How Does the Citizens’ Behavioral Intention to Use Digital Technology in Smart Cities Affect Their Mental Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic?

In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, some cities around the world have adopted smart prevention and control measures based on digital technology, in addition to physical prevention and control means such as local closures, home isolation and wearing protective masks. Based on the context of smart city’s response to public health crisis in China, this study analyzed the effect of the behavioral intention to use digital technology (i.e., the health quick response code technology) on citizens’ mental health. This study takes 789 respondents from China’s smart cities as research samples. The empirical results show that the behavioral intention to use digital technology can reduce the citizens’ anxiety level. The negative effect of the behavioral intention to use digital technology on the anxiety level of citizens decreases as the increase of the Covid-19 severity. Finally, the theoretical implications, practical implications, research limitations and future prospects of this study are discussed.