Encouraging patients to use healthcare services through social sharing platforms - the case of clinics in Vietnam's Mekong Delta provinces

Despite social sharing platforms (SSPs) conveniently providing users with abundant information about healthcare issues, their role in formation of patients' intentions to use healthcare services remains unexplored. This study combines protection motivation theory (PMT), the health belief model (HBM), and the involvement perspective to investigate what factors influence patients' intention to use healthcare services. We analysed data from 552 patients of large clinics in Vietnam's Mekong Delta region using a structural equation model. The research contributes to the healthcare and social platform literature by: 1) proposing and validating a combined model of PMT and HBM to predict patients' use of healthcare services; 2) unveiling that, except response efficacy, perceived resilience, perceived severity, protection motivation, price reasonableness, and problem-focused copings significantly affect patients' involvement, and then their intention to use healthcare services. We make practical recommendations to help managers retain and attract patients through the effective use of SSPs.