Overcoming privacy concerns in consumers’ use of health information technologies: A justice framework

Health information technology (HIT) facilitates valuable information exchanges that benefit consumers, firms, and society. However, several factors threaten HIT use, including privacy concerns, ignorance of technological and legal privacy protections, and awareness of data vulnerabilities. Drawing upon justice theory, this paper conceptualizes and examines the critical role that fairness plays in consumers’ decision to use HIT. Structural equation models test hypotheses on how privacy concern and privacy knowledge related to technology, HIPAA, and data breaches affect trust and intention to use HIT and the role that perceived justice has in mediating these relationships. The findings show that perceived justice fully mediates the negative effect of privacy concern and partially mediates the positive effects of knowledge of technology and knowledge of HIPAA on trust and intention to use HIT. The authors provide suggestions on how to increases perceptions of fairness when promoting the use of HIT.