Underlying Emotional Mechanisms of Routine M-Health Use in Chronically Ill Patients

Mobile technologies are increasingly used to manage chronically ill patients’ health status by changing their health-related behaviors. Extant research posits that patients generate negative health emotions when attempting to use mobile technologies as a tool of health self-management. However, various emotions are argued to result in technology-related behavior, and there is limited research on the interplay among different types of emotions relating to different agents. Employing an affective response lens, this article constructs an empirical model by theorizing the effects of various affective agents (e.g., emotions derived from health and emotions derived from technology) on patient's m-health routine use attitude. The article then explores the relationships between negative health emotions and routine use intention by identifying the affective characteristics of mobile technology (i.e., valence and arousal). The findings indicate that to some extent, the affective state of patients influences the effect of negative emotions on their routine use behavior. Specifically, valence decreases the influence while arousal increases the influence. The findings of this article contribute to theory and practice relating to chronic self-management via the use of mobile technology.