Veröffentlichungen von Theresa Knoll

Digital technologies reshape most facets of human life, yet the individual-level responsibility for their dual outcomes remains theoretically opaque. While corporate digital responsibility (CDR) has received growing attention, the actual users remain largely absent from the theorizing about digital responsibility (DR). This TREO paper argues that individual digital responsibility (IDR) is a theoretically distinct phenomenon that existing IS frameworks, including IS use and CDR research, do not fully capture. We identify the structural limitations of these approaches and outline how each dimension of DR must be fundamentally transformed at the individual level in ways that require dedicated theorizing.

Digital health technologies offer benefits but also pose risks such as privacy breaches and algorithmic bias, necessitating their responsible use beyond mere adoption. This study explores which configurations of individual traits, beliefs, and competencies are associated with responsible use of digital health technologies. Using fsQCA on data from 62 participants, we analyze configurations of IT mindfulness, eHealth literacy, trusting beliefs, ethical awareness, and computer self-efficacy of high and low responsible use. The analysis points to two empirically distinct profiles: critically engaged users with higher responsible use, and competent but uncritical users with lower responsible use despite comparable technical competencies. Counterintuitively, lower trusting beliefs are associated with responsible use, whereas higher trusting beliefs are associated with lower responsible use, pointing to a boundary condition of adoption-centered trust logic in post-adoptive normative contexts. The study suggests that some trusting beliefs may dampen the critical evaluation required for responsible use and indicates that technical competence alone does not reliably distinguish higher from lower responsible use. We contribute to emerging digital responsibility research by offering exploratory evidence on how individual-level traits, beliefs, and competencies may relate to responsible use in digital health. Practical implications include developing interventions that cultivate ethical awareness, productive skepticism, and sustained mindfulness rather than merely building trust or teaching technical skills.