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Stimulating Mobile Health Application Use with Fear Appeals and Social Upward Comparison: A Design Science Approach

Prof. Dr. Armin Heinzl and Monica Fallon offer a joint talk at the USI Lugano

Armin Heinzl and Monica Fallon, both from the Chair of General Management and Information Systems, were invited by the Professor Marc Langheinrich of the Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI) Lugano to offer a presentation on how theory-driven design of mHealth apps stimulates use. Using an explanatory design science approach, the Mannheim researchers presented the manipulation and tests of mHealth app designs by integrating theories of protection motivation and social upward comparison. They demonstrated that social upward comparisons stimulate use, but that combining both theories does not result in reinforcing effects on use. Rather, a negative interaction effect occurs due to the contradicting type of threat triggered by each of the theories and the resulting perception of users’ abilities. The presentation has been based on a manuscript which is under revision for a scholarly journal. The article is co-authored by Kai Spohrer and Hartmut Hoehle. Dr. Spohrer is an Assistant Professor at the Chair of General Management and Information Systems, Professor Hoehle is at the Chair in Enterprise Systems.

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