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Research articles

‘Are online reviews the new shepherd?’ –examining herd behaviour in wearable technology adoption for personal healthcare

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Pages 438-464 | Received 22 Apr 2022, Accepted 20 Oct 2022, Published online: 10 Nov 2022
 

ABSTRACT

Use of wearable technology for personal healthcare management is envisioned to play an instrumental role in promoting social sustainability by ensuring good health and wellbeing of all. Despite the upward market trend in purchase of wearable technology devices, their usage for personal healthcare remains a concern. An integrated model based on herd behaviour, theory of homophily and tenets of uncertainties drawn from initial trust theory is proposed and tested to examine the role of online reviews on herding of wearable technology adoption for personal healthcare management. A survey was administered on 434 wearable technology users, and data was analysed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with Smart PLS. The structural path analysis indicates that observing the online reviews written by homophilous users as well as uncertainties related to personal propensity and firm reputation positively influence individuals’ herding in wearable technology adoption for personal healthcare. The present research contributes to emerging literature on the role of online reviews on herding in wearable technology adoption for attaining social sustainability. The results of this study can be used by practitioners for designing strategies that facilitates consumption and usage of wearable technologies for personal healthcare management.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anjali Pathania

Anjali Pathania is a PhD Scholar at School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, India. She has nine years of teaching experience at Central University of Jammu, India. Her research interests are in the field of Behavioural Science and Information Systems.

Saumya Dixit

Saumya Dixit is currently working as an Assistant Professor at School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, India. Her research interests are in the domain of Consumer Behaviour and Technology Adoption.

Gowhar Rasool

Gowhar Rasool is Assistant Professor at School of Business Studies, Central University of Jammu, Jammu, India. He has nine years of teaching and research experience. His research interests are in the field of Consumer Behaviour and Marketing.

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