The impact of perceived crisis severity on intention to use voluntary proximity tracing applications.

During a crisis such as COVID-19, governments ask citizens to adopt various precautionary behaviours, such as using a voluntary proximity tracing application (PTA) for smartphones. However, the willingness of individual citizens to use such an app is crucial. Crisis decision theory can be used to better understand how individuals assess the severity of the crisis and how they decide whether or not to adopt the precautionary behaviour. We propose a research model to examine the direct influence of perceived crisis severity on intention to use the technology, as well as the indirect impact via PTAs' benefits for citizens. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirm the two dimensions of the benefits, namely personal and societal benefits. We used PLS-MGA to evaluate our research model. The results confirm the influence of the perceived severity of COVID-19 on the intention to use the PTA, as well as the mediating effects of personal and societal benefits on this relationship. Our findings contribute to the technology adoption literature and showcase the use of crisis decision theory in the field of information systems.

Analyzing older users' home telehealth services acceptance behavior-applying an Extended UTAUT model.

BACKGROUND: Although telehealth offers an improved approach to providing healthcare services, its adoption by end users remains slow. With an older population as the main target, these traditionally conservative users pose a big challenge to the successful implementation of innovative telehealth services. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to develop and empirically test a model for predicting the factors affecting older users' acceptance of Home Telehealth Services (HTS). METHODS: A survey instrument was administered to 400 participants aged 50 years and above from both rural and urban environments in Slovenia. Structural equation modeling was applied to analyze the causal effect of seven hypothesized predicting factors. HTS were introduced as a bundle of functionalities, representing future services that currently do not exist. This enabled users' perceptions to be measured on the conceptual level, rather than attitudes to a specific technical solution. RESULTS: Six relevant predictors were confirmed in older users' HTS acceptance behavior, with Performance Expectancy (r=0.30), Effort Expectancy (r=0.49), Facilitating Conditions (r=0.12), and Perceived Security (r=0.16) having a direct impact on behavioral intention to use HTS. In addition, Computer Anxiety is positioned as an antecedent of Effort Expectancy with a strong negative influence (r=-0.61), and Doctor's Opinion influence showed a strong impact on Performance Expectancy (r=0.31). The results also indicate Social Influence as an irrelevant predictor of acceptance behavior. The model of six predictors yielded 77% of the total variance explained in the final measured Behavioral Intention to Use HTS by older adults. CONCLUSION: The level at which HTS are perceived as easy to use and manage is the leading acceptance predictor in older users' HTS acceptance. Together with Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Security, these three factors represent the key influence on older people's HTS acceptance behavior. When promoting HTS, interventions should focus to portray it as secure. Marketing interventions should focus also on promoting HTS among health professionals, using them as social agents to frame the services as useful and beneficial. The important role of computer anxiety may result in a need to use different equipment such as a tablet computer to access HTS. Finally, this paper introduces important methodological guidelines for measuring perceptions on a conceptual level of future services that currently do not exist.

Older adults' perceptions of home telehealth services.

The success of home telemedicine depends on end-user adoption, which has been slow despite rapid advances in technological development. This study focuses on an examination of significant factors that may predict the successful adoption of home telemedicine services (HTS) among older adults. Based on previous studies in the fields of remote patient monitoring, assisted living technologies, and consumer health information technology acceptance, eight factors were identified as a framework for qualitative testing. Twelve focus groups were conducted with an older population living in both urban and rural environments. The results reveal seven predictors that play an important role in perceptions of HTS: perceived usefulness, effort expectancy, social influence, perceived security, computer anxiety, facilitating conditions, and physicians' opinion. The results provide important insights in the field of older adults' acceptance of HTS, with guidelines for the strategic planning, developing, and marketing of HTS for the graying market.