CONSUMERS\u27 PERCEPTIONS OF A VIRTUAL HEALTH CHECK: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

After years of the development of information systems (IS) designed primarily for healthcare managers and professionals, there is an increasing interest in reaching consumers and patients directly through consumer health information technology (IT). Consumer-centric health information systems enable individuals to manage their health better and maintain a healthier lifestyle. However, the foremost challenge in developing systems for health behavior change is that there is modest knowledge of how individuals interact with these systems and how they process and act on information. In addition, technologies cannot have the capacity to help facilitate self-monitoring and self-management or improve consumers\u27 health outcomes if the consumers do not adopt them. The objective of this study is to investigate consumers? perceptions of a virtual health check. Specifically, we propose and test factors affecting perceived persuasiveness of the system and whether perceived persuasiveness predicts intention to adopt virtual health coaching. A theoretically driven research model is constructed, and a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, namely partial least squares (PLS), is used to test the model against the data gathered from 130 subjects. The results of the study lend support to the proposed model. Studying the adoption, use, and impact of innovative consumer health IT is worthwhile, as it will guide future implementations

Case: Elämä Pelissä – The Internationalization of a Finnish Format

The aim of this thesis is to conduct a mixed-method survey consisting of a qualitative and a quantitative part to analyze television formats as products and to find out whether formats favor a product strategy of adaptation or standardization as a mode for internationalization. In addition to these goals the aim is to analyze why Finnish formats succeed poorly in international markets and based on these findings, attempt to find out what strategy would fit the emerging television format Project Life the best. The theoretical part starts with an overview of products and how formats can be seen viewed as products and follows up to the theory behind the product strategies of adaptation and standardization, the strategies are illustrated as three different cases. The empirical part of the study consisted of a survey sent to international television format industry professionals and the interview of two Finnish top executives of the industry. The results show that for formats choosing the strategy is extremely case-sensitive and requires a deep understanding of what is being internationalized. Finnish formats don’t in most cases think of international success during the production and don’t hold it in high regard.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

USING HERMENEUTICS TO UNCOVER ANOMALIES FOR NON-ADOPTION OF BEHAVIOR CHANGE SUPPORT SYSTEMS

Technologies cannot help improve personal health if individuals do not use them. Information systems discipline has a strong heritage of technology adoption research. This case study introduces a behavior change support system (BCSS) aimed at improving health and well-being. Hermeneutics is used as a methodological approach to analyze open-ended responses from participants who had had an electronic health check but did not activate the following electronic health coaching. The data consist of textual feedback from a total of 2543 respondents. This article investigates the anomalies related to consumers’ non-adoption of a BCSS. The research question addressed in this study is: What can anomalies reveal about BCSS acceptance? According to our findings, a positive attitude toward the system does not automatically increase acceptance. Usefulness of the electronic health system can be seen from a self-development perspective rather than from instrumental value. Credibility of the system, usability, and technical issues are also important for BCSS acceptance. This study brings new insights to the research fields of technological acceptance and persuasive technology; additionally, it provides a valuable example of a hermeneutics methodology and how new knowledge can be retrieved studying anomalies