Out of Control - Privacy Calculus and the Effect of Perceived Control and Moral Considerations on the Usage of IoT Healthcare Devices

Modelling the significance of value-belief-norm framework to predict mass adoption potentials of internet of things-enabled wearable fitness devices

Self-health monitoring technologies have become increasingly popular in averting unanticipated health complications. However, the adoption rate of such technologies in developing countries is surprisingly low. Furthermore, empirical studies on the application of the value-belief-norm (VBN) model to elucidate intention to use IoT-enabled wearable fitness devices (IoT-enabled WFDs) are scarce. This study aimed to expand the VBN model by integrating health values, health consciousness, health knowledge-seeking, and social norms as influencing constructs. The proposed holistic framework was empirically tested to examine these constructs on users' decision-making process of adopting IoT-enabled WFDs. A web-based survey involving 866 adults in China aged 18-30 years was conducted. The gathered data were analysed using partial least squares-structural equation modeling. The results revealed the significant influence of health consciousness and health knowledge-seeking on personal health beliefs, as well as the favourable impact of personal health beliefs on personal norms and awareness of consequences. The results further demonstrated the substantial influence of awareness of consequences and ascription of responsibilities on personal norms. Besides that, personal norms and societal norms were found to have strong influence on the intention to adopt IoT-enabled WFDs, which was revealed to have significant influence on the actual usage. This study's findings offer novel theoretical insights on the behavioural characteristics of adopting IoT-enabled WFDs and serve as a practical guideline for industry experts and marketers to establish appropriate marketing strategies to support the IoT-enabled wearable sector. The findings also benefit policymakers in their efforts of developing strategies that emphasise the unique benefits of self-healthcare monitoring to encourage active lifestyle and decrease obesity and overweight-related health risks.

Envisaging the intention and adoption of electronic health applications among middle-aged and older adults: Evidence from an emerging economy

Technology plays a substantial role in our daily lives, and the spread of COVID-19 paves the way for the use of healthcare technologies to manage health in the comfort of our homes. Middle-aged and older adults face health issues and require instant healthcare advice and support. Electronic healthcare (EH) applications have emerged to facilitate middle-aged and older adults receiving healthcare support instantly while remaining in their homes. The present study empirically evaluates the intention and adoption of electronic health applications with the technological attributes of perceived compatibility, cost, product value, technology accuracy, privacy issues and health motivation among middle-aged and older adults from Malaysia. Moreover, this research examines the mediating effect of the intention to adopt EH applications between technology attributes and the adoption of EH applications. This study uses a cross-sectional method and employs an online survey to assemble quantitative data from 298 middle-aged and older Malaysian adults. It utilizes partial least squares structural equation modelling for data analysis. The data analysis reveals that perceived compatibility, cost, privacy, product value and health motivation significantly influenced the intention to use EH apps. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the intention to adopt EH apps significantly mediates the relationship between the perception of cost, personal privacy, product value, health motivation and adoption of EH apps. However, the intention to use EH apps insignificantly instigates their adoption. Finally, the study presents its implications, limitations and future research directions.

Adaption and validation of the Perceived Control of Internal States Scale (PCOISS) in Chinese adults: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Perceived control of internal states is important for disease prevention, stress buffering and life adaptability. However, there is no psychometric scale to measure control beliefs over internal states in China. This study aimed to adapt and validate the Perceived Control of Internal States Scale (PCOISS) in a large sample of Chinese adults.

METHODS

Data was collected through a big project, in which a cross-sectional online survey was conducted nationwide in China using a powerful Chinese online survey platform named WenJuanXing ( https://www.wjx.cn/ ). We translated the PCOISS into Chinese (C-PCOISS) with the forward-backward translation procedure. For the first time of the survey, a sample of 2709 participants (Sample 1) was valid for final analysis. Sample 1 was split into two datasets for principal component analysis (PCA) (n_A = 1355) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) (n_B = 1354) to determine potential factor structure. The scale's validity (i.e., discriminant validity, convergent validity, criterion validity) and internal consistency reliability were evaluated. Among the 1354 respondents (n_B), 761 (n_C = 761) participated in the follow-up second wave of the survey to assess a cross-sectional test-retest reliability.

RESULTS

The C-PCOISS retained 14 items. PCA yielded a three-factor model which was supported with the best fit indices in CFA. The C-PCOISS had satisfactory internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha coefficients of 0.86, 0.78 and 0.72 for three subscales, respectively. The scale also showed adequate test-retest reliability (Pearson correlations coefficient of 0.64, 0.62 and 0.54 with p < 0.001 for three subscales, respectively). Three factors of the C-PCOISS were positively associated with positive affect, and negatively associated with negative affect, depression, compulsion-anxiety and perceived stress.

CONCLUSIONS

The C-PCOISS is reliable and valid for measuring control beliefs over internal states in Chinese adults.

Privacy Concerns and Information Sharing: The Perspective of the U-Shaped Curve

Privacy concerns are a key predictor of information sharing, yet some critical issues remain unclear. Based on social capital theory, this study argues that the relationship between privacy concerns and information sharing is a U-shaped curve. Users with privacy concerns would not share their private information; however, such users would eventually share their information as long as they trust the website and its members. Furthermore, this study provides a contingency perspective, suggesting that the curvilinear relationship between privacy concerns and information sharing varies with the system evaluation perception and personal motivation levels. The results show that at a high level of system evaluation, the relationship between privacy concerns squared and information sharing is non-significant. In contrast, at a low level of system evaluation, there is a U-shaped relationship between privacy concerns and information sharing. Regarding motivation, the results were congruent with our expectations.

“To our health!” Perceived benefits offset privacy concerns in using national contact-tracing apps

Purpose

Community health is placed under the limelight during the COVID-19 crisis, providing a unique context for investigating citizens' health-privacy tradeoff in accepting social surveillance technology. To elucidate this tradeoff dilemma, an extended privacy calculus framework integrated with the Health Belief Model, legislative protection, and individual collectivism was examined using the case of national contact-tracing apps.

Design/methodology/approach

The hypotheses were tested through PLS-SEM analysis with data collected from a survey on Bluezone – a national app in Vietnam.

Findings

The results indicated the negative impact of privacy concerns, which was offset by the positive effect of perceived benefits in using contact-tracing apps. The effect size of perceived benefits on usage frequency was twice as large as that of privacy concerns. Individual collectivism was revealed as a mitigator of the tradeoff dilemma, as it was positively associated with perceived benefits, whereas legislative protection had no such role. Citizens may perceive legislation protection as invalid when the technologies are developed, implemented, and monitored by the authorities.

Originality/value

The theoretical contributions lie in the extension of the privacy calculus model as well as its application in the context of mobile health apps and surveillance technology. The study empirically corroborated that the privacy calculus theory holds when technologies move along the pervasiveness spectrum. This study also provided actionable insights for policymakers and developers who advocate the mass acceptance of national contact-tracing apps.

Motivating Users to Manage Privacy Concerns in Cyber-Physical Settings—A Design Science Approach Considering Self-Determination Theory

Connectivity is key to the latest technologies propagating into everyday life. Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications enable users, machines, and technologically enriched objects (‘Things’) to sense, communicate, and interact with their environment. Albeit making human beings’ lives more comfortable, these systems collect huge quantities of data that may affect human privacy and their digital sovereignty. Engaging in control over individuals by digital means, the data and the artefacts that process privacy-relevant data can be addressed by Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and its established instruments. In this paper, we discuss how the theory and its methodological knowledge can be considered for user-centric privacy management. We set the stage for studying motivational factors to improve user engagement in identifying privacy needs and preserving privacy when utilizing or aiming to adapt CPS or IoT applications according to their privacy needs. SDT considers user autonomy, self-perceived competence, and social relatedness relevant for human engagement. Embodying these factors into a Design Science-based CPS development framework could help to motivate users to articulate privacy needs and adopt cyber-physical technologies for personal task accomplishment.

Privacy Personas for IoT-Based Health Research: A Privacy Calculus Approach

The reliance on data donation from citizens as a driver for research, known as citizen science, has accelerated during the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic. An important enabler of this is Internet of Things (IoT) devices, such as mobile phones and wearable devices, that allow continuous data collection and convenient sharing. However, potentially sensitive health data raises privacy and security concerns for citizens, which research institutions and industries must consider. In e-commerce or social network studies of citizen science, a privacy calculus related to user perceptions is commonly developed, capturing the information disclosure intent of the participants. In this study, we develop a privacy calculus model adapted for IoT-based health research using citizen science for user engagement and data collection. Based on an online survey with 85 participants, we make use of the privacy calculus to analyse the respondents' perceptions. The emerging privacy personas are clustered and compared with previous research, resulting in three distinct personas which can be used by designers and technologists who are responsible for developing suitable forms of data collection. These are the 1) Citizen Science Optimist, the 2) Selective Data Donor, and the 3) Health Data Controller. Together with our privacy calculus for citizen science based digital health research, the three privacy personas are the main contributions of this study.

Self-Focused and Other-Focused Health Concerns as Predictors of the Uptake of Corona Contact Tracing Apps: Empirical Study

BACKGROUND

Corona contact tracing apps are a novel and promising measure to reduce the spread of COVID-19. They can help to balance the need to maintain normal life and economic activities as much as possible while still avoiding exponentially growing case numbers. However, a majority of citizens need to be willing to install such an app for it to be effective. Hence, knowledge about drivers for app uptake is crucial.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to add to our understanding of underlying psychological factors motivating app uptake. More specifically, we investigated the role of concern for one's own health and concern to unknowingly infect others.

METHODS

A two-wave survey with 346 German-speaking participants from Switzerland and Germany was conducted. We measured the uptake of two decentralized contact tracing apps officially launched by governments (Corona-Warn-App, Germany; SwissCovid, Switzerland), as well as concerns regarding COVID-19 and control variables.

RESULTS

Controlling for demographic variables and general attitudes toward the government and the pandemic, logistic regression analysis showed a significant effect of self-focused concerns (odds ratio [OR] 1.64, P=.002). Meanwhile, concern of unknowingly infecting others did not contribute significantly to the prediction of app uptake over and above concern for one's own health (OR 1.01, P=.92). Longitudinal analyses replicated this pattern and showed no support for the possibility that app uptake provokes changes in levels of concern. Testing for a curvilinear relationship, there was no evidence that "too much" concern leads to defensive reactions and reduces app uptake.

CONCLUSIONS

As one of the first studies to assess the installation of already launched corona tracing apps, this study extends our knowledge of the motivational landscape of app uptake. Based on this, practical implications for communication strategies and app design are discussed.

What Motivates People to Pay for Online Sports Streaming? An Empirical Evaluation of the Revised Technology Acceptance Model

With the rapid development of Internet technology, sports media consumption is migrating toward streaming. The online streaming of sporting events has become the important way of copyrights holders to engage sports fans, especially young fans. Therefore, it is vital to understanding users' willingness to pay (WTP). Given that previous studies of the livestream sports broadcasts online have not dealt with users' payment intention, the originality of this study is that it explore users' motivation by combining information system research with the consumer demand theory. The study aimed to examine the factors that influence users' payment intention to stream online sports by using the extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Data from questionnaires completed by 330 Chinese respondents determined how perceived usefulness, ease, enjoyment, and satisfaction, influence users' WTP. Satisfaction positively correlated with users' payment intentions, impacted WTP values, mediated ease of use. The analysis also revealed the necessity for broadcast platforms to improve satisfaction and to increase payment intentions.