Consumer Awareness and Use of Mobile Health Services in India: An Urban - Rural Comparison Study

Mobile health (mHealth) are touted to have huge potential to broaden access, at low cost, to quality healthcare. We examine how awareness and use of mHealth develops among consumers in urban and rural India through a combination of individual traits related to mobile services and individual health characteristics. We conducted a survey in several parts of urban and rural India to develop a diversified sample that approximates the 2011 Indian Census. We find consumers’ appraisals of mobile serviceenabled empowerment, affects mHealth awareness/use through innovativeness toward mobile services. We also find that this mediation mechanism is stronger (1) for rural consumers who perceive themselves less vulnerable to chronic diseases and (2) for urban consumers who exhibit a higher regularity of preventive monitoring. Our study has implications on how mHealth awareness and use can be developed among consumers in urban and rural areas and in developing country contexts.

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