User Acceptance of Social Media-Backed Digital Detox Apps: Exploring the Role of Personality Traits in Pakistan's Digital Landscape

Abstract

In order to investigate the influence of the factors on the acceptance and usage of the social media based digital detox Apps, the study considers the moderating factors of the personality traits in the digital landscape of Pakistan. In view of the growing digital addiction (particularly among the youth), this research fills a gap in understanding the behavioral intention towards the adoption of detox app in the emerging economy. Constructs such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions and personality trait (openness, extraversion and neuroticism) were measured using the structured questionnaire. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was done in SmartPLS 3 for analysing the data. This study results showed that performance expectancy (β = 0.86), social influence (β = 0.89), and effort expectancy (β = 0.76) had significant effects on behavioral intention, and that behavioral intention had significant impacts on actual usage behavior (β = 0.75). It found that personality traits exerted little or no direct influence, but a via-medium role. R² values for intention and usage of the model equaled 0.57, giving it strong explanatory power. It thus develops a cultural reasoning for digital wellness behavior integrating psychological and technological constructs. It provides practical advice for app developers and policymakers in the mental health sector in emerging markets.

Key words: Digital detox, behavioral intention, personality traits, mobile apps, Pakistan, social influence, digital well-being