Understanding barriers of telemedicine adoption: A study in North India

The study develops a theoretical framework that highlights facets of perceived risk and their relationship with behavioural intention. Previous literature highlights that the higher the risk perceived by doctors, the more prospects that they will not adopt telemedicine. Therefore, addressing these risks will help doctors to overcome their apprehensions about telemedicine. The data were collected through field as well as an online survey. An online survey link was shared with doctors of various hospitals in North India. The final sample consisted of 215 observations. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied to validate the hypothesized relationships among constructs. The results confirmed that social risk, time risk, technology risk and security risk had a negative impact on behavioural intention. Surprisingly, financial risk emerged as an insignificant construct. This study contributes to literature by presenting and validating a theory-driven framework that unveils the facets of perceived risk as barriers to telemedicine adoption.