Individuals' privacy concerns and adoption of contact tracing mobile applications in a pandemic: A situational privacy calculus perspective
- PMID: 33164077
- PMCID: PMC7936517
- DOI: 10.1093/jamia/ocaa240
Individuals' privacy concerns and adoption of contact tracing mobile applications in a pandemic: A situational privacy calculus perspective
Abstract
Objective: The study sought to develop and empirically validate an integrative situational privacy calculus model for explaining potential users' privacy concerns and intention to install a contact tracing mobile application (CTMA).
Materials and methods: A survey instrument was developed based on the extant literature in 2 research streams of technology adoption and privacy calculus. Survey participants (N = 853) were recruited from all 50 U.S. states. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to validate and test the model.
Results: Individuals' intention to install a CTMA is influenced by their risk beliefs, perceived individual and societal benefits to public health, privacy concerns, privacy protection initiatives (legal and technical protection), and technology features (anonymity and use of less sensitive data). We found only indirect relationships between trust in public health authorities and intention to install CTMA. Sex, education, media exposure, and past invasion of privacy did not have a significant relationship either, but interestingly, older people were slightly more inclined than younger people to install a CTMA.
Discussion: Our survey results confirm the initial concerns about the potentially low adoption rates of CTMA. Our model provides public health agencies with a validated list of factors influencing individuals' privacy concerns and beliefs, enabling them to systematically take actions to address these identified issues, and increase CTMA adoption.
Conclusions: Developing CTMAs and increasing their adoption is an ongoing challenge for public health systems and policymakers. This research provides an evidence-based and situation-specific model for a better understanding of this theoretically and pragmatically important phenomenon.
Keywords: contact tracing application; privacy concerns; situational privacy calculus.
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Figures
Similar articles
-
The Roles of Trust in Government and Sense of Community in the COVID-19 Contact Tracing Privacy Calculus: Mixed Method Study Using a 2-Wave Survey and In-Depth Interviews.JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2024 Mar 7;12:e48986. doi: 10.2196/48986. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2024. PMID: 38451602 Free PMC article.
-
Ready or Not for Contact Tracing? Investigating the Adoption Intention of COVID-19 Contact-Tracing Technology Using an Extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology Model.Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2021 Jun;24(6):377-383. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2020.0483. Epub 2020 Oct 5. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2021. PMID: 33017171
-
Profiling adopters (and non-adopters) of a contact tracing mobile application: Insights from Australia.Int J Med Inform. 2021 May;149:104414. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2021.104414. Epub 2021 Feb 9. Int J Med Inform. 2021. PMID: 33639328
-
Factors Influencing the Adoption of Contact Tracing Applications: Systematic Review and Recommendations.Front Digit Health. 2022 May 3;4:862466. doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2022.862466. eCollection 2022. Front Digit Health. 2022. PMID: 35592459 Free PMC article.
-
Facilitators and barriers to the adoption of mHealth apps for COVID-19 contact tracing: a systematic review of the literature.Front Public Health. 2023 Dec 7;11:1222600. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1222600. eCollection 2023. Front Public Health. 2023. PMID: 38145061 Free PMC article.
Cited by
-
Trust and Health Information Exchanges: Qualitative Analysis of the Intent to Share Personal Health Information.J Med Internet Res. 2023 Aug 30;25:e41635. doi: 10.2196/41635. J Med Internet Res. 2023. PMID: 37647102 Free PMC article.
-
Digital Citizen Science for Responding to COVID-19 Crisis: Experiences from Iran.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Sep 14;18(18):9666. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18189666. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021. PMID: 34574591 Free PMC article.
-
Implementing Public Health Strategies-The Need for Educational Initiatives: A Systematic Review.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 May 30;18(11):5888. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18115888. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021. PMID: 34070882 Free PMC article.
-
The impact of perceived crisis severity on intention to use voluntary proximity tracing applications.Int J Inf Manage. 2021 Dec;61:102395. doi: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2021.102395. Epub 2021 Aug 13. Int J Inf Manage. 2021. PMID: 36540293 Free PMC article.
-
Investigating Citizens' Acceptance of Contact Tracing Apps: Quantitative Study of the Role of Trust and Privacy.JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2024 Jan 18;12:e48700. doi: 10.2196/48700. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2024. PMID: 38085914 Free PMC article.
References
-
- O'Neill PH, Ryan-Mosley T, Johnson B. A flood of coronavirus apps are tracking us. Now it’s time to keep track of them. MIT Technology Review.2020. https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/05/07/1000961/launching-mittr-covi... Accessed May, 20, 2020.
-
- Valentino-DeVries J, Singer N, Keller MH, Krolik A. Your apps know where you were last night, and they’re not keeping it secret. The New York Times.2018. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/10/business/location-data-pr... Accessed May, 25, 2020.
-
- Timberg C, Harwell D. Government efforts to track virus through phone location data complicated by privacy concerns. Washington Post.2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/03/19/privacy-coronavirus... Accessed May, 26, 2020.
-
- Harari YN. The world after coronavirus. Financial Times.2020. https://www.ft.com/content/19d90308-6858-11ea-a3c9-1fe6fedcca75 Accessed May, 26, 2020.
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical
Miscellaneous