Coping with COVID-19 using contact tracing mobile apps

Purpose To cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, contact tracing mobile apps (CTMAs) have been developed to trace contact among infected individuals and alert people at risk of infection. To disrupt virus transmission until the majority of the population has been vaccinated, achieving the herd immunity threshold, CTMA continuance usage is essential in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. This study seeks to examine what motivates individuals to continue using CTMAs. Design/methodology/approach Following the coping theory, this study proposes a research model to examine CTMA continuance usage, conceptualizing opportunity appraisals (perceived usefulness and perceived distress relief), threat appraisals (privacy concerns) and secondary appraisals (perceived response efficacy) as the predictors of individuals' CTMA continuance usage during the pandemic. In the United States, an online survey was administered to 551 respondents. Findings The results revealed that perceived usefulness and response efficacy motivate CTMA continuance usage, while privacy concerns do not. Originality/value This study enriches the understanding of CTMA continuance usage during a public health crisis, and it offers practical recommendations for authorities.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Unmasking the bright–dark duality of social media use on psychological well-being : a large-scale longitudinal study

Purpose As the number of social media users continues to rise globally, a heated debate emerges on whether social media use improves or harms mental health, as well as the bidirectional relation between social media use and mental health. Motivated by this, the authors’ study adopts the stressor–strain–outcome model and social compensation hypothesis to disentangle the effect mechanism between social media use and psychological well-being. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach To empirically validate the proposed research model, a large-scale two-year longitudinal questionnaire survey on social media use was administered to a valid sample of 6,093 respondents recruited from a university in China. Structural equation modeling was employed for data analysis. Findings A longitudinal analysis reveals that social media use positively (negatively) impacts psychological well-being through the mediator of nomophobia (perceived social support) in a short period. However, social media use triggers more psychological unease, as well as more life satisfaction from a longitudinal perspective. Originality/value This study addresses the bidirectional relation between social media use and psychological unease. The current study also draws both theoretical and practical implications by unmasking the bright–dark duality of social media use on psychological well-being

Tell Me What You Want: Exploring the Impact of Offering Option Repertoires on Service Performance in Gig Economy

Confronted with an increasingly competitive business landscape for credence goods in the gig economy, sellers in e-marketplaces must effectively design their services by configuring the service offering specification options to enhance the visibility of their service offerings. Motivated by the gap between the configuration of service offering specification options and its impact on service quality and sales, this study builds on the competitive repertoire theory to advance a research model that seeks to unveil how the volume, complexity, and heterogeneity of service offering specification option repertoires affect service quality and sales. We empirically examined our hypotheses with a dataset comprising 3,307 lifestyle-themed credence goods observations from Fiverr, one of the largest e-marketplaces for gig economy in the world. We discover that the repertoire volume increases both service quality and sales whereas repertoire complexity only increases service quality. Repertoire heterogeneity does not significantly impact on service quality and sales

Unraveling the Effects of Mobile Application Usage on Users’ Health Status: Insights from Conservation of Resources Theory

Numerous studies have documented adverse consequences arising from increased technology usage and advocated for a reduction in such usage as a plausible remedy. However, such recommendations are often infeasible and oversimplistic given mounting evidence attesting to users’ growing reliance on technology in both their personal and professional lives. Building on conservation of resources (COR) theory, we construct a research model to explain how mobile application usage, as delineated by its breadth and depth, affects users’ nomophobia and sleep deprivation, which can have negative impacts on users’ health status. We also consider the moderating influence of physical activity in mitigating the effects of mobile application usage on users’ health. We validated our hypotheses via data collected by surveying 5,842 respondents. Empirical findings reveal that (1) nomophobia is positively influenced by mobile application usage breadth but negatively influenced by mobile application usage depth, (2) sleep deprivation is negatively influenced by mobile application usage breadth but positively influenced by mobile application usage depth, and (3) sleep deprivation and nomophobia negatively impact users’ health status, whereas (4) physical activity attenuates the impact of mobile application usage on sleep deprivation but not nomophobia. The findings from this study not only enrich the extant literature on the health outcomes of mobile application usage by unveiling the impact of mobile application usage patterns and physical activity on users’ health but they also inform practitioners on how calibrating usage breadth and depth, along with encouraging physical activity, can promote healthy habits among users

Understanding social media discontinuance from social cognitive perspective : Evidence from Facebook users

Based on social cognitive theory, this study proposes a research framework to investigate two different social media discontinuance behaviours: reduced usage and abandoned usage. Specifically, perceived technology overload, information overload and social overload are the environmental factors that induce negative personal states, including dissatisfaction and social media fatigue, which lead to negative behavioural changes, such as reduced usage and abandoned usage of social media. The proposed research model was tested empirically with data collected among Facebook users. The research results indicate that impacts from perceived technology overload, information overload and social overload on social network fatigue and dissatisfaction vary. Dissatisfaction exerts greater impacts on abandoned-usage behaviour than social media fatigue, but similar impacts on reduced-usage behaviour as social media fatigue. In addition, reduced-usage behaviour was found to lead to abandoned-usage behaviour. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical contributions that can be gleaned from the proposed research model.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Lier le sentiment d’auto-efficacité à la maîtrise de l’information en santé à l’utilisation de technologies de l’information et à l’état de santé : Une étude à grande échelle d’étudiants chinois

The purpose of this paper is to relate individuals’ health information literacy (HIL) self-efficacy to their information technology (IT) use and health status. Using a large-scale field survey with 6,160 valid respondents from undergraduates in a Chinese university, we found that individuals’ HIL self-efficacy was significantly related to some socio-demographics and lifestyle features, IT use, and health status. Meanwhile, some socio-demographics and lifestyle features and health status help identify low HIL self-efficacy individuals, while moderate daily IT use may improve HIL self-efficacy. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as limitations and future work, are also discussed.  L’objectif de cet article est de lier le sentiment d’auto-efficacité à la maîtrise de l’information en santé à l’utilisation de technologies et de l’information (TI) et à l’état de santé. En se basant sur une enquête sur le terrain auprès de 6 160 étudiants d’une université chinoise, nous avons constaté que le sentiment d’auto-efficacité à la maîtrise de l’information en santé était lié de manière significative à certaines caractéristiques sociodémographiques et relatives au mode de vie, à l’utilisation de TI et à l’état de santé. Certaines de ces caractéristiques ainsi que l’état de santé permettent d’identifier un faible sentiment d’auto-efficacité en maîtrise de l’information en santé chez certains individus, tandis qu’une utilisation quotidienne modérée des TI peut l’améliorer. Les conséquences théoriques et pratiques, de même que les limites et les travaux futurs, sont aussi abordés

Why discontinue Facebook usage? An empirical investigation based on a push–pull–mooring framework

Purpose: Social media platforms are currently facing the challenge of declining user activity. Building on the push–pull–mooring (PPM) framework, the current study developed a research model to evaluate factors that affect Facebook discontinuance. Design/methodology/approach: The proposed research model assessed how push factors (e.g. Facebook fatigue and dissatisfaction), a pull factor (e.g. alternative attractiveness) and mooring factors (e.g. personal norms and habit of using Facebook) affected the discontinued usage behavior regarding Facebook. The proposed research model was validated using empirical data (n = 412) collected from Facebook users. Findings: Facebook fatigue, dissatisfaction and alternative attractiveness significantly and positively affected discontinued Facebook usage. Personal norms and habit of using Facebook had a converse influence in this regard. Dissatisfaction had a stronger positive impact than Facebook fatigue and alternative attractiveness on the discontinued usage behavior regarding Facebook. Habits of using Facebook had a greater negative effect than personal norms of using Facebook on the discontinued usage behavior regarding Facebook by users. Originality/value: This study extends extant literature on social media discontinuance to identify the antecedents of discontinuous usage behavior in social media. This study enriches the literature on social media discontinuance by shedding light on the different degrees of effect of the push, pull and mooring factors on discontinuous social media usage behavior.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

An exploration of determinants of cyberchondria : a moderated mediation analysis

Cyberchondria describes excessive or repeated health‐related information seeking on the Internet that is associated with increased emotional distress. Research on cyberchondria is still nascent. This study aims to propose a moderated mediation model to examine the relationships among intolerance of uncertainty, affective responses, e‐health literacy, and cyberchondria. Based on an online survey of 426 participants in China, the results suggest that intolerance of uncertainty is positively associated with cyberchondria, and affective responses partially mediate this association. Additionally, e‐health literacy negatively moderates the effect of affective responses on cyberchondria. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed.Accepted versio

Relating health information literacy self-efficacy to information technology use and health status: A large-scale study of Chinese undergraduates

The purpose of this paper is to relate individuals’ health information literacy (HIL) self-efficacy to their information technology (IT) use and health status. Using a large-scale field survey with 6,160 valid respondents from undergraduates in a Chinese university, we found that individuals’ HIL self-efficacy was significantly related to some socio-demographics and lifestyle features, IT use, and health status. Meanwhile, some socio-demographics and lifestyle features and health status help identify low HIL self-efficacy individuals, while moderate daily IT use may improve HIL self-efficacy. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as limitations and future work, are also discussed.L’objectif de cet article est de lier le sentiment d’auto-efficacité à la maîtrise de l’information en santé à l’utilisation de technologies et de l’information (TI) et à l’état de santé. En se basant sur une enquête sur le terrain auprès de 6 160 étudiants d’une université chinoise, nous avons constaté que le sentiment d’auto-efficacité à la maîtrise de l’information en santé était lié de manière significative à certaines caractéristiques sociodémographiques et relatives au mode de vie, à l’utilisation de TI et à l’état de santé. Certaines de ces caractéristiques ainsi que l’état de santé permettent d’identifier un faible sentiment d’auto-efficacité en maîtrise de l’information en santé chez certains individus, tandis qu’une utilisation quotidienne modérée des TI peut l’améliorer. Les conséquences théoriques et pratiques, de même que les limites et les travaux futurs, sont aussi abordés

Exploring an adverse impact of smartphone overuse on academic performance via health issues : a stimulus-organism-response perspective

While previous research suggests that smartphone overuse relates to users’ adverse health issues such as insomnia, nomophobia, and poor eyesight, few studies have explored the mediating role of such health issues in the relationship between smartphone overuse and academic performance. Guided by the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework, this study develops a model to understand the relationships among students’ smartphone overuse, health issues (i.e., insomnia, nomophobia, and poor eyesight), and academic performance. Moreover, we introduce a moderating role of health information literacy in the relationship between smartphone overuse and health issues. To validate the model, we collect representative data through a large-scale field survey at a public university in China. 6,855 valid responses are retained for data analysis using a structural equation modeling technique. The main results are: (1) health issues—insomnia, nomophobia, and poor eyesight— partially mediate the relationship between smartphone overuse and students’ academic performance; (2) health information literacy can moderate the relationship between smartphone overuse and the health issues including insomnia and poor eyesight, while the relationship between smartphone overuse and nomophobia is not affected. Finally, we draw related theoretical and practical implications.Accepted versio