Engagement in Healthcare Systems: Adopting Digital Tools for a Sustainable Approach

Abstract

The rapid development of new technologies has created interesting and unexpected possibilities in e-health, and digital platforms have become widespread, connecting users, experts, and practitioners of the health world. This triggered our investigation into the relationship between the engagement platforms used by 293 doctors with various specializations, their satisfaction, and the dimensions of social sustainability in the healthcare sector. The research focused on professional interaction and its sphere of action in engagement platforms, defined as virtual contact points for exchanging information, thus increasing the co-creation of value between physicians and patients. In order to verify our hypothesis, a health digital platform called paginemediche.it was used, and the two dimensions of engagement and sustainability were considered, examining their causal relationship and evaluating their effects on physician loyalty in terms of the re-use of the digital platform by doctors. Our results, using a multiple linear regression analysis, showed that the social sustainability of the digital health platform was directly influenced by online engagement, generating a positive effect on physician loyalty. In particular, the human dimension of social sustainability proved to be decisive for the re-use of the platform.