Does “hospital loyalty” matter? Factors related to the intention of using a mobile app

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the association between hospital loyalty, perceived usefulness of a mobile app, perceived ease of use of that mobile app, and satisfaction with the app’s use as well as predicting patients’ intended use of the app. Patients and methods: Purposive sampling was adopted in a cross-sectional survey. The participants were outpatients at the traditional Chinese medicine departments of three hospitals in northern Taiwan (n=125). The self-report questionnaire comprised information about sociodemographics and scales related to hospital loyalty, perceived usefulness of the mobile app, its perceived ease of use, satisfaction with its use, and its usage intention. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results: The four factors explained 70% variance in usage intention. The perceived usefulness of the mobile app directly and indirectly affects their usage intention, but its perceived ease of use had only indirect effects on the usage intention. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use influence the usage intention through satisfaction. The women’s hospital loyalty does not directly affect the usage intention of the mobile app, but indirectly affects it through perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the mobile app. Conclusion: Intended use of the app by women is mainly related to their experience of which is usefulness, ease of use and satisfaction of service are the most important factors contributing to continuous use. Hospital loyalty does not directly affect intention to use as expected. The influence of loyalty must be related to the patients’ perception of the product, in terms of usefulness, ease to use, and satisfaction. The finding is helpful to understand patients’ preference and support their behavioral adherence.