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Patients’ emotional bonding with MHealth apps: An attachment perspective on patients’ use of MHealth applications

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  • Li, Jiaoyang
  • Zhang, Cheng
  • Li, Xixi
  • Zhang, Chenghong

Abstract

While mobile health applications (mHealth apps) have attracted considerable practical and research attention in recent years, very few information systems (IS) studies have ever investigated patients’ use of mHealth apps. We draw insights from attachment theory, which states that when individuals experience fatigue or stress, they tend to develop affectionate bonds with objects that attend to their needs. Our study provides an evolutionary view on how patients’ attaining satisfaction of their basic needs through using mHealth apps leads to their emotional bonding with the mHealth apps and consequently contributes to their overall well-being. We surveyed 113 patients who used an mHealth app for hospitalization and discharge advice and education. We found that (a) patients’ emotional bonding with the apps mediated the impacts of autonomy and relatedness needs satisfaction on their well-being in terms of enhanced IT-enabled self-esteem and reduced post-surgery physical symptoms; and (b) autonomy need satisfaction positively and negatively moderated the impacts of competence and relatedness needs satisfaction, respectively, on patients’ emotional bonding with mHealth apps. Our findings not only contribute to the technology use literature and extend the interpretation of attachment theory in the IS field, but also yield practical insights for managers and developers who work in the mHealth industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Jiaoyang & Zhang, Cheng & Li, Xixi & Zhang, Chenghong, 2020. "Patients’ emotional bonding with MHealth apps: An attachment perspective on patients’ use of MHealth applications," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ininma:v:51:y:2020:i:c:s0268401219303822
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2019.102054
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    Cited by:

    1. Pal, Shounak & Biswas, Baidyanath & Gupta, Rohit & Kumar, Ajay & Gupta, Shivam, 2023. "Exploring the factors that affect user experience in mobile-health applications: A text-mining and machine-learning approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    2. Santos-Vijande, María Leticia & Gómez-Rico, Mar & Molina-Collado, Arturo & Davison, Robert M., 2022. "Building user engagement to mhealth apps from a learning perspective: Relationships among functional, emotional and social drivers of user value," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).

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