A transactional model for online healthcare organization: using actor network theory

Abstract

Recently in switching the information between patients, staffs and hospitals, the Healthcare Web Portals (HWP) play a crucial role as a media tool to attain the challenging objectives of the quality of patient care and controlling operating costs. Looking wisely at literature shows that most prior researches have only focused on dimensions of e-service quality as the non-human actors. However, due to socio-political reasons, online HOs are positioned in a heterogeneous network, the social and technical or in other words human and nonhuman actors are equally important in the network. The main objective of this research is to propose a model for the online Healthcare Organizations (HO) with the view to make patients more attractive, trust and loyal to the online HO. Therefore, based on the extend review of literature, the initial research model adapted from the online shopping context and will extend to the online HO context. The initial research model is divided into three transaction stages such as pre-HO transaction, HO transaction and post-HO transaction stage. In addition, at each transaction stage human and non-human actors may influence patients’ satisfaction and as a result, make patients more attractive, trust and loyal to the online HO. In terms of human actors, at each transaction stage, friends and family members impact on patients’ satisfaction. In terms of non-human actors, dimensions of e-service quality influence patients’ satisfaction. For example, at pre-HO transaction stage (1) information, (2) usability and (3) efficiency, at HO transaction stage (1) security, (2) system availability, (3) fulfilment, (4) privacy and (5) reliability and at post-HO transaction stage (1) responsiveness, (2) empathy, (3) compensation and (4) contact impact on patients satisfaction and make patients more attract, trust and loyal to the online HO accordingly.