Background: To track and reduce the spread of COVID-19, apps have been developed to identify contact with individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 and warn those who are at risk of having contracted the virus. However, the effectiveness of these apps depends highly on their uptake by the general population. Objective: The present study investigated factors influencing app use intention, based on the health belief model. In addition, associations with respondents’ level of news consumption and their health condition were investigated. Methods: A survey was administered in Flanders, Belgium, to 1500 respondents, aged 18 to 64 years. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate relationships across the model’s constructs. Results: In total, 48.70% (n=730) of respondents indicated that they intend to use a COVID-19 tracing app. The most important predictor was the perceived benefits of the app, followed by self-efficacy and perceived barriers. Perceived severity and perceived susceptibility were not related to app uptake intention. Moreover, cues to action (ie, individuals’ exposure to [digital] media content) were positively associated with app use intention. As the respondents’ age increased, their perceived benefits and self-efficacy for app usage decreased. Conclusions: Initiatives to stimulate the uptake of contact tracing apps should enhance perceived benefits and self-efficacy. A perceived barrier for some potential users is privacy concerns. Therefore, when developing and launching an app, clarification on how individuals’ privacy will be protected is needed. To sustain perceived benefits in the long run, supplementary options could be integrated to inform and assist users.

As chatbots have become increasingly popular over the past years, most social networking sites have recognized their far-reaching potential for commercial purposes. Their rapid and widespread usage warrants a better understanding. This study examines the effectiveness of chatbots on Facebook for brands. The study proposes and tests a model based on the Consumer Acceptance of Technology model (CAT-model) including three cognitive (i.e., perceived usefulness, perceived ease-of-use, and perceived helpfulness) and three affective (pleasure, arousal, and dominance; PAD-dimensions) determinants that potentially influence consumers' attitude toward brands providing a chatbot, and hence, their likelihood to use and recommend the chatbot (i.e., patronage intention). Structural equation modeling analyses show that two cognitive (i.e., perceived usefulness and perceived helpfulness) and all three affective predictors are positively related to consumers' attitude toward the chatbot brand. The findings further indicate that attitude toward the brand explained a significant amount of variation in consumers' patronage intention. Finally, all the significant determinants also have an indirect effect on patronage intention, mediated through attitude toward the brand. In conclusion, our findings hold valuable practical implications, as well as relevant suggestions for future research.

This study explores adolescents’ perceptions of applications used for sexting, the motives for engaging in sexting, and the consequences they relate to sexting behavior. We conducted 11 same-sex focus groups among 57 adolescents (66.67% females; n = 38) between 15 and 18 years old in Flanders, Belgium. The analysis revealed that sexting mostly occurs through smartphone applications, such as Snapchat, which are perceived to be a more intimate form of communication than other digital applications, such as social networking sites. Both female and male respondents observed that girls might sometimes feel pressured to engage in sexting. They did so mostly out of fear that otherwise they would lose their boyfriends. Female and male respondents mentioned three main ways in which sexting photographs could be abused: (1) they could be used to coerce or to blackmail the victim, (2) they could be distributed out of revenge after the breakup of a romantic relationship, or (3) they could be forwarded or shown to peers in order to boast about having received the digital photograph. Anecdotes, which illustrate our findings, are included in the results. Suggestions for future research and implications for practice are discussed.

To diminish the risk of spreading COVID-19 as society exits the lockdowns, several apps have been developed for contact tracing. These apps register which users have been in proximity of each other. If a user is diagnosed with COVID-19, app users who have been recently in proximity to this person are notified. The effectiveness of these apps highly depends on public support. Therefore, this study investigated the factors that influence app use intention, based on an extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model. A survey was administered in Belgium (Flanders) to 1,500 participants aged 18 to 64 years old. Structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships among the model's constructs. Our results indicated that 48.70 percent of the respondents wanted to use the app. The model explained 39 percent of the variance in app use intention. The most important predictor was performance expectancy, followed by facilitating conditions and social influence. Effort expectancy was not related to intention. Moreover, individuals' innovativeness was positively related with app use intention, whereas app-related privacy concerns negatively influenced intention. Based on the results, suggestions are made for policy makers and developers.

Adolescent sexting – the electronic swapping of sexually intimate texts or images – has attracted significant media and policy attention. However, questions remain about the predictors of this phenomenon, in which mobile phones play a central role in adolescents’ exploration of sexuality. Therefore, a survey involving 498 adolescents aged between 15 and 18 years was conducted. The first aim of this study is to determine the predictive value of personal attitudes, subjective norm SN and perceived behavioural control by applying the theory of planned behaviour TPB. As the second aim, we wish to assess the relative importance of the most salient beliefs underpinning the TPB components, since this will allow us to gain a more nuanced insight into the characteristics of adolescent sexting. Analyses reveal that SN is the most important predictor, followed by adolescents’ attitudes towards sexting. Perceived behavioural control is significantly but weakly associated with teenagers’ sexting intentions. Within SN, friends and romantic partners represent the most important sources of social pressure, while only positive behavioural outcomes are found to affect adolescents’ sexting intentions. The most important control belief affecting adolescents’ intention to sext is the belief that it occurs relatively more often among those whom adolescents feel they can trust entirely.