Abstract
BackgroundThe last decade has witnessed many achievements in China’s health care industry, but the industry still faces major challenges among which the uneven distribution of medical resources and the imbalance between supply and demand are the most pressing problems. Although mobile health (mHealth) services play a significant role in mitigating problems associated with health care delivery, their adoption rates have been low.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to explore the impact of resource scarcity and resource accessibility on the adoption of mHealth from the perspective of resource competition, to examine the concerning factors, and to provide a theoretical basis for promoting mHealth in China.MethodsWe used 229,516 original registration records of outpatients to conduct an empirical analysis to examine the adoption of mHealth services from the perspective of resource competition.ResultsThe adoption rate of mobile services for outpatients was low, accounting for only 31.5% (N=71,707). The empirical results indicated that resource scarcity (beta=.435, P=.01) and accessibility (beta=−.134, P=.02) have a significant impact on the adoption of mHealth. In addition, gender (beta=.073, P=.01) and age (beta=−.009, P<.001) are significantly related to adoption of mHealth. Experience with mHealth has a moderating role in the relationship between resource scarcity (beta=−.129, P=.02), accessibility (beta=.138, P=.04), and adoption of mHealth.ConclusionsIn this study we demonstrate that the external environment (resource scarcity and resource accessibility) has a significant impact on the adoption of mHealth. This study also demonstrates that experience with mHealth has a moderating role in the relationship between the elements of the external environment. Finally, we confirm that mHealth is a key factor in the delivery and allocation of medical resources and provide a theoretical basis for government agencies to develop policies on mHealth.
Highlights
BackgroundIn recent years, China’s health care industry has made a series of significant improvements, but it still faces many challenges, including uneven distribution of medical resources, imbalance between supply and demand, etc [1,2]
This paper aims to explore the impact of resource scarcity and resource accessibility on the adoption of mobile health (mHealth) from the perspective of resource competition, to examine the factors involved, and to provide a theoretical basis for promoting mHealth in China
These results show that multiple collinearity is not a significant problem in our research, which guarantees the accuracy of the model estimation
Summary
BackgroundIn recent years, China’s health care industry has made a series of significant improvements, but it still faces many challenges, including uneven distribution of medical resources, imbalance between supply and demand, etc [1,2]. China ranks among the countries with the highest number of smartphones per capita [5] With this proliferation of mobile technology, mobile health (mHealth) has become the main driving force in the health care industry. MHealth can be defined as the delivery of health care services through mobile technologies, which mainly comprise online consultations, appointment registration, and health recommendations [6] Among these apps, appointment registration services, a fundamental and vital channel through which patients seek medical resources, have gained widespread acceptance in China. Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the impact of resource scarcity and resource accessibility on the adoption of mHealth from the perspective of resource competition, to examine the concerning factors, and to provide a theoretical basis for promoting mHealth in China. We confirm that mHealth is a key factor in the delivery and allocation of medical resources and provide a theoretical basis for government agencies to develop policies on mHealth
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
