Perception and Readiness towards Indian Ayurvedic Medicine Acceptance to Combat COVID-19 Outbreak: A Multigroup Analysis in PLS Path Modelling

Abstract

Introduction–COVID-19 has come to us as a danger without a cure. Ayurvedic Medicine is seen to have the potential to be an alternative solution in curing COVID-19. Hence, the research aims to empirically investigate the adoption of Ayurvedic Medicine as an alternative cure for COVID-19 among the users and non-users. Methods–The research employed a quantitative research approach using a survey involving adults aged more than 18 years old.  A convenient sampling method was chosen for this research. The collected data was analyzed by employing PLS-SEM and PLS-SEM MGA. Results – The results indicated that there is no significant difference between users and non-users of Ayurvedic medicine. All hypotheses formulated investigating Ayurvedic medicine beliefs, attitude, perception, and satisfaction in considering it as a Potential Alternative for COVID-19 were retained. Conclusion – This study has provided new insights in understanding the possibilities of using Ayurvedic medicine in curing COVID-19 and welcoming the medical practitioners of clinical research to identify the technical properties of Ayurvedic Medicine to be considered as an alternative for COVID-19 and many other existing and future diseases. The novelty of this study is two-fold. First, this is a pioneer study attempting to understand the public’s view in considering Ayurvedic medicine as an alternative in combating COVID-19. Second, the conceptual model presented in this study to bridge the critical knowledge gap of the Ayurvedic Medicine phenomenon is neither formulated nor tested empirically in previous studies, locally or perhaps globally, therefore stands out as an original incremental contribution in ayurvedic medicines perception.