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Start date: 2020Subject: search.filters.subject.Mobile apps

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    A systematic review and future agenda on continuance intentions in mobile apps
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2025-12-01) Veronika S; Lee MSW; Lang B; Putra P
    Technology changes at ever increasing speeds. Therefore, it is crucial for practitioners and academics to understand why users’ intend to continue or discontinue their usage. This paper presents a current and comprehensive systematic literature review on continuance intentions for mobile applications. The review analyzes 119 studies from the Scopus database (January 2019–December 2023) using the PRISMA, SPAR, and TCCM frameworks. It identifies key theoretical models, determinants of mobile app continuance intention, research methods, existing gaps, and future research directions. Findings reveal that several well-recognised theoretical models are frequently applied in the literature on continuance intention. Consequently, the variables derived from these models are among the most commonly measured by researchers. Additionally, the majority of studies in this area employ quantitative methods, with structural equation modelling being most widely used. This review categorises the literature based on mobile application classifications and six distinct sets of factors influencing continuance intention: psychological, technical, social, behavioural, contextual, and barriers. Furthermore, it explores the outcomes associated with continuance intention. The paper identifies two primary areas for future research: the development of a conceptual framework and research design. It also highlights research opportunities related to emerging technologies and the gap between intentions and actual behaviours.
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    Babies and Babble : parents’ experiences of the neonatal unit and the role of the Babble app : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Gibson, Charlotte
    Neonatal unit admission is commonly a highly distressing and difficult time for new parents, impacting their confidence in their parenting abilities and predisposing them to significant mental health difficulties (Ballantyne et al., 2017; Holditch-Davis & Miles, 2000). In response to admission, parents commonly report a need for clear, concise information and inclusion in neonatal care (Cleveland, 2008). Alongside the rise of technology and the prevalence of smartphones across the world, mobile health applications have been theorised as an effective method of delivering rapid, consistent and accessible information to health consumer populations. Within the neonatal sphere, such approaches have been growing in popularity, however, little research has focused on the development and efficacy of mobile health applications dedicated to needs of parents with an infant admitted to a neonatal unit. In response, MidCentral District Health Board has developed an informational mobile health application, Babble, for use in conjunction with traditional care formats and with the hopes of providing greater support to parents in neonatal units (Spargo & de Vries, 2018). Although utilised by parents, the Babble app is yet to be empirically evaluated and the impacts of its use are not well understood. In this thesis, an exploration as to parents’ experiences of the neonatal unit and the role of the Babble app is conducted in two parts. Study One explores the experiences of 449 parents with an infant admitted to a neonatal unit in New Zealand, across measures of distress, self-efficacy, how informed they felt during their infant’s admission, and their Babble app use. Study Two involved in-depth qualitative interviews with eight mothers from the Palmerston North neonatal unit, (where the Babble app originated), exploring their perspectives of their infant’s hospitalisation, and the Babble app itself. Study One showed that parents experienced moderate distress, felt reasonably informed and considered themselves to be somewhat confident in their parental role during their infant’s neonatal admission. The Babble app did not demonstrate any significant effect on any of the variables of interest. However, results indicated that the more informed parents felt, the less distress they experienced. This relationship was partially mediated by enhanced self-efficacy, suggesting the importance of information in supporting parental self-efficacy and reducing distress. Study Two expanded on these findings, identifying several key themes present in the experiences of mothers with infants admitted to a Level II+ neonatal unit. Firstly, findings indicated there were various ways in which mothers struggled with their parental role within a neonatal context, experiencing challenges related to managing their own expectations of the experience and asserting their role within the unit. Consistent and supportive relationships with staff, family, friends, and their partners, were seen as influential in the maternal experience. Most significantly, good communication and strong relationships with staff were seen to improve maternal confidence. Information was highly valued by mothers, with some variation in their interactions with information, depending on individual needs and styles. The Babble app was considered a useful adjunct to traditional care formats by mothers who identified that they were able to adapt and integrate its use in alignment with their individual preferences and needs. Taken together, these findings suggest that for families, neonatal admission is a challenging and diverse experience. Staff are essential, not only as sources of information, but as part of a supportive relationship with families. The importance of informational support cannot be understated and its value in building parental self-efficacy and reducing parental distress was evidenced across both studies. Ultimately, the findings presented here suggest that informational resources, such as Babble, can act supportively for parents and therefore, are worthy of further development and exploration.
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    A dominant swipe : does ambivalent sexism impact young adults' engagement with dating applications? : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology, Massey University Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Dennan, Aramis
    Young adulthood can be a significant period of people’s lives, as focus begins to shift from adolescent development towards personal and relationship goals (Arnett, 2000). There has been much psychological research into the challenges and benefits of relationships. As relationship beliefs and technology have simultaneously developed over time, a growing need for research into relationship formation processes in a new technological era has arisen. However, the research base on mobile dating applications and the possible psychological underpinnings driving their use is still very much a work in progress. There are likely many reasons that an individual may come to use dating applications. One factor that may play a role in this is a set of complementary beliefs suggested to impact young adults’ intimate relationships; ambivalent sexism. There has been some limited research on sexism and dating applications; the primary aim of the current study was to investigate potential links between ambivalent sexism and dating application use. There is a common perception that dating applications are used merely for ‘hook-ups’ or casual sex. However, it appears that this is not always the case; consequently, interpersonal dynamics impacting relationship formation are likely to be involved. As such, a secondary aim of this thesis was to investigate whether motivations for dating application use played a moderating role in the relationship between ambivalent forms of sexism and young adults’ dating application use. The current study employed a pre-registered cross-sectional quantitative design with 998 individuals aged between 18 and 35 years. Individuals were asked whether they had ever used a dating application, as well as completing shortened versions of validated measures of ambivalent sexism and dating application motives. Multiple statistical analyses were employed to explore the relationships between individuals’ dating application use, and their endorsement of hostile and benevolent sexism. This study additionally tested for possible moderating relationships including dating application motives. Overall, there was no support for eleven of the twelve pre-registered hypotheses analysed within the current study. Moreover, there was extremely limited support for the assertion that hostile or benevolent sexism were related to dating application use. Some interesting minor findings did emerge. The effect of individuals’ hostile sexism endorsement on the odds of dating application use became more positive and significant as their endorsement of sexual experience motives increased. Moreover, exploratory analyses revealed that heterosexual women who endorsed benevolent sexism more strongly were more likely to use dating applications as endorsement of relationship seeking motives increased. The results of the current study thus suggest that under certain specific circumstances, ambivalent sexism may be relevant to some young adults’ dating application use. However, there does not appear to be any evidence that ambivalent sexism more broadly plays a significant role in shaping young adults’ dating application use.
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    Usability of disaster apps : understanding the perspectives of the public as end-users : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Emergency Management at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Tan, Marion Lara
    Multiple smartphone applications (apps) exist that can enhance the public’s resilience to disasters. Despite the capabilities of these apps, they can only be effective if users find them usable. Availability does not automatically translate to usability nor does it guarantee continued usage by the target users. A disaster app will be of little or no value if a user abandons it after the initial download. It is, therefore, essential to understand the users’ perspectives on the usability of disaster apps. In the context of disaster apps, usability entails providing the elements that effectively facilitate users in retrieving critical information, and thus enabling them to make decisions during crises. Establishing good usability for effective systems relies upon focussing on the user whereby technological solutions match the user’s needs and expectations. However, most studies on the usability of disaster context technologies have been conducted with emergency responders, and only a few have investigated the publics’ perspectives as end-users. This doctoral project, written within a ‘PhD-thesis-with-publication’ format, addresses this gap by investigating the usability of disaster apps through the perspectives of the public end-users. The investigation takes an explicitly perceived usability standpoint where the experiences of the end-users are prioritised. Data analysis involved user-centric information to understand the public’s context and the mechanisms of disaster app usability. A mixed methods approach incorporates the qualitative analysis of app store data of 1,405 user reviews from 58 existing disaster apps, the quantitative analysis of 271 survey responses from actual disaster app users, and the qualitative analysis of usability inquiries with 18 members of the public. Insights gathered from this doctoral project highlight that end-users do not anticipate using disaster apps frequently, which poses particular challenges. Furthermore, despite the anticipated low frequency of use, because of the life-safety association of disasters apps, end-users have an expectation that the apps can operate with adequate usability when needed. This doctoral project provides focussed outcomes that consider such user perspectives. First, an app store analysis investigating user reviews identified new usability concerns particular to disaster apps. It highlighted users’ opinion on phone resource usage and relevance of content, among others. More importantly, it defined a new usability factor, app dependability, relating to the life-safety context of disaster apps. App dependability is the degree to which users’ perceive that an app can operate dependably during critical scenarios. Second, the quantitative results from this research have contributed towards producing a usability-continuance model, highlighting the usability factors that affect end-users’ intention to keep or uninstall a disaster app. The key influences for users’ intention to keep disaster apps are: (1) users’ perceptions as to whether the app delivers its function (app utility), (2) whether it does so dependably (app dependability), and (3) whether it presents information that can be easily understood (user-interface output). Subsequently, too much focus on (4) user-interface graphics and (5) user-interface input can encourage users to uninstall apps. Third, the results from the qualitative analysis of the inquiry data provide a basis for developing guidelines for disaster app usability. In the expectation of low level of engagement with disaster app users, the guidelines list recommendations addressing information salience, cognitive load, and trust. This doctoral project provides several contributions to the body of knowledge for usability and disaster apps. It reiterates the importance of investigating the usability of technological products for disasters and showcases the value of user-centric data in understanding usability. It has investigated usability with particular attention to the end-users’ perspectives on the context of disaster apps and, thus, produces a theoretical usability-continuance model to advance disaster app usability research and usability guidelines to encourage responsible design in practice.