User-generated content

Human–computer interaction

Internet privacy

Advertising

Machine learning

Perspective (graphical)

World Wide Web

Business

Artificial intelligence

Psychology

Health care

Marketing

Political science

User experience design

Value (mathematics)

Loyalty

mHealth

User engagement

Computer science

Social media

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Smartphone applications for health-oriented purposes, or mHealth apps (MHAs), represent a growing opportunity to improve efficiency and sustainability in both national health systems and individual citizens' self-management of their health condition. However, little is known about how to build user engagement with MHAs to avoid user dropout and encourage their long-term loyalty and advocacy of MHAs to other users. This paper analyzes how to build user engagement from a learning perspective, strengthening the effort to learn about personal healthcare. Specifically, we investigate how the determinants of MHAs' functional value (technology effort, technology performance, and brand trust) drive the user's hedonic (enjoyment) and social (networking, social image) value. Data is obtained from a sample of 400 current users of MHAs. Our findings show that technology performance mainly enhances the user's networking experience, while technology effort contributes mostly to enjoyment and brand trust is critical to the user's social image. The user's hedonic and social experience benefit user engagement, which ultimately fosters user loyalty and advocacy, thus bolstering the relevance of developing user-centric MHAs. Robustness analysis does not reveal gender, age, income level, or type of MHA impact, although user education moderates the strength of some of these relationships.

Building user engagement to mhealth apps from a learning perspective: Relationships among functional, emotional and social drivers of user value