Understanding the Mechanism Between IT Identity, IT Mindfulness and Mobile Health Technology Continuance Intention: An Extended Expectation Confirmation Model

Abstract

• Satisfaction fully mediated the effects of perceived usefulness on users’ continuance intention with mHealth technology; • Both users’ IT-specific traits of IT identity and IT mindfulness have a significant association with users’ continuance intention with mHealth technology; • Users’ IT identity has a significant association with IT mindfulness, and IT mindfulness also acts as a partial mediator in the relations between IT identity and continuance intention. Health outcomes realization is a long-term and unremitting process. As a result, continuous use benefits both mobile health (mHealth) technology vendors and mHealth users. The existing literature has illustrated that users’ perceptions of IT features, such as instrumental and emotional perceptions, will impact their continuance intention with mHealth technology. The present study argues, however, that consumers’ continuance intention of mHealth technology in a dynamic environment will also be driven by IT-specific traits enabled by IT in the process of user-IT interaction, which is critical as we gradually march toward the era of user-centered mHealth. Hence, this study diverged from the previous perspective and constructed an extended model by integrating IT-specific traits of two users with the expectation confirmation model (ECM), that is, IT identity and IT mindfulness. The empirical results revealed nomological links between users’ IT-specific traits and ECM constructs. Specifically, both IT identity and IT mindfulness were significantly associated with consumers’ continuance intention with mHealth technology, and a positive link between IT identity and IT mindfulness was also found. This study contributes to the growing knowledge of the continuous use of mHealth technology in trying to retain consumers and pursue long-term health outcomes.