Societal acceptance of mobile contact tracing applications: the moderating effect of construal level

When used by a majority of people, Contact Tracing Applications (CTAs) can be a most effective way to control the spread of a virus within a population. However, the evidence offered from the deployment of several CTAs across the world during the COVID-19 pandemic indicates that adoption rates have remained low. The present study aims to extend the literature on the societal acceptance of these technologies by building on the lens of Construal Level Theory (CLT). We focus on the moderating role of people’s construal level on the relationship between two key factors: people’s privacy uncertainty (emerging from the use of CTAs) and their perceived societal utility of using a CTA - and the societal acceptance of these technologies. The results of this research will extend emerging literature that uses the CLT in the context of studying IT adoption in general. The results will also help provide specific recommendations to public health institutions about which design practices can be used to more effectively promote societal, mass acceptance of CTAs.