General Causality Orientations and the Adoption of Integrated Personal Health Records Systems: A Latent Class Analysis with Distal Outcomes

Integrated Personal Health Record (PHR) systems could potentially transform healthcare delivery and management by providing consumers with access to and control over their health information. Despite numerous suggested benefits in utilizing PHR systems, research shows that these systems are not widely adopted by consumers. For the full benefits of PHR systems to be realized, consumers need to accept a more active role in managing their own health. This study leverages Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to gain a better understanding of the PHR adoption behavior of individuals with different characteristics. Using latent class analysis with distal outcomes technique, a sample of 150 individuals was classified based on the three causality orientations of autonomy, control, and impersonal from SDT. Consequently, the influence of the extracted latent class variable on PHR system adoption was investigated. Results suggest five different classes across which perceptions of usefulness and complexity of PHR systems significantly differ.