An Empirical Study of Health Consumer Beliefs, Attitude and Intentions toward the Use of Self-Service Kiosks

There is increasing interest in reaching and empowering patients and health consumers directly through information technology (IT). However, consumer readiness for an increasingly IT-enabled healthcare system has been questioned and there remains a need for more theory driven research into IT adoption by health consumers. This study has contributed by examining the influence of selected individual difference variables on health consumer beliefs, attitudes and intentions toward the use of self-service kiosks in healthcare. A survey of 192 patients in two private healthcare clinics operating in urban centers in South Africa was carried out. Results show that four individual difference variables, namely computer anxiety, self-efficacy, need for interaction, and trust are significant predictors of patient beliefs and attitude. Expected ease-of-use was found the strongest predictor of adoption intentions.