Technology extra-role behavior (TERB) is critical for the success of online communities (OCs). Ho... more Technology extra-role behavior (TERB) is critical for the success of online communities (OCs). However, the factors that determine individual TERB vary in different contexts. In addition, less attention has been paid to smoking cessation online health communities (OHCs). This study aims to explore what motivates users' TERB in smoking cessation OHCs from a social support perspective. In this study social support (including informational, emotional, and esteem support) motivates individuals' knowledge contribution and recommendation behavior, which are studied as two different TERB in smoking cessation OHCs. We tested the research model by analyzing 173 valid answers of an online survey from two smoking cessation OHCs. The results show that emotional support positively affects knowledge contribution, and esteem support has a positive impact on recommendation. Informational support exerts influences on emotional and esteem support. The findings extend our understanding on the determinants of TERB in the context of smoking cessation OHCs, and offer practical implications for the administration of smoking cessation OHCs.
Journal of Medical Internet Research, Jan 18, 2023
Background: Intelligent physical robots based on artificial intelligence have been argued to brin... more Background: Intelligent physical robots based on artificial intelligence have been argued to bring about dramatic changes in health care services. Previous research has examined the use of intelligent physical robots in the health care context from different perspectives; however, an overview of the antecedents and consequences of intelligent physical robot use in health care is lacking in the literature. Objective: In this paper, we aimed to provide an overview of the antecedents and consequences of intelligent physical robot use in health care and to propose potential agendas for future research through a systematic literature review. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review on intelligent physical robots in the health care field following the guidelines of PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses). Literature searches were conducted in 5 databases (PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, Embase, and CINAHL) in May 2021, focusing on studies using intelligent physical robots for health care purposes. Subsequently, the quality of the included studies was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. We performed an exploratory content analysis and synthesized the findings extracted from the included articles. Results: A total of 94 research articles were included in the review. Intelligent physical robots, including mechanoid, humanoid, android, and animalistic robots, have been used in hospitals, nursing homes, mental health care centers, laboratories, and patients' homes by both end customers and health care professionals. The antecedents for intelligent physical robot use are categorized into individual-, organization-, and robot-related factors. Intelligent physical robot use in the health care context leads to both non-health-related consequences (emotional outcomes, attitude and evaluation outcomes, and behavioral outcomes) and consequences for (physical, mental, and social) health promotion for individual users. Accordingly, an integrative framework was proposed to obtain an overview of the antecedents and consequences of intelligent physical robot use in the health care context. Conclusions: This study contributes to the literature by summarizing current knowledge in the field of intelligent physical robot use in health care, by identifying the antecedents and the consequences of intelligent physical robot use, and by proposing potential future research agendas in the specific area based on the research findings in the literature and the identified knowledge gaps.
Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice, Oct 2, 2019
Background: Medicine waste in hospitals leads to severe economic loss. This waste emerges for a n... more Background: Medicine waste in hospitals leads to severe economic loss. This waste emerges for a number of reasons. Medicines are often ordered in too large quantities, which leads to stock expiring without being dispensed. Wastage can also be a consequence of poor management practices. Technical aids, such as automatic dispensers, have been suggested to reduce waste, but they too have shortcomings. Information systems can arguably contribute to waste reduction, but this area has not been widely researched. In this exploratory case study, we scrutinized the management of medicines waste in a hospital from an information systems perspective and examined how information systems are used to manage the medicine supply chain and medicine waste. Our research case was a Finnish university hospital, its central pharmacy, and, more widely, the medicine supply chain within the hospital. Methods: This is a qualitative case study, based on data gathered through interviews and a survey and a review of other information sources, including annual reports and other relevant collateral. The study participants included pharmacy staff members and other hospital staff involved in medicine supply. The interviews were conducted in two rounds, first capturing the main themes and then exploring them further in the later study stages. Results: The findings outline a picture of unfit technology and inconsistent and unreliable information. This is compensated for by manual practices and processes that cause an excessive administrative burden and ultimately increased wastage. An infrequent ordering process combined with the lack of recycling practices increase the wastage even more. Conclusion: Medicine supply and waste management remain a manual administrative task. Inconsistent information and unfit information systems make this task challenging, and the process relies on the medicine supply staff's experience and assumptions.
Users make contributions to online communities in different ways. Prior literature has rarely inv... more Users make contributions to online communities in different ways. Prior literature has rarely investigated how different user groups make contributions to smoking cessation OHCs. To illuminate the contribution of different user groups in smoking cessation OHCs, this study aims to evaluate user contribution from two dimensions (Content-contribution and popularity) associated with users' questioning and answering behaviors. Based on the user log data collected from a smoking cessation OHC in Finland (Stumppi.fi), we plan to assess user contribution level for four different user groups (lurker, conversation-starter, conversation-replier, and Conversation-starter & replier) based on user activity data via applying entropy method. The research might make theoretical contributions to the literature on user contribution and offer practical implications to smoking cessation OHC service providers.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 2016
This study proposed a research model to explore the WOM behaviour of e-service users based on the... more This study proposed a research model to explore the WOM behaviour of e-service users based on the IS post-acceptance model. The research model was empirically tested in the research context of online travel services with data collected in China. The research results indicate that perceived usefulness and user satisfaction affect e-service users' WOM behaviour positively together with trust. Perceived usefulness was found to exert the strongest influence on WOM behaviour followed by satisfaction and trust. The implications for theories and practice are also discussed.
Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health, 2020
Backgroud and Objective: People use different information services to select their healthcare ser... more Backgroud and Objective: People use different information services to select their healthcare services. It is important to collect and analyze user feedback from such sites to understand needs of the user and to develop these services. As such information services are usually designed, implemented and maintained by third parties, not the original service deliverers, we shortly discuss the concept of market middlemen. Furthermore, as such services are not easy to use but require a certain level of experience and work from the users, we also shortly review the discussion around eHealth literacy. Study Design/Markets and Methods: Data was collected in year 2017 by the Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare through a web-based survey from consumers searching for healthcare services. Some these consumers are users of then Choosehealthcare.fi online service in Finnish Hoitopaikanvalinta.fi website, that now is renamed to EU-healthcare.fi and EU-terveydenhoito.fi in Finnish. Together feedback was collected from 93 respondents. We used thematic qualitative analysis to find themes that the respondents took up when answering the survey. We used pre-analyzed material by Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare and Frantic. Results: The results show that the needs of the users are very varied, and information on many different issues are sought for. In general, the respondents found the amount of information to be overwhelming, and it was difficult to find answers to specific questions. More structured information will give users an opportunity to compare services between the different countries.
Background Finnish community pharmacies have undergone digitalization during the past decade. The... more Background Finnish community pharmacies have undergone digitalization during the past decade. The introduction of the electronic prescription has had a significant impact on pharmacy workflows, such as the dispensing process. This inevitably has significant sociotechnical implications. We examine the impact of digitalization on the dispensing process and the sociotechnical orientation of a pharmacy. Methods We utilize data collected in customer service situations in Finnish community pharmacies at two points in time: in the traditional workflow, when electronic prescriptions were not in use, and in the new direct dispensing workflow, which is the usual delivery model in the case of electronic prescriptions. We analyze this data in terms of changes in workflow efficiency. We also draw on existing literature to build a conceptual model for digitalization in the pharmacy sector from a sociotechnical standpoint. Results In the Finnish environment, the results, based on our study sample,...
Research Anthology on Public Health Services, Policies, and Education, 2021
The growth of the healthcare sector has led to innovative ways to cater to consumers' needs, ... more The growth of the healthcare sector has led to innovative ways to cater to consumers' needs, with some of the rich, developed countries at the forefront. An in-depth understanding of them enables a successfully implemented and useful system for consumers. Public reporting is developed mainly for and around consumers. In this chapter, the authors take a general look at public reporting on health and social care services. They examine the existing reporting systems and the issues they encounter. There are significant benefits of public reporting on health and social care services, but we currently do not know the limits of such reporting. Citizens need such information services when deciding from there to acquire health and social care services for themselves or their families and relatives. Service providers need these information services for benchmarking purposes and for the development of their service offerings.
Predicting an electoral outcome using 'big' social media data is a new research theme that has em... more Predicting an electoral outcome using 'big' social media data is a new research theme that has emerged due to the exponential growth of social media. Mainstream research in this field focuses on Twitter and Facebook. This study examines the extent to which Facebook Likes can be used to predict electoral outcomes. The study was conducted in Finland, where 2146 candidates across the country competed for the 200 seats in the Finnish Parliament in 2015. The primary objective of this study was to analyze the degree to which Facebook Likes could be used to predict the outcome of the 2015 Finnish parliamentary election. A complete candidate-level dataset was compiled from Facebook and other sources to analyze the relationship between Facebook Likes and the vote shares of candidates. The initial sample contained 2.7 million Facebook Likes, which were gathered directly from candidates' official Facebook pages. The prediction based on Facebook Likes was less accurate than using incumbency and traditional polling on whether a candidate would be elected. However, Facebook Likes and votes were found to have a significant positive relationship. Hence, social media data, like Facebook data, might be a significant but weak indicator of electoral success.
Organizations are increasingly employing social media in business and this phenomenon has also at... more Organizations are increasingly employing social media in business and this phenomenon has also attracted attention from researchers. Social media is used in value co-creation to allow consumers to take an active role and co-create value for companies. However, the way in which social media can enhance an enterprise’s value co-creation capability has not been studied to the same extent. Based on the technology affordance theory and value co-creation theory, this study examines how social media can help to leverage value co-creation. We present an exploratory case study based on the qualitative date collected in an online travel service company. We find that the case company applies social media due to its dialogue, accessibility, monitorability, and transparency affordances, which aid cooperation and co-create value with customers. The findings of the investigation provide empirical evidence illustrating the social media affordances of value co-creation
Technology extra-role behavior (TERB) is critical for the success of online communities (OCs). Ho... more Technology extra-role behavior (TERB) is critical for the success of online communities (OCs). However, the factors that determine individual TERB vary in different contexts. In addition, less attention has been paid to smoking cessation online health communities (OHCs). This study aims to explore what motivates users' TERB in smoking cessation OHCs from a social support perspective. In this study social support (including informational, emotional, and esteem support) motivates individuals' knowledge contribution and recommendation behavior, which are studied as two different TERB in smoking cessation OHCs. We tested the research model by analyzing 173 valid answers of an online survey from two smoking cessation OHCs. The results show that emotional support positively affects knowledge contribution, and esteem support has a positive impact on recommendation. Informational support exerts influences on emotional and esteem support. The findings extend our understanding on the determinants of TERB in the context of smoking cessation OHCs, and offer practical implications for the administration of smoking cessation OHCs.
Journal of Medical Internet Research, Jan 18, 2023
Background: Intelligent physical robots based on artificial intelligence have been argued to brin... more Background: Intelligent physical robots based on artificial intelligence have been argued to bring about dramatic changes in health care services. Previous research has examined the use of intelligent physical robots in the health care context from different perspectives; however, an overview of the antecedents and consequences of intelligent physical robot use in health care is lacking in the literature. Objective: In this paper, we aimed to provide an overview of the antecedents and consequences of intelligent physical robot use in health care and to propose potential agendas for future research through a systematic literature review. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review on intelligent physical robots in the health care field following the guidelines of PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses). Literature searches were conducted in 5 databases (PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, Embase, and CINAHL) in May 2021, focusing on studies using intelligent physical robots for health care purposes. Subsequently, the quality of the included studies was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. We performed an exploratory content analysis and synthesized the findings extracted from the included articles. Results: A total of 94 research articles were included in the review. Intelligent physical robots, including mechanoid, humanoid, android, and animalistic robots, have been used in hospitals, nursing homes, mental health care centers, laboratories, and patients' homes by both end customers and health care professionals. The antecedents for intelligent physical robot use are categorized into individual-, organization-, and robot-related factors. Intelligent physical robot use in the health care context leads to both non-health-related consequences (emotional outcomes, attitude and evaluation outcomes, and behavioral outcomes) and consequences for (physical, mental, and social) health promotion for individual users. Accordingly, an integrative framework was proposed to obtain an overview of the antecedents and consequences of intelligent physical robot use in the health care context. Conclusions: This study contributes to the literature by summarizing current knowledge in the field of intelligent physical robot use in health care, by identifying the antecedents and the consequences of intelligent physical robot use, and by proposing potential future research agendas in the specific area based on the research findings in the literature and the identified knowledge gaps.
Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice, Oct 2, 2019
Background: Medicine waste in hospitals leads to severe economic loss. This waste emerges for a n... more Background: Medicine waste in hospitals leads to severe economic loss. This waste emerges for a number of reasons. Medicines are often ordered in too large quantities, which leads to stock expiring without being dispensed. Wastage can also be a consequence of poor management practices. Technical aids, such as automatic dispensers, have been suggested to reduce waste, but they too have shortcomings. Information systems can arguably contribute to waste reduction, but this area has not been widely researched. In this exploratory case study, we scrutinized the management of medicines waste in a hospital from an information systems perspective and examined how information systems are used to manage the medicine supply chain and medicine waste. Our research case was a Finnish university hospital, its central pharmacy, and, more widely, the medicine supply chain within the hospital. Methods: This is a qualitative case study, based on data gathered through interviews and a survey and a review of other information sources, including annual reports and other relevant collateral. The study participants included pharmacy staff members and other hospital staff involved in medicine supply. The interviews were conducted in two rounds, first capturing the main themes and then exploring them further in the later study stages. Results: The findings outline a picture of unfit technology and inconsistent and unreliable information. This is compensated for by manual practices and processes that cause an excessive administrative burden and ultimately increased wastage. An infrequent ordering process combined with the lack of recycling practices increase the wastage even more. Conclusion: Medicine supply and waste management remain a manual administrative task. Inconsistent information and unfit information systems make this task challenging, and the process relies on the medicine supply staff's experience and assumptions.
Users make contributions to online communities in different ways. Prior literature has rarely inv... more Users make contributions to online communities in different ways. Prior literature has rarely investigated how different user groups make contributions to smoking cessation OHCs. To illuminate the contribution of different user groups in smoking cessation OHCs, this study aims to evaluate user contribution from two dimensions (Content-contribution and popularity) associated with users' questioning and answering behaviors. Based on the user log data collected from a smoking cessation OHC in Finland (Stumppi.fi), we plan to assess user contribution level for four different user groups (lurker, conversation-starter, conversation-replier, and Conversation-starter & replier) based on user activity data via applying entropy method. The research might make theoretical contributions to the literature on user contribution and offer practical implications to smoking cessation OHC service providers.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 2016
This study proposed a research model to explore the WOM behaviour of e-service users based on the... more This study proposed a research model to explore the WOM behaviour of e-service users based on the IS post-acceptance model. The research model was empirically tested in the research context of online travel services with data collected in China. The research results indicate that perceived usefulness and user satisfaction affect e-service users' WOM behaviour positively together with trust. Perceived usefulness was found to exert the strongest influence on WOM behaviour followed by satisfaction and trust. The implications for theories and practice are also discussed.
Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health, 2020
Backgroud and Objective: People use different information services to select their healthcare ser... more Backgroud and Objective: People use different information services to select their healthcare services. It is important to collect and analyze user feedback from such sites to understand needs of the user and to develop these services. As such information services are usually designed, implemented and maintained by third parties, not the original service deliverers, we shortly discuss the concept of market middlemen. Furthermore, as such services are not easy to use but require a certain level of experience and work from the users, we also shortly review the discussion around eHealth literacy. Study Design/Markets and Methods: Data was collected in year 2017 by the Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare through a web-based survey from consumers searching for healthcare services. Some these consumers are users of then Choosehealthcare.fi online service in Finnish Hoitopaikanvalinta.fi website, that now is renamed to EU-healthcare.fi and EU-terveydenhoito.fi in Finnish. Together feedback was collected from 93 respondents. We used thematic qualitative analysis to find themes that the respondents took up when answering the survey. We used pre-analyzed material by Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare and Frantic. Results: The results show that the needs of the users are very varied, and information on many different issues are sought for. In general, the respondents found the amount of information to be overwhelming, and it was difficult to find answers to specific questions. More structured information will give users an opportunity to compare services between the different countries.
Background Finnish community pharmacies have undergone digitalization during the past decade. The... more Background Finnish community pharmacies have undergone digitalization during the past decade. The introduction of the electronic prescription has had a significant impact on pharmacy workflows, such as the dispensing process. This inevitably has significant sociotechnical implications. We examine the impact of digitalization on the dispensing process and the sociotechnical orientation of a pharmacy. Methods We utilize data collected in customer service situations in Finnish community pharmacies at two points in time: in the traditional workflow, when electronic prescriptions were not in use, and in the new direct dispensing workflow, which is the usual delivery model in the case of electronic prescriptions. We analyze this data in terms of changes in workflow efficiency. We also draw on existing literature to build a conceptual model for digitalization in the pharmacy sector from a sociotechnical standpoint. Results In the Finnish environment, the results, based on our study sample,...
Research Anthology on Public Health Services, Policies, and Education, 2021
The growth of the healthcare sector has led to innovative ways to cater to consumers' needs, ... more The growth of the healthcare sector has led to innovative ways to cater to consumers' needs, with some of the rich, developed countries at the forefront. An in-depth understanding of them enables a successfully implemented and useful system for consumers. Public reporting is developed mainly for and around consumers. In this chapter, the authors take a general look at public reporting on health and social care services. They examine the existing reporting systems and the issues they encounter. There are significant benefits of public reporting on health and social care services, but we currently do not know the limits of such reporting. Citizens need such information services when deciding from there to acquire health and social care services for themselves or their families and relatives. Service providers need these information services for benchmarking purposes and for the development of their service offerings.
Predicting an electoral outcome using 'big' social media data is a new research theme that has em... more Predicting an electoral outcome using 'big' social media data is a new research theme that has emerged due to the exponential growth of social media. Mainstream research in this field focuses on Twitter and Facebook. This study examines the extent to which Facebook Likes can be used to predict electoral outcomes. The study was conducted in Finland, where 2146 candidates across the country competed for the 200 seats in the Finnish Parliament in 2015. The primary objective of this study was to analyze the degree to which Facebook Likes could be used to predict the outcome of the 2015 Finnish parliamentary election. A complete candidate-level dataset was compiled from Facebook and other sources to analyze the relationship between Facebook Likes and the vote shares of candidates. The initial sample contained 2.7 million Facebook Likes, which were gathered directly from candidates' official Facebook pages. The prediction based on Facebook Likes was less accurate than using incumbency and traditional polling on whether a candidate would be elected. However, Facebook Likes and votes were found to have a significant positive relationship. Hence, social media data, like Facebook data, might be a significant but weak indicator of electoral success.
Organizations are increasingly employing social media in business and this phenomenon has also at... more Organizations are increasingly employing social media in business and this phenomenon has also attracted attention from researchers. Social media is used in value co-creation to allow consumers to take an active role and co-create value for companies. However, the way in which social media can enhance an enterprise’s value co-creation capability has not been studied to the same extent. Based on the technology affordance theory and value co-creation theory, this study examines how social media can help to leverage value co-creation. We present an exploratory case study based on the qualitative date collected in an online travel service company. We find that the case company applies social media due to its dialogue, accessibility, monitorability, and transparency affordances, which aid cooperation and co-create value with customers. The findings of the investigation provide empirical evidence illustrating the social media affordances of value co-creation
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