User empowerment and well‐being with mHealth apps during pandemics: A mix‐methods investigation in China

As a healthcare ICT4D solution, mobile health (mHealth) can potentially improve users' well‐being during pandemics, especially in developing countries with limited healthcare resources. Recent ICT4D research reveals that providing end‐users with access to ICT is insufficient for improving well‐being and, thus, understanding how mHealth empowers end‐users to enhance well‐being against stressful events is important. However, prior research has rarely discussed the issue of empowerment in the domain of mHealth or the context of major disruptive events. This paper contributes to the literature by conceptualizing the psychological empowerment of mHealth users (PEMU) and investigating its nomological network during pandemics. Drawing upon theories of psychological empowerment and event characteristics, we developed a research model and tested it through a mixed‐methods investigation, containing a quantitative study with 602 Chinese mHealth users during COVID‐19 and a follow‐up qualitative study of 326 online articles and reviews. We found that PEMU, driven by three technological characteristics (perceived response efficacy, ease of use, and mHealth quality), affects well‐being through both (a) a stress‐buffering effect, which counterbalances the detrimental, stress‐increasing effects of event criticality and disruption, and (b) a vitality‐stimulating effect, which is intensified by event criticality. These findings have important implications for ICT4D research and practice. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology is the property of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Does government social media promote users' information security behavior towards COVID-19 scams? Cultivation effects and protective motivations.

Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the COVID-19 outbreak and offering COVID-19-related scams to unsuspecting people. Currently, there is a lack of studies that focus on protecting people from COVID-19-related cybercrimes. Drawing upon Cultivation Theory and Protection Motivation Theory, we develop a research model to examine the cultivation effect of government social media on peoples' information security behavior towards COVID-19 scams. We employ structural equation modeling to analyze 240 survey responses collected from social media followers of government accounts. Our results suggest that government social media account followers' participation influences their information security behavior through perceived severity, perceived vulnerability, self-efficacy, and response efficacy. Our study highlights the importance of government social media for information security management during crises.