# Influencing factors of individuals’ willingness to share public health data in big data-driven healthcare: an empirical study based on China

## TL;DR

This study explores what influences people in China to share their health data in big data healthcare systems, using survey data and statistical modeling.

## Contribution

The study identifies specific factors and their relationships that influence willingness to share public health data in a big data context.

## Key findings

- Perceived usefulness and legal protection significantly increase willingness to share health data.
- Information sensitivity negatively affects attitudes toward data sharing.
- Strong data governance and public willingness jointly promote health data platform development.

## Abstract

Big data-enabled healthcare provides a pivotal underpinning for the precision and efficiency of public health governance, with the effective sharing of personal public health data serving as its core prerequisite. This study aims to explore the influencing factors and action mechanisms of individuals’ willingness to share personal public health data in the context of big data-enabled healthcare, thereby providing empirical evidence for breaking the predicament of data sharing and improving the public health data governance system.

A multi-stage convenience sampling method was adopted in this study. Questionnaires were distributed to populations nationwide who have used or understood big data-enabled healthcare platforms, and a total of 616 valid samples were recovered. On the basis of ensuring the questionnaire met the criteria of reliability and validity, correlation analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) were employed to test the path relationships among variables.

The results indicated that the overall scale exhibited good reliability (Cronbach’s α = 0.897) and acceptable validity (cumulative variance explanation rate = 76.47%), with the SEM showing a good fit (χ2/df = 2.153). Perceived technological usefulness had a significantly positive impact on perceived usefulness (β = 0.407, p < 0.001). Perceived usefulness and disease severity exerted positive effects on the attitude toward data sharing (β = 0.311, 0.364, both p < 0.001), while information sensitivity had a negative effect on such attitude (β = −0.211, p < 0.001). Attitude toward sharing, legal protection of public health and medical data, and perceived behavioral control were significant positive predictors of the willingness to share data (β = 0.379, 0.312, 0.308, all p < 0.001). Moreover, the willingness to share data and the legal protection of public health and medical data jointly promoted the construction of public health data platforms (β = 0.404, 0.421, both p < 0.001).

This study uncovers the complex action paths of multi-dimensional factors on individuals’ willingness to share personal public health data, which provides theoretical support and practical guidance for optimizing the design of big data-enabled healthcare services, strengthening the legal protection of public health data, and improving the efficiency of data sharing.