Tracing-Technology Acceptance

Tracing-Technology Acceptance during the Covid-19 Pandemic: International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Adoption rates of contact-tracing apps need to be heightend to realize their full effectiveness as public health measures during the Covid-19 pandemic. The present project examines predictors of the adoption of contact-tracing apps in Singapore and Switzerland.

App-based contact tracing has been introduced as part of a broader Covid-19 containment strategy in several countries. However, an uptake by more than 60 percent of the population is necessary for tracing technologies to reach their full effectiveness. This is far from being reached in most countries.

To comprehensively understand predictors of tracing technology acceptance, the projects applies an international and interdisciplinary perspective. The international perspective encompasses a comparison of tracing technology adoption and its predictors in Switzerland and Singapore. Switzerland and Singapore are both among the most innovative countries and have well-established technological infrastructures; at the same time, they differ in their media systems and cultural values, which makes them particularly suitable for a cross-cultural approach. The interdisciplinary perspective acknowledges that the study of tracing technologies relates to the fields of public health, communication (e.g., public debate), data privacy (i.e., data protection), and ethics (e.g., justifying the use of tracing technologies).

Empirically, the projects draws on a cross-cultural survey on tracing technology acceptance in Switzerland and Singapore, which is additionally funded by the Leading House for the Bilateral Science and Technology Cooperation Programme with Asia, ETH Zurich. The findings will be insightful for the further development and implementation of tracing technologies.