A Conceptual Paper on The Influence of Social-Economic Status on Attitude Towards Online Health Information Seeking Behavior: A Malaysian Context

This conceptual paper argues that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude are insufficient in explaining online health information seeking patterns among women. Building on the technology acceptance model, this paper presents socio-economic status/income as a direct influence on the attitude that web users have towards searching for health-related information on the internet. This newly added socio-demographic construct offers an understanding of how social factors can determine attitude towards online health information-seeking behavior. The paper conceptualizes socioeconomic status as another factor that has a direct influence attitude, thus influencing women's decision to use or not to use online health-related content. This study highlights the implications of the positive attitude of women towards online health-related content which sometimes does not translate into the actual use of online health-related information. Thus, by introducing income as a limiting or motivating factor, it helps to explain how the affordability of access to the internet might explain why women have a positive attitude towards the internet through their perceptions of its usefulness and ease of use and yet decide not to utilize it.