Quality of online communication tools at hospitals and their effects on health service consumers’ preferences

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the quality of online services at hospitals and their effects on consumers’ preferences. In the first stage, a survey was administered to 442 individuals living in İstanbul, Turkey. In the second stage, based on 442 health consumers’ priorities regarding online health services at hospitals, a checklist, including four dimensions (i.e. Ease of Use, Credentials of the Institution, External Activities and Technical Features) and 39 items was created. The findings indicated that, among the top 100 private hospitals in İstanbul, 25% received an excellent rating, while 45% and 35% were ranked as good and fair, respectively. In addition, the frequency of Internet usage was positively correlated with education (r = 0.121, p < 0.05), while the participants that visited the hospitals’ webpages were more affected by their organization (r = 0.100, p < 0.05) and design (r = 0.278, p < 0.01). Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between the users’ hospital ratings and the evaluated scores of the hospitals (r = 0.467, p < 0.01). The implication of these findings is that online services offered by hospitals can have a significant influence on health consumers’ hospital preferences.