A Moderated Mediation Model of Internet Use for Health Information

Abstract

Background: Using technology acceptance model (TAM), prior studies revealed that attitude towards Internet use for health information differently affected behavioral intention to use the Internet for health information. In other words, some results showed a smaller influence of attitude on Internet use for health information as compared to results of other researches. The level of health consciousness could explain the differences in the existing literature on magnitude of the influence of attitude towards Internet use for health information on the Internet use. The main objective of the study is to examine the moderating effect of health consciousness on the influence of attitude towards using the Internet for health-related information on Internet use for health information seeking in TAM framework. Furthermore, the study aims to test the mediating role of attitude towards Internet for health information in the effect of cognitive beliefs (i.e. perceived usefulness and perceived ease of Internet use) on Internet use for health information seeking. Data for the present study were collected using convenience sampling. The sample consisted of female Internet users living in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling method was used to test the research hypotheses based on the response from a total of 303 participants. The results of this study showed that when there is a high level of health consciousness (i) attitude partially mediates the influence of perceived usefulness on Internet use for health information and (ii) perceived ease of Internet use has an indirect effect on Internet use for health information through attitude towards using the Internet for health-related information.