A Thematic Analysis of Provider Comparisons of Telemedicine Satisfaction Measures

Abstract

Satisfaction remains one of the most frequently used and inconsistent measures in Information Systems research. These inconsistencies can create challenges for interpreting the results of satisfaction measures. These challenges are noticeable in the telemedicine literature where researchers often rely on single item measures of overall satisfaction. While researchers have attempted to address these issues by studying satisfaction’s measurements and methodologies there remain gaps in the knowledge on how variations in measures may be interpreted regarding decision making. This research seeks to contribute to the knowledge in this area by investigating medical provider perspectives on single versus multi-dimensional measures of telemedicine satisfaction. Through a thematic analysis this research shows variations and similarities in decision making between measures across eleven themes. The results show not only variations in views but indicate subjective experiential interpretations of results. Findings along with implications for researchers and medical providers are discussed.