智能健康硬件用户间歇性中止行为影响因素研究

An Empirical Investigation of Factors Affecting Smart Health Device Users' Intermittent Discontinuance

随着全民健康意识的提高,人们开始使用智能健康硬件进行个人健康管理,智能健康硬件的采纳和使用行为也逐渐受到学术界和业界的广泛关注。然而,当前智能健康硬件采纳和使用行为的研究主要集中于用户在静态时点上的持续使用或中止行为,忽略了用户在中止使用智能健康硬件后重新使用的现象,即间歇性中止行为。基于矛盾态度和情绪波动的视角,构建智能健康硬件用户间歇性中止模型,并检验态度不稳定性在矛盾态度与间歇性中止之间、情绪唤起波动在情绪效价波动与间歇性中止之间的中介作用,进一步检验模型各路径的性别差异。通过问卷调查的方法,收集428份智能健康硬件用户数据,进行结构方程模型分析。研究结果表明,用户对智能健康硬件的矛盾态度将带来态度不稳定性,并进而影响用户的间歇性中止行为,态度不稳定性也部分中介矛盾态度对间歇性中止行为的作用;用户对健康硬件的情绪效价波动正向作用于情绪唤起波动,进而促进用户的间歇性中止行为,情绪唤起波动完全中介情绪效价波动对间歇性中止行为的影响;对于间歇性中止行为的性别差异检验发现,男性样本中各路径的作用均显著强于女性样本。研究结果阐述了矛盾态度和情绪波动对智能健康硬件用户间歇性中止行为的深层次作用机制,具有重要的理论和实践意义。(1)将当前技术中止的概念拓展到用户间歇性中止,并厘清了间歇性中止的关键研究问题、概念内涵、变量维度及其与技术完全中止的区别,进一步丰富了技术采纳后行为的研究框架。(2)基于态度和情绪的理论框架,从矛盾态度和情绪波动的视角探讨智能健康硬件用户间歇性中止行为的影响因素。由于消极态度和负面情绪仅可以解释技术中止行为,无法准确解释间歇性中止,因此矛盾态度和情绪波动的引入,一方面为解释间歇性中止提供了新的视角,另一方面也丰富了当前信息系统领域个人情绪和态度的理论研究。(3)性别差异的检验有助于加深当前对于不同性别用户采纳和使用智能健康硬件的理解和认识。此外,研究结果有利于智能健康硬件服务商准确理解并把握用户购买后行为,为电子健康行业的发展提供实践和理论指导。

With the rise of health-consciousness, people gradually begin to adopt the smart health device for personal health man- agement. The adoption and usage of health devices thus have drawn much attention from both the public and the academic. However, existing studies on smart health device users＇ post-adoptive behavior primarily focused on the continuance and discontinu- ance usage behavior, but neglected the re-adoptive behavior after a short discontinuance usage of the smart health device （ i. e. , intermittent discontinuance）. Drawing upon the literatures and theories of attitudinal ambivalence and emotional fluctuation, a research model was devel- oped. It was expected that attitude instability would mediate the effect of attitudinal ambivalence on intermittent discontinuance, and emotional arousal fluctuation would mediate the effect of emotional valence fluctuation on intermittent discontinuance. In ad- dition, gender difference of all the hypothesized relationships in the research model was further examined. An online survey was used and data collected from 428 smart health device users in China strongly substantiated the proposed research model. Empirical results showed that attitudinal ambivalence was positively associated with the attitude instability, which in turn ex- erted a positive effect on users＇ intermittent discontinuance. Attitude instability further played a partial mediating role in the rela- tionship between attitudinal ambivalence and intermittent discontinuance. On the other hand, emotional valence fluctuation had a positive effect on the emotional arousal fluctuation, and emotional arousal fluctuation was positively associated with users＇ intermittent discontinuance. Emotional arousal fluctuation further fully mediated the effect of emotional valence fluctuation on users＂ intermittent discontinuance. Moreover, this study also revealed that all the hypothetical relationships in the proposed model were stronger in the male group, as compared to the female group. The findings emerged from this study well elaborate the mechanism through which attitudinal ambivalence and emotional fluctuation affect intermittent discontinuance, and have the potential to contribute to both research and practice. Overall, this study contributes to the literature in the following ways. First, the present study extends the concept of discontinuance to intermit- tent discontinuance, and further clarifies the key issues involved in intermittent discontinuance, such as definition, dimensions and distinctions between intermittent discontinuance and completely discontinuance. A shift from complete discontinuance to in- termittent discontinuance will add new knowledge to the growing literature on users＇ IT post-adoptive behavior in general, and on smart health device usage behavior in particular. Second, built on attitudinal ambivalence and emotional fluctuation, this study provides a solid theoretical framework to explain users＇ intermittent discontinuance. In this regard, the present study proposes a new perspective to understand intermittent discontinuance, and it also enriches our current understanding on users＇ attitude and emotion from a dynamic perspective. Third, gender difference between smart health device users＇ intermittent discontinuance will further deepen the understanding of IT post-adoptive behavior among different groups of users. In addition, this study contributes to smart health device industry by providing theoretical and practical guidance for the efficient development and operation of e- health programs.