Consumer Perceptions of the Adoption of Electronic Personal Health Records: An Empirical Investigation

This study reports on an empirical investigation of consumer perceptions on the adoption of electronic Personal Health Record (PHR) systems. Encouraging people to monitor their own health and to record data in online PHRs is one approach which can help to improve the provision of care, while saving costs. A cross-sectional survey conducted among Canadian consumers revealed that perceptions of usefulness and personal information technology innovativeness are the main factors that encourage people to use electronic PHRs, while information-seeking factors are comparatively less important. Overall, the study opens the door for further investigations of potential user views on PHRs in an effort to understand the factors that would maximize the success of this new artifact in the highly sensitive social area of healthcare.