Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, cybercriminals have capitalized on the situation and targeted online users. As a result, there has been a surge in the number of complaints related to new types of scams and fraud that have emerged during the pandemic. This study utilizes Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), Cultivation Theory (CT), and other constructs, including fear, attitude, general security awareness, general security orientation, subjective norms, openness, stress, and conscientiousness, to investigate the user information security behavior (ISB) against COVID-19 scams. The study gathered data from 423 internet users through a cross-sectional survey and used Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the conceptual framework. The results indicate that stress, government social media, general security awareness, response efficacy, and attitude were all positive determinants of the users’ ISB. The findings also highlight the impact of emotions, such as stress and fear, as well as government social media, on decision-making during a crisis. Additionally, the study found that the combined effects of the two threat appraisal factors on coping behaviors, which are mediated by fear, and the combined effect of the two coping appraisal factors on coping behaviors, which are mediated by attitude, were significant. However, the subjective norms on ISB did not show any variations and surprisingly, the study found that conscientiousness did not moderate the association between attitude and ISB.

Despite the growing importance of mobile social commerce (ms-commerce), little research has been conducted on the effects of informational and social factors on users’ post-adoption behavior. We, therefore, build on the understanding of mobile social commerce in the UK market and how it affects users’ post-adoption behaviors. Our theoretical model leverages the information adoption model, social support theory, and social influence theory. Data was gathered from 377 ms-commerce users from the UK and analyzed via Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM). The research findings show that both informational and social factors have a positive impact on information adoption in ms-commerce apps. Furthermore, information adoption has a positive impact on trust, which leads to ms-commerce purchase intention, ms-commerce continuance intention, and willingness to share an ms-commerce experience.

Health and fitness apps have grown exponentially during covid-19 lockdowns. Using a sample of 331 European fitness apps users, this study investigated the psychological drivers of users’ intention on fitness apps. This study draws upon the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and innovation diffusion theory. Its findings reveal that subjective knowledge and personal innovativeness predict perceived Usefulness, health consciousness, and ease of use. The strongest predictor of intention to use an app is perceived Usefulness, which mediates the influence of subjective knowledge and innovativeness on intention to use. Health consciousness predicts ease of use; however, the latter does not predict behavioural intention. This is one of the first studies on European users of fitness apps and investigating the psychological antecedents of TAM, i.e., innovativeness, subjective knowledge, and consciousness.

Despite gaining consumer momentum and interest of Virtual Reality (VR) in the consumer marketplace, the literature has lagged in exploring the continuance usage behaviour and factors associated with the post-adoption. To build on this, the current research seeks to identify factors that support the continuance usage of current VR users. To examine this, we employ a mixed-method approach. In Study 1, we initially gathered a total of 3,205 actual purchasers (Amazon verified purchase) from the top 10 VR brands listed in Amazon.com, Through a nethnographic content analysis, the key determinants of post-adoption of VR devices emerged (i.e. perceived functional benefit, perceived discomfort, perceived focused immersion, temporal dissociation, perceived health risk, and task quality). In Study 2, hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling from 119 current VR users. The results demonstrate temporal dissociation and task quality were found to be the most significant antecedents affecting continuance usage. Theoretical and managerial implications are debated, as well as suggestions for future research.

This study aims to understand the drivers behind the usage habits of voice assistants (VAs). To do so, we extend the Technology Acceptance Model in conjunction with the concept of privacy cynicism, a cognitive process that remains understudied in the academic literature. The model is validated using PLS analysis through Smart-PLS. Data gathered via MTurk includes 265 actual VAs users. It is observed that ease of use and perceived usefulness have a positive impact on attitude toward the usage of VAs, while privacy cynicism has a negative impact. Moreover, it is found that privacy cynicism has a positive impact on trust based on the usage of VAs. Interestingly, attitudes toward the usage of VAs does not fully explain the consumers’ VA usage habits