Purpose

This study aims to explore the different dimensions of e-healthcare ethics and their relationships, influencing the ethical concerns of the consumer in making ethical e-healthcare choices.

Design/methodology/approach

A study was conducted at two identified major hospitals of Punjab (a private hospital) and Chandigarh (a public hospital), India providing e-healthcare services with the help of a self-administered questionnaire. The respondents were identified from the waiting areas of the selected hospitals, and only those respondents were selected for the study, who agreed to be aware of e-health services and were using them for some time. The statistical analysis was done using the structural equation modeling technique and included both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis using SPSS 20 and AMOS 21.

Findings

Exploratory factor analysis extracted five dimensions of ethical concerns of the consumer, which include service promotion, content quality, candor, professionalism and confidentiality. The results signify that content quality plays a significant role in ethics, followed by candor, service promotion and confidentiality. However, the relationship with professionalism did not prove to be significant for the ethical concerns of the e-health consumer.

Practical implications

This research delivers a practical significance in identifying the critical dimensions of the ethical concerns of the consumer while selecting e-health services. It gives an insight into the various dimensions, which should be considered by the e-health providers while crafting e-health services to make it more ethically acceptable by the consumers.

Originality/value

By using e-health services, consumers play an active role in their health-care decisions. The consumers need to consider ethics while choosing health-care services as an ethical judgment will also be the correct judgment. This study helps in the identification of the significant dimensions for the ethical concerns of the consumers.

中文翻译：

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电子医疗保健道德的多维维度及其与消费者道德关注的关系

目的

这项研究旨在探讨电子医疗保健道德的不同维度及其关系，从而影响消费者在做出道德电子医疗保健选择时的道德关注。

设计/方法/方法

在印度旁遮普邦（一家私立医院）和昌迪加尔（一家公立医院）两家已确定的主要医院进行了一项研究，这些医院在自我管理的调查表的帮助下提供了电子医疗服务。从选定医院的等候区中识别出了受访者，并且仅选择了那些参与研究的受访者，他们同意了解电子医疗服务并使用了一段时间。使用结构方程建模技术进行统计分析，包括使用SPSS 20和AMOS 21进行探索性和确认性因素分析。

发现

探索性因素分析提取了消费者道德关注的五个维度，包括服务推广，内容质量，坦诚，专业和保密。结果表明，内容质量在道德操守中起着重要作用，其次是坦率，服务促进和保密。但是，与专业精神的关系对于电子医疗保健消费者的道德问题并未证明是重要的。

实际影响

这项研究对确定消费者在选择电子医疗服务时所关注的道德问题的重要方面具有实际意义。它提供了对各个方面的洞察力，在设计电子保健服务以使其在道德上更受消费者接受的同时，电子保健提供商应考虑这些方面。

创意/价值

通过使用电子医疗服务，消费者在其医疗保健决策中发挥了积极作用。消费者在选择医疗保健服务时需要考虑道德，这是正确的判断。这项研究有助于确定消费者道德关注的重要方面。