¹Department of Management, College of Business and Behavioral Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, U.S.A.

Correspondence: Richard Klein, Department of Management, College of Business and Behavioral Sciences, Clemson University, 101 Sirrine Hall, Box 141305, Clemson, South Carolina 29634-1305, U.S.A. E-mail: rklein@CLEMSON.EDU

Received 28 February 2007; Revised 15 July 2007; Re-revised 3 September 2007; Accepted 27 September 2007.

Abstract

Healthcare providers have recently begun deploying Internet-based patient–physician portals. These applications allow patients to both communicate with their providers and access personal medical information, such as laboratory results. Research within medical informatics explores, and debates, the utility of such functions from the patient and physician perspectives. However, work does not examine factors influencing patient use, assuming that once built and deployed patients will come. Hence, the current research empirically investigates patient behavioral intentions (BI) with respect to (a) use of electronic communications functions and (b) accessing of individual medical information through an Internet-based patient–physician portal. Surveying 294 patients, this work incorporates individual factors, namely computer self-efficacy and personal innovativeness in the domain of information technology, with technology-based factors identified in the Technology Acceptance Model. The analysis finds that usefulness and innovativeness have a positive direct effect on BI with respect to both functions, namely communications and information access. Additionally, patients with greater healthcare needs foresee increased use of portals to access their personal medical information. Finally, patients in primary care, as opposed to specialist, provider settings intend to engage in electronic communications.