A MODIFIED UNIFIED THEORY OF ACCEPTANCE AND USE OF TECHNOLOGY (UTAUT) MODEL FOR E-HEALTH SERVICES

摘要

E-health is a technological tool with the capability of mitigating the myriads of challenges facing thehealthcare sector in Nigeria if properly accepted, adopted and deployed. The evaluation of technologicaltools is usually carried out using a Technology Acceptance Model to improve the usage of these tools. One ofsuch, is the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. However, the differenteconomic, social and political environments underscore the need to modify these models to account for thepeculiarities of the environment of study. In this study, a modified UTAUT model is developed forevaluating the use and acceptance of E-health services in Lagos, Nigeria. The study develops a modifiedUTAUT model from factors identified in a focus group discussion and existing literature. The developedmodel was validated using data describing E-health services usage that was collected using a questionnairefrom ten healthcare facilities in Lagos State. 210 responses were received from users of E-health services inthe ten healthcare facilities. The questionnaire measured ten identified factors influencing E-health servicesusage and acceptance. The results of regression analysis revealed that the Social Influence variable had an Rsquared value of 0.729. The corresponding values for facilitating condition, Anxiety, Policy, EffortExpectancy, Awareness, Attitude, Self-Efficacy, ICT Infrastructure and Performance Expectancy are 0.550,0.544, 0.534, 0.494, 0.489, 0.486, 0.449, 0.359 and 0.343 respectively. The result suggests that the strongestimpact factor in E-health technology adoption in Nigeria is social influence which meant that most userswould use the system if encouraged by their colleagues or superiors.