JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The global health crisis caused by COVID-19 has drastically changed human society in a relatively short time. However, this crisis is also an opportunity to understand the different roles that such world wide virus plays in the lives of people, and how those have been affected, and eventually propose new solutions.

Objective:

From the beginning of the pandemic, technology solutions have featured prominently in virus control, and in the frame of reference for international travel, especially contact tracing and passenger locator applications. The objective of this article is to study specific areas of technology acceptance and adoption following a pre-determined research model.

Methods:

Here we present a research model based on the UTAUT constructs to study the determinants for adoption of COVID-19 related applications based on a questionnaire. We tested the model via confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling using travelers’ data from an insular tourist region.

Results:

Results show that our model explains 90.3% of the intention to use (N=9555) and shows an increased understanding of the vital role of safety, security, privacy, and trust in usage intention of safety applications. We also show how the impact of COVID-19 is not a strong predictor of adoption, while age, education level, and social capital are essential moderators of behavioral intention.

Conclusions:

In terms of scientific impact, the results described here provide important insights and contributions not only for researchers, but also for policy and decision makers by explaining the reasons behind the adoption and usage of applications designed for COVID-19.