Privacy Concerns and Continued Use Intention of Telemedicine During COVID-19

Introduction: Privacy concerns are a major barrier to online technology adoption. However, when consumers are facing personal risks (being ill) and environmental risks (pandemic), the effect of privacy concerns on continued use intention of telemedicine is unknown. The large user pool of virtual visits during COVID-19 provides a great opportunity to understand consumers' privacy concerns when facing personal and environmental risks. Objective: This research investigates how patients weigh personal risks (e.g., illness) and environmental risks (e.g., pandemic) against privacy concerns when deciding whether to utilize telemedicine as an option for being treated for an acute illness. Methods: Respondents (1,059 qualified) meeting the following criteria: ≥18 years old, U.S. residents, virtual patient for acute conditions during COVID-19, and a Human Intelligence Task approval rate of >95%, were recruited utilizing Amazon Mechanical Turk during the middle of the pandemic. An online survey was conducted to collect data. Results: Analysis indicates that first-time telepatients (82% of respondents) have greater privacy concerns than repeat users. Findings also indicate that patients who are female and have some college education or less reported greater privacy concerns. Interestingly, privacy concerns are positively related to continued use intention. This result holds when satisfaction and user characteristics are controlled. Conclusions: When consumers are ill, privacy concerns still play an important role in telemedicine adoption. However, under environmental risks such as the COVID-19 pandemic, privacy concerns do not negatively impact their continued use intention, and satisfaction is positively associated with continued use intention.