Determinants of adoption of smartphone health apps among college students.

OBJECTIVE To examine the effects of cognitive and contingent factors on the adoption of smartphone health apps, focusing on the technology acceptance model (TAM). METHODS American college students (N = 422), who currently owned smartphones but were not using health apps, completed an online survey. RESULTS Results from a path analysis mostly supported the proposed hypotheses, showing that subjective norm, health consciousness, health information orientation, and Internet health information use efficacy significantly affected the main components of TAM. CONCLUSION Study findings provide scholars and practitioners with an empirical model of explaining the cognitive and micro-mechanisms of determining the adoption of health apps, especially among younger populations.

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