Paper Type

Short

Paper Number

PACIS2025-1313

Description

Many pet owners reported not taking their pets to veterinarians for at least 12 months. A lack of veterinary care for pets will lead to life-threatening consequences. This research-in-progress study proposes that enhancing pet owners’ e-pet-health literacy (ePL) can be a positive, proactive means to safeguard pets’ health and well-being. This study is the first to conceptualize and operationalize ePL. It examines the effect of ePL on pet owners’ duty of care (DoC), which in turn encourages the provision of veterinary care, i.e., veterinary clinic visits and expenditures. It also investigates to what extent pet owners’ gender, age, and work status affect the above relationships. This study is expected to enrich the literature on the impacts of information systems (IS) on pet healthcare. It suggests a scalable IS solution to inspire IS practitioners’ impactful input, solving long-standing pet healthcare issues faced by public policymakers and pet healthcare practitioners.

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Healthcare

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COinS
 
Jul 6th, 12:00 AM

Unleashing e-Pet-Health Literacy to Uplift Duty of Care and Enhance Provision of Veterinary Care

Many pet owners reported not taking their pets to veterinarians for at least 12 months. A lack of veterinary care for pets will lead to life-threatening consequences. This research-in-progress study proposes that enhancing pet owners’ e-pet-health literacy (ePL) can be a positive, proactive means to safeguard pets’ health and well-being. This study is the first to conceptualize and operationalize ePL. It examines the effect of ePL on pet owners’ duty of care (DoC), which in turn encourages the provision of veterinary care, i.e., veterinary clinic visits and expenditures. It also investigates to what extent pet owners’ gender, age, and work status affect the above relationships. This study is expected to enrich the literature on the impacts of information systems (IS) on pet healthcare. It suggests a scalable IS solution to inspire IS practitioners’ impactful input, solving long-standing pet healthcare issues faced by public policymakers and pet healthcare practitioners.