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. 2025 May 5:11:20552076251336271.
doi: 10.1177/20552076251336271. eCollection 2025 Jan-Dec.

Predicting digital contact tracing tool adoption during COVID-19 from the perspective of TAM: The role of trust, fear, privacy, anxiety, and social media

Adi Alsyouf  1   2   3 , Ala'a M Al-Momani  4 , Nizar Alsubahi  5   6 , Abdalwali Lutfi  7 , Khalid Anwer Al-Mugheed  8 , Mohammed Amin Almaiah  9 , Rami J Anshasi  10 , Main Naser Alolayyan  11 , Abdallah Alsaad  12   13 , Mahmaod Alrawad  14
Affiliations

Predicting digital contact tracing tool adoption during COVID-19 from the perspective of TAM: The role of trust, fear, privacy, anxiety, and social media

Adi Alsyouf et al. Digit Health. .

Abstract

Objective: The emergence of more contagious SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as EG.5 (Eris), has heightened the urgency of assessing associated risks and managing the spread of infections. Digital Contact Tracing (DCT) tools have been widely adopted to mitigate these risks, although the factors driving their acceptance are complex and multifaceted. However, there is a significant lack of research on the application of DCT within Saudi Arabia, despite its proactive use of such technologies in public health strategies. This study investigates the key determinants of DCT adoption and acceptance by integrating the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with psychological, social, and regulatory factors related to the context of the study.

Methods: Using a quantitative, cross-sectional design, data were collected from Saudi participants through an online survey and analysed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with SmartPLS4.

Results: The results supported all the hypotheses except for the relationship between social media awareness and DCT tool usage. The findings revealed that COVID-19-induced anxiety significantly influenced technology acceptance, with social influence playing a mediating role. This study introduces a novel, context-specific model contributing to the technology acceptance field by exploring how pandemic-related factors, such as anxiety and social influence, affect DCT tool adoption. It also addresses a critical gap in the previous literature by examining the mediating role of social impact in the association between privacy and event-related fear and the moderating effect of COVID-19 anxiety on social media awareness and DCT usage. The findings offer valuable insights for governmental interventions, health institutions, and legislators in managing pandemics globally and within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Conclusion: We introduce a novel, context-specific model for understanding how pandemic-related psychological and social factors influence DCT adoption in this study. Those results provide insight into how policymakers, health institutions, and legislators can use DCT tools to manage pandemics globally and in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: COVID-19; Privacy; Saudi Arabia; anxiety; contact tracing; fear; government surveillance technology; health surveillance technology; mobile applications; social media.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

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Source (scopus database).
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Figure 4.
SEM figure.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
COVID-19 anxiety strengthens the positive association between Social Media Awareness and Digital Contact Tracing Tools Usage.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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