| TECHNOPHOBIA AND THE USE OF IOT SPORTS APPS: INSIGHTS FROM AN EXTENDED UTAUT2 FRAMEWORK |
| Paper ID : 1684-SPORTCONGRESS |
| Authors |
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Alireza nazemi bidgoli1, ٍEhsan mohamadi2, Hamid Reza Irani *3 1PhD student, Sports Management, Collage of Farabi, University of Tehran, Iran Email: alireza.nazemi@ut.ac.ir, ORCID: 0000-0003-2310-0314 2Department of Sport Management, Faculty of Sport Sciences and Health, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. 3Department of marketing, Faculty of management and accounting, College of Farabi, University of Tehran, Qom, Iran |
| Abstract |
| This study examines the factors influencing the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in the sports context, focusing on the moderating role of technophobia. Despite the growing use of IoT in improving athletic performance and sports management, its adoption among competitive athletes—especially in developing countries—remains limited. The theoretical framework is based on the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) (Venkatesh et al., 2012) and the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989), incorporating constructs such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived risk, technophobia, attitude, and behavioral intention. Data were collected from 345 competitive Iranian athletes through an online questionnaire and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with WarpPLS software. The results revealed that performance expectancy (β = 0.524, p < 0.01), perceived usefulness (β = 0.213, p < 0.01), and attitude toward using technology (β = 0.266, p < 0.01) were the most significant predictors of behavioral intention. Perceived risk had a negative and significant effect on behavioral intention (β = –0.221, p < 0.01), whereas technophobia did not show a significant moderating role. The model fit indices (R² for attitude = 0.550; R² for behavioral intention = 0.433; GoF = 0.521) confirmed satisfactory model adequacy. Overall, the findings indicate that in competitive sports environments, cognitive factors such as performance expectancy and perceived usefulness play the dominant role in technology adoption, while emotional factors like technophobia are less influential. Accordingly, developers and sports managers should focus on designing IoT-based applications that emphasize functional performance, data security, and ease of use. |
| Keywords |
| Keywords: Internet of Things, Sports technology, Perceived risk, Behavioral intention, UTAUT2 |
| Status: Abstract Accepted (Oral Presentation) |
