Online health information seeking among women: the moderating role of health consciousness

The purpose of this paper is two fold: to test the moderating effect of health consciousness (HC) on the influence of attitude towards internet (AI) internet usage for health information seeking (IHI) behaviour; and examine whether HC moderates the influence of perceived health risk (PHR) on the internet usage for health information which is mediated by perceived usefulness of internet (PUI) and AI usage in an integrated model underpinned by health belief model and the technology acceptance model.

Data obtained for the current study were collected using convenience sampling and the sample consisted of women who not only have internet access but used the internet in their daily life. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) method was used to test the research hypotheses developed from a sample of 270 respondents.

Findings revealed that HC moderates the influence of AI use for health information seeking. In addition, the results also showed that the positive indirect effect of PHR on IHI through PUI and AI usage is significant for high level of HC but not for the medium and low levels of HC.

Major contribution of this study is in the testing of the moderating role of HC on the mediating effect of perceived usefulness of the internet and attitude on PHR and IHI.