Acceptance of COVID-19 Tracking Apps

Abstract

To combat COVID-19, many governments have turned to tracking apps to detect exposure risk or enforce self-quarantine rules. Understanding factors that lead to public acceptance of these apps is essential since the adoption of these apps may help to suppress the pandemic. Based on a survey of 296 American respondents in May 2020, the study investigates the psychological processes that lead to COVID-19 tracking app acceptance. The results show that institutional trust affects acceptance through perceived effectiveness of the apps. In addition, perceived threat moderates the relationship between perceived app effectiveness and acceptance. When the perceived threat level is high, the relationship between perceived app effectiveness and acceptance is stronger. The results of the study provide a fruitful ground for future work that intends to examine the decisionmaking process that may affect health surveillance tracking app acceptance.