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The significance of physician-user interaction has been widely acknowledged in offline and online healthcare consultation. However, limited attempts have been made to explore the influence of physician-user interaction on users' perceived service quality (PSQ) in the mobile context. Based on the literature on physician-user interaction and media synchronicity theory, this study proposes a theoretical model where the interactive factors common across the offline, online and mobile context, i.e. physicians' informational support and emotional support, the interactive factors unique in the mobile context, i.e. physicians' response speed and voice service, and the interaction between the two categories of interactive factors predict users' PSQ in mobile consultation.

This study collects consultation records between 25,225 users and 738 physicians from a leading Chinese mobile consultation application, and employs linear regression to verify the proposed theoretical model.

Physicians' informational, emotional support, response speed and voice service are found to have significant positive impacts on users' PSQ. Besides, physicians' response speed strengthens the positive impacts of physicians' informational and emotional support on users' PSQ, while physicians' voice service weakens the positive link between physicians' informational support on users' PSQ.

This study contributes to the antecedents for users' PSQ in mobile consultation by identifying unique interactive factors in the mobile context, and highlighting the individual and interaction effects of different physician-user interactive factors. Besides, this study employs novel methods, which leverages text classification and text pattern recognition to more accurately depict physicians' online behaviors based on objective communication records.

Seeking to leverage on benefits of personal mobile device use, medical schools and healthcare facilities are increasingly embracing the use of personal mobile devices for medical education and healthcare delivery through bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies. However, empirical research findings that could guide the development of BYOD policies are scarce. Available research is dominated by studies that were guided by technocentric approaches, hence seemingly overlooking the complexities of the interactions of actors in mobile device technologies implementation. The purpose of this study was to use the actor–network theory to explore the potential role of a BYOD policy at the University of Botswana’s Faculty of Medicine.

Purposive sampling was used to select the participants and interviews, focus group discussions, observations and document analysis were used to collect data. Data were collected from 27 participants and analysed using grounded theory techniques. Emerging themes were continually compared and contrasted with incoming data to create broad themes and sub-themes and to establish relationships or patterns from the data.

The results suggest that the potential roles for BYOD policy include promoting appropriate mobile device use, promoting equitable access to mobile devices and content, and integrating mobile devices into medical education, healthcare delivery and other institutional processes.

BYOD policy could be conceptualized and researched as a “script” that binds actors/actants into a “network” of constituents (with shared interests) such as medical schools and healthcare facilities, mobile devices, internet/WiFi, computers, software, computer systems, medical students, clinical teachers or doctors, nurses, information technology technicians, patients, curriculum, information sources or content, classrooms, computer labs and infections.

BYOD is a policy that seeks to represent the interests (presents as a solution to their problems) of the key stakeholders such as medical schools, healthcare facilities and mobile device users. BYOD is introduced in medical schools and healthcare facilities to promote equitable access to mobile devices and content, appropriate mobile device use and ensure distribution of liability between the mobile device users and the institution and address the implication of mobile device use in teaching and learning.

The BYOD policy is a comprehensive solution that transcends other institutional policies and regulations to fully integrate mobile devices in medical education and healthcare delivery.

The goal of this research is to analyse the obstacles to the implementation of mobile health (mHealth) in India and to gain an understanding of the contextual inter-relationships that exist amongst those obstacles.

Potential barriers and their interrelationships in their respective contexts have been uncovered. Using MICMAC analysis, the categorization of these barriers was done based on their degree of reliance and driving power (DP). Furthermore, an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) framework for the barriers to mHealth activities in India has been proposed.

The study explores a total of 15 factors that reduce the efficiency of mHealth adoption in India. The findings of the Matrix Cross-Reference Multiplication Applied to a Classification (MICMAC) investigation show that the economic situation of the government, concerns regarding the safety of intellectual technologies and privacy issues are the primary obstacles because of the significant driving power they have in mHealth applications.

Promoters of mHealth practices may be able to make better plans if they understand the social barriers and how they affect each other; this leads to easier adoption of these practices. The findings of this study might be helpful for governments of developing nations to produce standards relating to the deployment of mHealth; this will increase the efficiency with which it is adopted.

At this time, there is no comprehensive analysis of the factors that influence the adoption of mobile health care with social cognitive theory in developing nations like India. In addition, there is a lack of research in investigating how each of these elements affects the success of mHealth activities and how the others interact with them. Because developed nations learnt the value of mHealth practices during the recent pandemic, this study, by investigating the obstacles to the adoption of mHealth and their inter-relationships, makes an important addition to both theory and practice.

The implementation of mobile health (mHealth) in developing countries seems to be stuck in a pattern of successive pilot studies that struggle for mainstream implementation. This study addresses the research question: what existing health-related structures, properties and practices are presented by rural areas of developing countries that might inhibit the implementation of mHealth initiatives?

This study was conducted using a socio-material approach, based on an exploratory case study in West Africa. Interviews and participant observation were used to gather data. A thematic analysis identified important social and material agencies, practices and imbrications which may limit the effectiveness of mHealth apps in the region.

Findings show that, while urban healthcare is highly structured, best practice-led, rural healthcare relies on peer-based knowledge sharing, and community support. This has implications for the enacted materiality of mobile technologies. While urban actors see mHealth as a tool for automation and the enforcement of responsible healthcare best practice, rural actors see mHealth as a tool for greater interconnectivity and independent, decentralised care.

This study has two significant limitations. First, the study focussed on a region where technology-enabled guideline-driven treatment is the main mHealth concern. Second, consistent with the exploratory nature of this study, the qualitative methodology and the single-case design, the study makes no claim to statistical generalisability.

To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to adopt a socio-material view that considers existing structures and practices that may influence the widespread adoption and assimilation of a new mHealth app. This helps identify contextual challenges that are limiting the potential of mHealth to improve outcomes in rural areas of developing countries.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the quite extraordinary way the phenomena of mobile communication has gripped our society and the opportunities this provides for healthcare.

It describes the ticking public health time bomb surrounding long term conditions and dementia and the need to radically overhaul how community services are delivered. It dissects the opportunities and challenges of providing a mobile health and social care service in the community and explores what a mobile moment means for these professionals.

It stresses that the answer is NOT to simply provide an organisation’s IT back-office environment in the field and describes the concept of a dedicated organisation app platform tailored to meet this need.

The paper concludes by reviewing recent evidence about the benefits and opportunities for health and social care organisations to embrace mobile working.

The purpose of this paper is to identify motivational factors for using wearable healthcare devices and examine the process by which these factors are integrated with the technology acceptance model (TAM) and contribute to the adoption of the devices.

An online survey assessed the proposed motivational factors for the adoption of wearable healthcare devices. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were conducted on collected data (n=877) to demonstrate the reliability and validity of the measurement and structural model.

Perceived control and interactivity of wearable healthcare devices as well as users’ innovative tendencies are positively associated with usage intention, while perceived cost has no significant effects on user intention to use the devices. The results also supported the explanatory strength and predictability of TAM.

Although the promising role of wearable devices in healthcare industries has gained much consumer attention, limited empirical investigations have been conducted on explicating how user attitude and usage intention are shaped regarding the devices. This study serves as one of the first attempts to empirically examine the adoption process, with implications for the future usage of wearable technology in the healthcare context.

Innovation, information technology, e-marketing and sales, strategy and entrepreneurship.

The case is intended for use in advanced graduate and executive education level management and technical programs of study. The case is high inter-disciplinary appropriate for all courses dealing in use of innovation, information technology, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales and strategy.

Practo Technologies Pvt Ltd is a company established in 2008 by entrepreneurs Shashank, N.D. along with Abhinav Lal. At Practo Technologies engineers practice to create technology that supports healthcare industry. In India, there is not enough assistance given to the patients in terms of searching for appropriate doctors and fixing an appointment with them easily. The patient's data lie scattered in reports and the patient's medical history goes unrecorded. Practo provides a robust platform for doctors and patients to collaborate together under one umbrella. It provides patients with open basket of doctor profiles and special search based on doctor's specialty. The case showcases the journey of transformation healthcare sector in India has gone through. The change was resisted, it never came that easy! The case explores issues in implementing information technology for clinics and hospitals in India. This case illustrates interesting facts Indian healthcare and the preparation they need to equip with to manage global technology tide.

The case can be used for teaching service innovation. Managing innovative practices and low-cost online business models is illustrated. In particular, it deals with how the early start up employs innovation to set up new working ideas. The case is designed to stimulate discussions of broad array of issues regarding deployment of IT services specifically in the hospitals and clinics across India. Evaluate the advantages and liabilities of expanding globally at a very early start up stage. The case focuses on Practo early development with only concept in hand and transforming it into a profit generating business. Evaluate the advantages and challenges of innovation, technology development, deployment and training of manpower to use it. The case offers students opportunity to understand and take view of strategically building early start up and management of concerns with no prior experience. To identify business opportunities and explore various possibilities of expansion into IT healthcare business. The students are given base to explore sales and marketing strategies for online model. The students get overview of cutting edge business offerings and surviving the dynamic competition in the era of globalization.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

The technological advances in the Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0 era escalate the advancement of the healthcare industry, including the health tourism phenomenon. Based on the current trend in connected health care (e.g. mobile healthcare technology; digital health, etc.), this paper aims to propose that the distance between healthcare providers around the globe and its potential patients can be vastly reduced to almost on a real time basis.

A secondary literature review is conducted to identify the key development of IR 4.0 technologies in the healthcare industry and its possible trend leading the health tourism sector.

The adoption of IR 4.0 technologies is expected to make seeking treatments overseas more affordable, accessible and health records readily available on a real-time and secured basis. However, it is worth to note that the growth of health tourism raises the eyebrows of society from the security, social and economic perspectives.

This paper contributes to our understanding that the emergence of IR 4.0 technologies changes the landscape of the health care and health tourism industry. Continuous technology advancement is expected to further shape the future trend and escalate the commercialization aspect of the health tourism industry.

Using smart mobile devices, called mobile health (mHealth), facilitates providing health services, speeds up the process and reduces the costs and complications of direct services. Also, mHealth has many capabilities and applications in epidemic and pandemic outbreaks. This study aimed to systematically review the mHealth adoption researches in epidemic/pandemic outbreaks and provide some suggestions for future research for tackling for COVID-19.

The results produced in this study are based on the literature analysis of 36 articles on mHealth adoption. To find the relevant studies; searches were done in PubMed, Google, Web of Science and Scopus by related keywords during 2020–2022. After selecting the studies based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, data were collected by using PRIZMA methods for systematically reviewing the literature.

Of the 727 retrieved studies, 36 studies related to mHealth services during the pandemic situation were included. This has been performed by collecting data including demographic details, methodological details, limitations and significance of relationships between the constructs from the available articles based on the mHealth services. All studies emphasized the positive effect of mHealth for usage in epidemic/pandemic outbreaks.

The main applications of mHealth for epidemic/pandemic outbreaks included public health aspects, data management, educational programs, diagnosis as well as treatment. mHealth is an appropriate method for encountering epidemic/pandemic outbreaks due to its extensive applications. In the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, mHealth is one of the best choices to use in the patient-physician relationship as Tele-visits, using in fever coach, providing real-time information for healthcare providers, population monitoring and detecting the diseases based on data obtained from different locations. These findings will help the mHealth providers to design their services accordingly.

This study contributes to the researchers and academicians by providing relevant information regarding the mHealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first time initiative to explore the research questions and future research direction for the researchers during the COVID-19 outbreak. Based on this, we present a comprehensive and actionable research agenda and practical implications.