The influencing chain of physician rating website usage: a cross-sect...

The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) was developed a decade ago and has been used in a wide range of domains. Physician rating websites (PRWs) revealing satisfaction assessments in form of qualitative reviews and quantitative ratings on physicians have grown steadily within the same time period. However, there is a lack of research linking both, and investigating the influencing chain of physician rating website usage by adopting and extending the UTAUT2. Thus, the authors propose a conceptual model explaining intention to use PRWs and report on an empirical study with 518 respondents drawn from a crowdsourcing panel by using an online survey. The results derived from SEM emphasise the importance of credibility, habit, social influence and hedonic motivation as antecedents of intention to use PRWs by confirming a mediating effect of credibility and performance expectancy in the influencing chain. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.