Abstract
The continued emergence of new variants of COVID-19 such as the Delta and Omicron variants, which can cause breakthrough infections, indicates that contact tracing and exposure notification apps (ENAs) will continue to be useful for the long haul. However, there is limited work to uncover the strongest factors that influence their adoption. Using Canada's “COVID Alert” as a case study, we conducted an empirical, technology-acceptance study to investigate the key factors that account for users' intention to use ENAs and the moderating effect of important human and design factors. Our path model analysis shows that four factors significantly influence the adoption of COVID Alert among Canadian residents: perceived risk, perceived usefulness, perceived trust, and perceived compatibility. The overall model explains over 60% of intention to use, with type of design, use case (functional interface), and adoption status moderating the strength of the relationships between the four factors and intention to use. We discuss these findings and make recommendations for the design of future ENAs.
Highlights
Contact tracing apps (CTAs) have become a new buzzword in the public health literature since the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the early part of 2020 [1]
The goodness of fit (GOF) indicates the extent to which the model is validated by the data
We have presented the UTAUT model of the intention to use exposure notification apps (ENAs) to uncover the key factors that drive adoption using the COVID Alert app as a case study and the moderating effect of type of design, use case, and adoption status
Summary
Contact tracing apps (CTAs) have become a new buzzword in the public health literature since the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the early part of 2020 [1]. CTA is a mobile-technology-based system for logging, tracking and contacting people who may have come into close contact with a person infected by the coronavirus. The main difference between Bluetooth and GPS-based contact tracing is that, in the former, users’ locations are not tracked, but, in the latter, they are tracked, thereby raising privacy concerns in many countries in which the GPS-enabled CTAs are in use. In some other countries, GPS technology is being used to track infected people and their contacts. One of the most commonly adopted variants of TAM is the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, which was developed by Vankatesh et al [8] from a systematic review of the existing literature. The UTAUT provides a unified and compact theory of acceptance of information technology based on four main
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