Web Presence in Managing Health Outcomes: A Country Level Analysis

This cross-national study examines the relative importance of contextual factors facilitating e-health development in a nation. Moreover, this study examines the relationship between web presence and health development. Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework and PEST factors of a firm are used as the guiding theoretical lens. Publicly available data from more than 50 countries are collected to examine the proposed model. Dependent variable, health outcomes are measured via Life Expectancy Rate (LER) at birth. As TOE contextual factors (1) ICT expenditure; (2) human capital; (3) institutions; and (4) macroeconomic stability are used. Results indicate that TOE contextual factors of a nation are important enablers of web presence and in turn lead to national health development. Post hoc analysis demonstrates that web presence partially mediated the association of ICT expenditure with health development and human capital with health development. Implications of the findings to theoretical discourse and practical application, and future directions are discussed in this paper.