Determinants of Personal Health Information Disclosure via Wearable Fitness Devices: Examining the Mediating Role of a Pandemic

Authors

• M A Shariful Amin, Tarleton State UniversityFollow
• William D. Senn, Tarleton State UniversityFollow

Abstract

Wearable fitness devices (WFDs), a rapidly growing category in the wearable Internet of things (IoT) ecosystem, play a pivotal role in continuous health monitoring and disease prevention. Despite their benefits, users’ willingness to disclose personal health information (PHI) continues to depend on complex psychological and social factors. We develop and empirically validate an integrated model based on the health belief model (HBM) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explain PHI disclosure intentions and WFD adoption behavior. We collected data via a survey of 301 WFD users that triangulated with post hoc qualitative insights from a focus group of 99 participants. The results demonstrate that perceived benefits, perceived barriers, attitudes, and subjective norms significantly shape users’ willingness to disclose PHI, while pandemic risk concerns continue to moderate disclosure behavior. The findings suggest that individuals are more likely to share sensitive PHI when they perceive high personal utility/benefit and low perceived risk. This study advances our knowledge about wearable technology trust and information privacy calculus in health informatics and offers actionable implications for healthcare providers, policymakers, and technology developers seeking to balance innovation with ethical data stewardship.

DOI

10.17705/1thci.00250

Recommended Citation

Amin, M., & Senn, W. D. (2026). Determinants of Personal Health Information Disclosure via Wearable Fitness Devices: Examining the Mediating Role of a Pandemic. AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction, 18(3), 448-472. https://doi.org/10.17705/1thci.00250
DOI: 10.17705/1thci.00250