Do Habit and Privacy Matter in a Post Pandemic-Era? Mobile Apps Acceptance of the Private Healthcare Sector in Portugal

During the pandemic, services in general have been carried out through digital channels whenever possible. Healthcare services were no exception, all the services that could be digitalized have taken place through digital means. One of the most common forms of digitalization used by healthcare organizations is the use of mobile apps, which allow users to carry out healthcare tasks remotely, access medical information, or even contact tracing with COVID-19 infected people. After the pandemic period, in which people have developed a stronger habit of using applications for health purposes, it is important to understand whether this is a driver of the acceptance of this technology. Currently, this is also a context in which privacy concerns are barriers to the utilization of technologies that involve the sharing of health-related data, so it becomes relevant to understand whether this could be an inhibitor to the acceptance of this technology. This study aims to identify the antecedents of users’ acceptance of mobile applications to access private healthcare services in Portugal in a post-pandemic context. To accomplish this purpose, this study collects data through a survey and analyses these data using Structural Equation Modelling. The sample is composed of 401 individuals who live in Portugal and who use mobile apps to access private healthcare services. The results evidence perceived usefulness and habit as antecedents of intention to use mobile applications to use healthcare services and this intention is an antecedent of the real use of these applications.