EXAMINING FACTORS INFLUENCING INTENTION TO USE M-HEALTH APPLICATIONS FOR PROMOTING HEALTHIER LIFE AMONG SMARTPHONE USERS IN TANZANIA

Abstract

Deaths related with Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) have recently increases, similarly, development of mobile technologies have paved a way in which Smartphone users can use m-health applications to address high level of sedentary behaviours that relates to negative health consequences. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine factors which may influence generation Y who are Smartphone users to adopt m-health applications in controlling NCDs in Tanzania. TAM theory was extended with awareness, trust and perceived cost to develop a research conceptual model of this study. Google form was used to developed online questionnaire which was distributed through social media platforms to respondents. Furthermore, other questionnaires were physically administered using snowball sampling through Drop-off / Pick-up method. A total of 396 valid and reliable questionnaires were received and used for data analysis. IBM-SPSS software was used to analyze the hypothesized relationships. Findings show that trust, perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use have significant influences on behaviour intention to adopt m-health applications in controlling NCDs. Nevertheless, awareness and perceived cost were found to have no significant effects on behaviour intention to adopt m-health applications. The study has provided theoretical and practical implications for researchers, m-health application owners and developers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]