How to Improve Users’ Loyalty to Smart Health Devices? The Perspective of Compatibility

Xin Liao,Qianqian Zhang,Dongming Wu,Ge Han

doi:10.3390/su131910722

Abstract

Despite the explosive growth of smart health devices in recent years, the industry faces serious sustainability challenges. From the perspective of compatibility, this study proposed a theoretical model to help understand the formation of users’ loyalty. Using an online survey method, we collected empirical data from 375 users with experience of smart health devices. The results indicate that compatibility with online health management and compatibility with value positively affect users’ satisfaction, which in turn contributes to users’ loyalty to smart health devices. Meanwhile, both compatibility with online and offline health management have significant impacts on users’ compatibility with value. Finally, the mediation tests suggested that user satisfaction significantly mediates the effects of compatibility with online practice and compatibility with value on loyalty. Theoretically, this study contributes to the literature by investigating the influence of three compatibilities on loyalty and verifying the underlying mechanism linking them. Practically, the findings of this study can provide valuable insights for practitioners to increase consumers’ loyalty.

Highlights

With the great enrichment of material life, more and more people suffer from hypertension, hyperglycemia, obesity, and other diseases due to the problems of living habits, and the COVID-19 epidemic has undoubtedly made this situation even worse [1]
The purpose of this study is to explore the formation of user loyalty from the perspective of compatibility rather than to test existing theories
The sample size of this study is relatively small, so we adopted partial least-squares-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), which is believed more appropriate for exploratory study and performs better in small sample analyses [76]

Summary

Introduction

With the great enrichment of material life, more and more people suffer from hypertension, hyperglycemia, obesity, and other diseases due to the problems of living habits, and the COVID-19 epidemic has undoubtedly made this situation even worse [1]. People around the world are paying increasing attention to their health, more than ever before. Under this background, smart health devices, which help users monitor personal health by recording their blood pressure, heart rate, sleep time, and other data, have achieved colossal market growth [2]. The latest statistics show that the market of smart health devices generated $68.99 billion by 2020 and is expected to reach $81.50 billion in 2021 [3]. Smart health devices are attractive for people worldwide, many consumers lack strong loyalty. It is necessary to investigate how to improve users’ loyalty and guide operators to achieve sustainable development

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion