Using Utaut2 Model For Explaining Telemedicine Adoption, Evidence From Iran

ABSTRACT

Background and aims: With the epidemic of the COVID-19 virus and the increasing development of information and communication technology, an opportunity has emerged for medical and therapeutic service providers to develop telemedicine services. In the current research, the authors tried to explain people's turn to this technology by expanding the Unified Theory of Use and Acceptance of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) and adding the features of telemedicine services. Methods: The current research is applied from the point of view of the objective, and in terms of data collection, it is considered to be descriptive research, which is carried out by the correlation-causal method. The data collection tool is a standard questionnaire with a Likert scale, distributed by available sampling among the population with a history of using telemedicine services in Ahvaz city. Finally, 407 usable questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS and Smart PLS. Results: The results show that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, perceived product advantage, and perceived security have a significant and positive effect on the intention to use telemedicine. Moreover, the moderating role of innovativeness and gender was confirmed. Conclusion: UTAUT2 and some characteristics of telemedicine services can well explain the intention to use this technology in the context of COVID -19. In addition, considering the moderating role of personal innovation and gender in some relationships between the model and product features confirmed, it is necessary to pay attention to the individual characteristics of people using these technological services in the design of telemedicine services. © 2022 Iran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.