Title: Doctors' attitudes toward social media use amid the COVID-19 pandemic using an extended technology acceptance model

Authors: Alexios-Serafeim Nterekas; Christos D. Melas; Vassilis S. Moustakis

Addresses: Management Systems Laboratory, School of Production Engineering and Management, Technical University of Crete, Chania 73100, Greece ' Nursing Department, School of Health Sciences, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Crete, Greece; School of Social Sciences, Hellenic Open University, Greece ' Management Systems Laboratory, School of Production Engineering and Management, Technical University of Crete, Chania 73100, Greece; Tutor, School of Social Sciences, Hellenic Open University, Greece

Abstract: Social media have revolutionised communication, exchange of information, interaction, and collaboration. Research reported herein focuses on doctors' attitudes (ATT) towards the actual use (AU) of the social media Facebook and Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic. The conceptual framework was driven by the technology acceptance model (TAM) and involves five factors: ATT, behavioural intention (BI), perceived ease of use (PEoU), perceived usefulness (PU), and AU. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used on a random sample of 328 doctors from Greek public hospitals. For Facebook, the ATT towards AU of social networks through the mediating factors PU, PEoU, and BI. For Twitter, the ATT towards AU of the social networks. Doctors reported using social networks during the pandemic to read research outputs uploaded by other medical colleagues and researchers. Results demonstrate that despite reliability issues, social networks may significantly contribute to the dissemination of medical knowledge and communication between health professionals.

Keywords: public hospitals; social networks; technology acceptance model; COVID-19; structural equation modelling; exploratory factor analysis; health professionals; health sector; correlations; differences; attitudes.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDSRM.2023.142149

International Journal of Decision Sciences, Risk and Management, 2023 Vol.11 No.1/2/3/4, pp.43 - 66

Received: 02 Sep 2023
Accepted: 07 Feb 2024
Published online: 10 Oct 2024 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article