The findings of the present study contribute to the development of strategies and policies to enhance e-Health services in Bangladesh. Furthermore, as a result of the generic approach used in this study, the acceptance model developed can be easily modified to investigate the adoption of e-Health in other developing countries.
Consideration of e-health record systems in Australia started in 2000. Based on the effort to develop stand-alone and state-wide systems, the national Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record system was released on July 1, 2012. However this system has been widely criticised, although stakeholders are in favour of a national system. To overcome the challenges to the system and achieve its benefits, recommendations are provided for improving system effectiveness and usability, and adopting applicable government policies.
Access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has become increasingly important for economic, social and political aspects of any countries. However, the "digital divide" between urban and rural areas has introduced a significant gap in equally accessing information, mass communication and ICT, especially in developing countries like Bangladesh. This inequitable access has strong implication on productivity and economic growth of a country. Government of Bangladesh has introduced various ICT interventions to its rural and regional areas aiming at bridging the information access gap. Union Information and Service Centre (UISC) is one of those initiatives to bring opportunity for rural underprivileged communities to better access to ICT and information. However, no studies have been conducted to investigate UISC's potentiality to offering access to ICT and information. The aim of this study was to investigate potential effect of UISC in the development of various socio-economic sectors in the vicinity of countryside of Bangladesh from actual beneficiary perspective. This study found that UISCs have opened a new window of opportunity for rural citizens in Bangladesh. It has the potential to empower rural communities to access information in various fields including agriculture, education, healthcare, and law. This study also found that most participants held positive view about the effectiveness and usability of various services available through the UISCs.
Purpose
Despite the widespread use of mobile government (m-government) services in developed countries, the adoption and acceptance of m-government services among citizens in developing countries is relatively low. The purpose of this study is to explore the most critical determinants of acceptance and use of m-government services in a developing country context.
Design/methodology/approach
The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) extended with perceived mobility and mobile communication services (MCS) was used as the theoretical framework. Data was collected from 216 m-government users across Bangladesh and analyzed in two stages. First, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to identify significant determinants affecting users' acceptance of m-government services. In the second stage, a neural network model was used to validate SEM results and determine the relative importance of the determinants of acceptance of m-government services.
Findings
The results show that facilitating conditions and performance expectancy are the two important precedents of behavioral intention to use m-government services, and performance expectancy mediates the relationship between MCS, mobility and the intention to use m-government services.
Research limitations/implications
Academically, this study extended and validated the underlying concept of UTAUT to capture the adoption behavior of individuals in a different cultural context. In particular, MCS might be the most critical antecedent towards mobile application studies. From a practical perspective, this study may provide valuable guidelines to government policymakers and system developers towards the development and effective implementation of m-government systems.
Originality/value
This study has contributed to the existing, but limited, literature on m-government service adoption in the context of a developing country. The predictive modeling approach is an innovative approach in the field of technology adoption.
In 2005, Chinese government defined its direction to electronic health records and electronic medical records. Up to 2012, hundreds of electronic health record systems and electronic medical systems have been developed, but the systems are still in their infancy, and China is facing a variety of challenges in implementation of the systems. To overcome the challenges and achieve system benefits, recommendations are provided for implementing a national electronic health system.
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