Students' intention to adopt Internet-based personal safety wearable devices: Extending UTAUT with trusting belief

Abstract

In the backdrop of growing violence and burgeoning crime rates on campus, student safety is one of the topmost priorities for North American universities. While the promises of Internet-based personal safety wearable devices (PSWDs) are highly touted by manufacturers and the academic campuses that adopt them, there is a lack of empirical data on the level of user (student) acceptance. Drawing on the literature on IT adoption, in particular the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model and trusting beliefs, we propose a model to investigate the factors influencing the intention of 405 undergraduate students to voluntarily adopt POM, a personal safety wearable device, at a four-year college in the Northeast portion of the United States. The empirical analysis of the model using structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that social influence, facilitating conditions in the form of resources, effort expectancy, and trusting beliefs influence the intentions of students to use POM.