Abstract
With the advancement of information technology, wearable healthcare technology has emerged as one of the promising technologies to improve the wellbeing of individuals. However, the adoption of wearable healthcare technology has lagged when compared to other well-established durable technology products, such as smartphones and tablets, because of the inadequate knowledge of the antecedents of adoption intention. The aim of this paper is to address an identified gap in the literature by empirically testing a theoretical model for examining the impact of consumers’ health beliefs, health information accuracy, and the privacy protection of wearable healthcare technology on perceived usefulness. Importantly, this study also examines the influences of perceived usefulness, consumer innovativeness, and reference group influence on the adoption intention of wearable healthcare technology. The model seeks to enhance understanding of the influential factors in adopting wearable healthcare technology. Finally, suggestions for future research for the empirical investigation of the model are provided.
Highlights
Wearable healthcare technology refers to smart electronic products that are incorporated into different types of accessories that can be attached to users’ bodies [1]
Seeking to address the aforementioned research gaps, the aim of this study is to examine the synergistic effects of health concerns, privacy concerns, consumer innovativeness, and influences from reference groups on consumers’ adoption intention for wearable healthcare technology
The results show that the effect size of health information accuracy (f 2 = 0.258) and reference group influence (f 2 = 0.210) were medium to large, while the effect size of perceived usefulness (f 2 = 0.140), consumer innovativeness (f 2 = 0.111), and health belief (f 2 = 0.075) were small to medium
Summary
Wearable healthcare technology refers to smart electronic products that are incorporated into different types of accessories that can be attached to users’ bodies [1]. Fitbit, Samsung Gear and Mi Band wristband. These wearable technologies are regarded as one of the most promising areas in the Internet of Things (IoT) [2]. Wearable healthcare technology provides substantial impact on the wellbeing of citizens in our society, helping users to continuously monitor physiological parameters and health outcomes [3], which is useful in tracking and transforming users’. Wearable healthcare technology devices have a number of potential benefits for sports and healthcare industries [6]. Using wearable healthcare technology devices can improve the accuracy of health information, fostering healthier behavior in individuals, significantly improving their health conditions, which in turn reduces healthcare costs [5]. Public Health 2019, 16, 2257; doi:10.3390/ijerph16132257 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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