Mobile applications for tracking diet, physical activity, and lifestyle have become a common part of everyday life. They help people eat more healthily, better understand their habits, and take greater responsibility for their health. At the same time, however, they require sensitive personal data—information about health, weight, and behavior. It is precisely within this tension between benefits and risks that the decision is made about whether people will use dietary apps.
Research shows that the use of dietary apps is not merely a matter of technology, but above all of decision-making psychology. Users often, though not always consciously, ask themselves: Is the exchange of their privacy for the benefits the app offers worth it? This process is referred to as the privacy calculus, which means weighing perceived benefits and risks.
On one side are perceived risks, particularly concerns about the misuse of personal data or the loss of control over health-related information. These concerns have a clearly negative impact on users’ willingness to use such applications—regardless of whether they are new or experienced users. Risk, therefore, acts as a stable barrier to the adoption of digital health tools.
On the other side are perceived benefits: better oversight of diet, personalized recommendations, and motivation for a healthier lifestyle. When users believe that an app genuinely helps them, their willingness to use it increases significantly. However, benefits do not operate in isolation; their impact is strengthened by experience, trust, and a sense of personal competence.
Trust plays a crucial role. Users who trust applications, viewing them as reliable, fair, and transparent, are much more open to using them. Equally important is self-efficacy, that is, the user’s belief that they can easily operate the app and understand its functions. The higher this confidence in one’s own abilities, the greater the willingness to use the application.
An interesting finding concerns the role of user experience. More experienced users derive greater benefit from perceived benefits, trust, and self-efficacy; these factors have a stronger influence on their decision to use the app. By contrast, experience does not reduce sensitivity to risks: privacy concerns remain important for everyone.
The results suggest that the success of digital health applications does not rest solely on technological features. What matters is whether they can reduce concerns, strengthen trust, and support users’ sense of control. Only then does technology become a tool that people are willing to adopt and use over the long term.
Citation:
Mohammed, A. A., & Rozsa, Z. (2024). Consumers’ intentions to utilize smartphone diet applications: an integration of the privacy calculus model with self-efficacy, trust and experience. British Food Journal, 126(6), 2416–2437. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-11-2023-0989
