Ability first or opportunity first in the m-health era? A hybrid SEM-ANN approach

Purpose The purpose of this study is to propose and test a model to explain users’ intention to adopt m-health devices and divide the importance of antecedents for users to adopt m-health devices based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework. Design/methodology/approach This research conducted an online survey with m-health app users and collected 562 valid responses. A hybrid SEM-ANN approach was employed to evaluate the research model and hypotheses. Findings The results show that motivation (M), opportunity (O), and ability (A) affect users’ flow experience and loyalty and further affect their adoption intention of m-health technology. Opportunity plays a more critical role in m-health adoption intention than ability. Originality/value This study comprehensively examined the factors that affect users’ deep engagement and m-health adoption from the perspective of MOA. It used the hybrid SEM-ANN method to divide the critical role of motivation, opportunity and ability, providing a new analysis approach for studying information technology (IT) behavior.