Mobile emergency warning apps are essential for effective emergency communication – of course, provided the population intends to use them. Drawing on protection motivation theory, the study validated a psychometric model to explain what motivates individuals to install a warning app for the first time and to keep using it over time. Multi-group covariance-based structural equation modeling was used to model the answers to a survey that measured the drivers of intention to begin using or intention to continue using a warning app. The model shows that, for both non-users and users, trust, social influence, and response efficacy positively and maladaptive rewards negatively affect intention to use and intention to continue use warning apps. However, perceived vulnerability influences only intention to use, whereas response cost and self-efficacy affect continued use intention. Hence, this study enhances the theoretical understanding of technology-enabled protection behaviors and provides practitioners with a list of factors to consider for pushing the adoption and continued use of emergency warning applications.

移动紧急警报应用程序对于有效的紧急通信至关重要——当然，前提是人们打算使用它们。该研究借鉴保护动机理论，验证了一个心理测量模型，以解释是什么促使个人首次安装警告应用程序并随着时间的推移继续使用它。使用基于多组协方差的结构方程模型对一项调查的答案进行建模，该调查衡量了开始使用或继续使用警告应用程序的意图的驱动因素。该模型表明，对于非用户和用户而言，信任、社会影响和响应效率正面和不适应奖励负面影响使用意愿和继续使用警告应用的意愿。然而，感知到的脆弱性只影响使用意图，而反应成本和自我效能感会影响持续使用意愿。因此，本研究增强了对技术支持的保护行为的理论理解，并为从业者提供了一系列因素，以推动采用和继续使用紧急预警应用程序。