Adoption of incentive-based insurance applications: the perspective of psychological ownership

Incentive-based health insurance applications have been implemented to trigger lower insurance premiums when the individual follows healthy living habits. It has been recognised that this benefit notwithstanding, consumers’ perceptions related to such applications in the life-insurance field and health tracking are not necessarily positive. Recent research has recognised that psychological ownership, a mental state wherein one feels a technology or application to be his or her own, plays a crucial role in individuals’ willingness to adopt and use new technologies. It has been suggested that many digital applications and platforms possess unique empowering and co-creative features that offer special potential to facilitate the emergence of psychological ownership and satisfy the underlying needs. The aim of our study, proceeding from these premises, was to identify and thematize hurdles to take-up of incentive-based health insurance applications with regard to meeting needs that drive development of psychological ownership. We achieved this by conducting a thematic analysis of perceptions of consumers who were not willing to adopt a specific application of the relevant type. The resulting framework, which recognises 14 thematized hurdles in all, holds important implications for scientific and managerial use both.