AUTHOR=Pan Xue , Zhou Xuecheng , Yu Lei , Hou Lei 

TITLE=Switching from offline to online health consultation in the post-pandemic era: the role of perceived pandemic risk

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1121290

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2023.1121290

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Due to its effectiveness and various benefits, the use of online health consultation (OHC) has dramatically increased in recent years, especially since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, underlying mechanism whereby the pandemic impacted OHC usage is still unclear. Adopting a push-pull-mooring framework, the present paper reports that dissatisfaction with offline service (process inefficiency and consultation anxiety), the attractiveness of OHC (perceived benefits and perceived ease of use), and users’ behavioral inertia (switching cost and habit) jointly influence the intention to switching to OHC. The significant role of the perceived pandemic risk of going to medical facilities is particularly addressed. On the one hand, the perceived pandemic risk is found with an indirect impact on the switching intention by enlarging the dissatisfaction with offline service and the attractiveness of OHC. On the other hand, a high perceived pandemic risk induces more actual switching behavior and also amplifies the transition from switching intention to behavior. The study provides novel insights into the understanding of OHC usage in the post-pandemic era, and also informs medical facilities, OHC platforms, and policymakers on managing and balancing the online and offline healthcare provision.