The personal relevance of digital health technologies for self-management of chronic conditions: instrument development and validation

User engagement plays a crucial role in enabling users to derive benefits from technological advancements. However, maintaining user engagement is a challenge for many technologies. This problem is particularly pronounced in sensitive domains where technology should resonate with users at a deeper level. While personal relevance of technology has been shown to lead to user engagement, there is a dearth of IS research referencing this construct. Enhancing and assessing personal relevance in technology remains elusive as it is not clear what personal relevance of technology entails and how to measure this construct. Thus, this study aims to clarify and operationalize the personal relevance of technology construct as well as produce a measurement instrument. Given the particular importance of understanding relevance in sensitive domains, we contextualize our research inquiry in digital health technologies for chronic conditions. Our conceptualization and operationalization of personal relevance extend traditional IS pragmatic perspectives on user interaction with technology by focusing on cognitive and affective elements. In addition, this study emphasizes the critical role of context and precision in measuring personal relevance with technology and can be used for the design and assessment of personally relevant technologies.