Resolving the tension between full utilization of contact tracing app services and user stress as an effort to control t
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Resolving the tension between full utilization of contact tracing app services and user stress as an effort to control the COVID‑19 pandemic Jaehun Joo1 · Matthew Minsuk Shin2 Received: 13 June 2020 / Accepted: 20 August 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Although contact tracing apps can be effective for controlling COVID-19, the app usage can be stressful for users. This study identifies countermeasures for users’ stress while maximizing full utilization of the apps. This study presents the relationships among the stress factors, users’ appraisal, users’ emotion focus coping, and the infusion to exert the full potential of the app through a structural equation model. The research model is validated by surveying Health Code app users. Given the results of the study, the contact tracing apps could become a valuable tool to control COVID-19 by removing app users’ privacy concerns. Keywords COVID-19 · Contact tracing · Privacy concern · Accuracy concern · Coping theory · Pandemic
1 Introduction Overcoming coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the largest pending global issue. Despite worldwide efforts, there currently is no specific vaccine against COVID-19 (CDC 2020). Meanwhile, health authorities are suggesting preventative measures such as tracing and isolating early-stage confirmed COVID-19 patients and those who contacted the patients, along with social distancing, mask wearing, and hand washing (UN 2020). Authorities around the world are temporally permitting implementations of digital contact tracing apps on smartphones to find confirmed cases and trace their travel logs (Kelion 2020; Servick 2020).
* Matthew Minsuk Shin [email protected] 1
Division of Business Administration, College of Management and Economics, Dongguk University, 123 Dongdae‑ro, Gyeongju‑si, Gyeongsangbuk‑do 38066, South Korea
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Department of International Trade, College of Social Science, Konkuk University, Sanghuh Hall #638, 120 Neungdong‑ro, Gawngjin‑gu, Seoul 05029, South Korea
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J. Joo, M. M. Shin
A recent research showed the effectiveness of the digital contact tracing apps for epidemic control using mathematical simulations (Ferretti et al. 2020). The simulation based on a mathematical model proposed by Ferretti et al. (2020) provides evidence that digital contract tracing apps could stop the COVID-19 epidemic by using the reproductive number, R0 = 2.0 calculated from data collected from the early COVID-19 stages in China. Some of the successful examples of contact tracing apps in usage are Self-quarantine Safety Protection App required for South Korean residents by its government and Health QR Code Apps (hereafter called Health Code) mandated by the Chinese government (CDSCHQ 2020a; Gan and Culver 2020). There are two types of contact tracing technologies: a centralized system and a distributed system (Ferretti et al. 2020; Servick 2020). The centralized system stores all contact tracing information on a central server using the global positioning syste
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