Determinants of Adoption of Smartphone Health Apps among College Students

Objective: To examine the effects of cognitive and contingent factors on the adoption of smartphone health apps, focusing on the technology acceptance model (TAM). Methods: American college students (N = 422), who currently owned smartphones but were not using health apps, completed an online survey. Results: Results from a path analysis mostly supported the proposed hypotheses, showing that subjective norm, health consciousness, health information orientation, and Internet health information use efficacy significantly affected the main components of TAM. Conclusion: Study findings provide scholars and practitioners with an empirical model of explaining the cognitive and micro-mechanisms of determining the adoption of health apps, especially among younger populations.