Preferences in the Willingness to Download a COVID-19 Contact Tracing App in the Netherlands and Turkey: Experimental Study

Frans Folkvord; Lutz Peschke; Yasemin Gümüş Ağca; Karlijn van Houten; Giacomo Stazi; Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva

doi:10.2196/37891

Preferences in the Willingness to Download a COVID-19 Contact Tracing App in the Netherlands and Turkey: Experimental Study

JMIR Form Res. 2022 Jul 28;6(7):e37891. doi: 10.2196/37891.

Authors

Frans Folkvord^{1

2}, Lutz Peschke³, Yasemin Gümüş Ağca³, Karlijn van Houten², Giacomo Stazi², Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva^{2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands.
² PredictBy, PredictBy Research, Barcelona, Spain.
³ Department of Communication and Design, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey.
⁴ Department of Information and Communication Science, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.

PMID: 35867840
PMCID: PMC9337617
DOI: 10.2196/37891

Abstract

Background: Despite the worldwide growth in using COVID-19 contact tracing apps (CTAs) and the potential benefits for citizens, governments, health care professionals, businesses, and other organizations, only a few studies have examined the factors affecting the levels of willingness to download a CTA.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate individuals' preferences in the willingness to download a health app.

Methods: We conducted an experimental study in 2 countries, the Netherlands (N=62) and Turkey (N=83), using 4 different vignettes (ie, data protection, manufacturer, reward, and gaming models) with different attributes. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of the conditions within the vignettes.

Results: The results showed that data protection and gaming elements are factors that influence the willingness to download a COVID-19 CTA. More specifically, we see that data protection is an important factor explaining the willingness to download the app in Turkey, whereas including gaming elements significantly affects the willingness to download the app in the Netherlands.

Conclusions: COVID-19 CTAs are highly promising to reduce the spread of the virus and make it easier to open up society faster, especially because they can be used quickly and share information rapidly. COVID-19 CTA developers must ensure that their apps satisfactorily and sufficiently address ethical considerations, even in times of crisis. Furthermore, integrating gaming elements in the CTA could enhance the willingness to download the CTA.

Keywords: COVID-19; COVID-19 tracing app; data protection; digital health; discrete choice task; gaming; health application; mitigation strategies; mobile health; pandemic; tracing application; willingness to download.

©Frans Folkvord, Lutz Peschke, Yasemin Gümüş Ağca, Karlijn van Houten, Giacomo Stazi, Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 28.07.2022.