Examining consumers’ adoption of wearable healthcare technology: The role of health attributes

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.