown that UTAUT and UTAUT2 are particularly suitable for understanding the reasons that underlie the adoption and non-adoption choices of eHealth services. Further, this study highlights the lack of a multidisciplinary approach in the implementation of eHealth services. Equally significant is the fact that many studies have focused on the acceptance and the adoption of eHealth services by end users, whereas very few have focused on the level of acceptance of healthcare professionals.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to conduct a bibliometric analysis of technology acceptance and adoption by using advanced tools that were conceived specifically for this purpose. In addition, the examination was not limited to a certain era and aimed to give a worldwide overview of eHealth service acceptance and adoption.