(An) exploring study on intention to use wrist wearable devices

Abstract

This study analyzed the intention to use wrist wearable devices. Before Apple’s foray into the smartwatch market with its recent release of the Apple Watch, Samsung dominated this market. However, as soon as Apple introduced its new product, the company’s market share quickly reached more than 60%. In this study, we investigate smartwatches and smartbands. A major difference between the two devices is that a smartwatch can communicate with other smart devices directly (e.g., it can make a call to other devices), while a smartband only allows the checking of health information such as walking distance, heartbeat, and sleeping patterns. While they have distinct functions, both the smartwatch and the smartband offer health functionalities. We consider the health function one the most important factors affecting the intention to use. To construct an empirical analysis model, we observed well-known underlying theories of analysis: the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the technology acceptance model (TAM). Our model considers six items related to health: health-related benefit (HB), health-related functionality (HF), health-related vulnerability (HV), health consciousness (HC), health liter-acy (HL), and trauma experience (TE). We conjecture that (1) HB, HF, and HV affect perceived usefulness (PU), (2) HL affects perceived ease of use (PEOU), (3) TE affects HV and HL, (4) HC affects HL, (5) PEOU affects PU, and (6) PU and PEOU affect intention to use (IU). Survey data were collected from 474 smartwatch and smartband users. To analyze the proposed research model, we used the partial least squares 2.0 (PLS 2.0) method for structural equation modeling (SEM), which is good for controlling model complexity. The results of the analysis demonstrate that PU and PEOU have positive effects on the IU of wrist wearable devices. In addition, PEOU has positive effects on PU. These results are consistent with TAM. HB, HF, and HV have positive effects on PU. HC affects HL, and HL affects PEOU. TE has positive effects on HV, but statistically no effect on HL. In this paper, we divide users into two groups. This study examines group differences between smartwatch-only users and smartband-only users and investigates group difference between those aged 20-49 years and those aged 50 years and over. These results have several implications. This is the first paper to analyze wrist wearable devices from the health perspective. All six health constructs, HB, HF, HV, HL, HC, and TE, are found to be important factors that affect the use of wrist wearable devices. People who care for their health more than others have relatively high intention to use wrist wearable devices. In the view of managerial implications, when manufacturers make wrist wearable devices, HF such as health status and output data should be considered carefully. Wrist wearable devices offer significant health information. Further, wrist wearable devices should provide health information more conveniently.