Smartphone as a Medical Device: Examining Users’ Adoption of Mobile Medical Applications – an Empirical Study from Privacy Calculus and Risk-as-Feelings Perspective

• Main Authors: Ming-SungTsai, 蔡明松
• Other Authors: Sheng-Tun Li
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/p974ts

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 經營管理碩士學位學程(AMBA) === 104 === Thanks to the rapid development and popularization of smartphone and high-speed cellular networks, more and more people today are using mobile applications (apps) to conduct their sport and health management. At the same time, the European Commission has recognized the acute importance of investing in mobile health (mHealth), a kind of medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices, to address the shortage of healthcare workers in the EU countries. While mHealth holds great promise in this field, it should not also be ignored that mHealth has created a new set of risk to privacy and security since personal health information can be stored on mobile devices or shared via networks that are not secure. Drawing on the literatures of privacy calculus theory and risk-as-feelings perspective as the conceptual foundation, this study attempts to understand how privacy perceptions and calculus may influence individuals’ intention to adopt mHealth apps with a particular focus on ResearchKit, which is a killer application introduced by Apple that allows scientists and doctors to create powerful apps for medical research. In this study, 517 measurable samples were collected to empirically verify the research model and partial least squares (PLS) approach was employed as the data analysis tool. The results show that trust in app developer is the key variable to individuals’ adoption intention, and perceived risk and health status emotion both effectively moderate individuals’ adoption intention. The theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future research directions in mHealth apps are then discussed at the end of this article.