Factors influencing the usage intention of mHealth apps : An Empirical Study on the example of Sweden

Technology has taken over tasks that were originally carried out by professionals in all different kinds of industries and sectors ranging from self-check in at airports to money transfer via mobile devices. In the healthcare sector the internet has become one main information resource for health-related issues and with the introduction of mobile devices such as smartphones the mHealth market has evolved. With help of mHealth applications (mHealth apps) patients can actively participate in maintaining their health and take over tasks usually fulfilled by health professionals. Despite the advantages of mHealth apps in practice, the download numbers are decreasing and the academic world has not paid much attention to the end-users point of view. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors influencing end-users in their intention to use mHealth apps. In order to answer this research question a quantitative research design has been chosen. The data is collected with help of an online self-completion questionnaire and statistical analysis with the software SPSS. Time and Perceived Usefulness were two out of five factors that had an influence on the end-users intention to use mHealth apps. A key finding of this study is that the mHealth app market is still in its early stage and end-users lack knowledge about it. This paper contributes to theory as well as to practice by providing new research directions for the academic world and insights for app developers and marketers to adapt their marketing strategies in order to meet the customers’ needs