Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Oct 17, 2019
Date Accepted: Feb 29, 2020
Date Submitted to PubMed: Apr 29, 2020
Mediating Role of Organizational Reputation and Trust in Intention to Use Wearable Health Devices: Cross-country Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
The use of consumer wearable health devices for fitness tracking has seen an upward trend across the globe. Previous studies have shown that trust is an important factor in the adoption and use of new technologies. However, little is known about the influence of organizational reputation on the trust of, and intention to use wearable health devices.
Objective:
In this study we investigated the mediating role of organizational reputation and trust in the intention to use wearable health devices. The study also examined the extent to which country of residence influenced consumers’ trust of, and intention to use wearable health devices.
Methods:
We conducted a cross-country survey with participants from Kenya and South Africa using an online questionnaire derived from previously validated items. A series of mediation regression analyses were carried out using PROCESS macro with the bootstrapping confidence interval procedure. A one-way between-groups multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was also used to determine the key factors that distinguish Kenyans and South Africans in their intention to use wearable health devices.
Results:
A total of 232 questionnaire responses were collected. The results reveal that organizational reputation significantly mediates the relationship between trust propensity and trust. Organizational reputation also plays a significant direct role on the intention to use wearable health devices, irrespective of participants’ country of residence. Furthermore, there is a significant mediating effect of trust on the relationship between trust propensity, perceived security, and perceived privacy in the intention to use wearable health devices. The MONOVA test shows statistically significant differences in all variables for both groups, with the exception of organizational reputation where there is no significant difference between the two cohorts.
Conclusions:
Organizational reputation has a significant direct influence on participants’ trust of, and the intention to use wearable health devices irrespective of their country of residence. Even in the presence of perceived security and perceived privacy, trust has significant mediating effect on the intention to use wearable health device.
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