The past decade has seen the proliferation of health information portals; however, consumer acceptance of the portals has proven difficult and rate of use has been limited. This study developed a consumer acceptance model by integrating usability and social cognitive theories with the technology acceptance model to explain young Internet users' acceptance of health information portals. Participants (n = 201) completed a self-report questionnaire measuring model constructs after attending a usability testing with a typical health information portal. Results showed that the hypothesized model accounted for 56 percent of the variance in behavioral intention to use the portal and explained consumer acceptance well. Both subjective usability and application-specific self-efficacy served as significant antecedents in the model, while application-specific self-efficacy also moderated the effect of subjective usability on perceived ease of use. The findings can help practitioners with the design and implementation of health information portals and other health informatics applications in support of consumer acceptance.
Keywords: application-specific self-efficacy; health informatics; technology acceptance; usability.