Employee acceptance from a privacy perspective of wearable fitness trackers at work : A qualitative study of employees in Sweden

Abstract: Wearable technology has many potential benefits for employees in the workplace, including safety, health, and motivation. However, there are also many concerns about privacy and the use of data from these devices. More research is needed to understand how privacy affects the user acceptance of wearables in the workplace. The purpose of this thesis is to understand how users perceive and accept wearables at work from a privacy perspective. The thesis studied wearable fitness trackers and evaluated the acceptance of these based on an extended version of the technology acceptance model (TAM). The thesis performed qualitative interviews with users who use wearables daily and presents the largest factors identified to influence the acceptance of wearable fitness trackers at work from a privacy context. The result of the research shows that there are three main factors influencing the acceptance of wearables in the workplace from a privacy perspective: User’s privacy and data disposition, the importance of transparency, and the importance of aligned subjective norms.