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Cited by 84Mobile Health and mHealth ApplicationsHealth, Technology, Consumer BehaviorTechnology Adoption and User Behaviour

Identifying major impact factors affecting the continuance intention of mHealth: a systematic review and multi-subgroup meta-analysis

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Wang, Tong, Wang, Wei, Liang, Jun, Nuo, Mingfu, Wen, Qinglian, Wei, Wei, Han, Hongbin, Lei, Jianbo·2022·npj Digital Medicine
DOI 10.1038/s41746-022-00692-9PMC PMC9476418
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Abstract

The mobile health (mHealth) industry is an enormous global market; however, the dropout or continuance of mHealth is a major challenge that is affecting its positive outcomes. To date, the results of studies on the impact factors have been inconsistent. Consequently, research on the pooled effects of impact factors on the continuance intention of mHealth is limited. Therefore, this study aims to systematically analyze quantitative studies on the continuance intention of mHealth and explore the pooled effect of each direct and indirect impact factor. Until October 2021, eight literature databases were searched. Fifty-eight peer-reviewed studies on the impact factors and effects on continuance intention of mHealth were included. Out of the 19 direct impact factors of continuance intention, 15 are significant, with attitude (β = 0.450; 95% CI: 0.135, 0.683), satisfaction (β = 0.406; 95% CI: 0.292, 0.509), health empowerment (β = 0.359; 95% CI: 0.204, 0.497), perceived usefulness (β = 0.343; 95% CI: 0.280, 0.403), and perceived quality of health life (β = 0.315, 95% CI: 0.211, 0.412) having the largest pooled effect coefficients on continuance intention. There is high heterogeneity between the studies; thus, we conducted a subgroup analysis to explore the moderating effect of different characteristics on the impact effects. The geographic region, user type, mHealth type, user age, and publication year significantly moderate influential relationships, such as trust and continuance intention. Thus, mHealth developers should develop personalized continuous use promotion strategies based on user characteristics.

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Authors
Wang, T., Wang, W., Liang, J., Nuo, M., Wen, Q., Wei, W., Han, H., & Lei, J.
Affiliations
  • Jilin University (CN)
  • Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University (CN)
  • Peking University (CN)
  • Southwest Medical University (CN)
  • Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College (CN)
Corresponding author
  • Han, Hongbin
  • Lei, Jianbo
ORCID
Venue
npj Digital Medicine
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2022-09-15
Volume
5
Issue
1
Pages
145-145
ISSN
2398-6352 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41746-022-00692-9
PMC
PMC9476418
OpenAlex
W4296037207
Cited by
84
References
6
Citations by year
2026: 24 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 17
FWCI
2.90
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • npj Digital Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (81871455, ZYYCXTD-C-202210)
  • Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LY22H180001)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Health, Technology, Consumer Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Technology Adoption and User Behaviour
Keywords
mobile health, continuance intention, user dropout, user satisfaction, perceived usefulness, health empowerment, trust, user characteristics, moderating effect

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