Exploring consumer adoption of smart sportswear through an integrated acceptance model based on perceived comfort

Abstract With the enhancement of people’s health awareness and the rapid development of smart sportswear technology, it is of great significance to study smart sportswear from the perspective of consumers. This study aims to explore the factors influencing consumers’ acceptance of smart sportswear by constructing a comprehensive model. The model integrates the Extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) and the Value-Based Adoption Model (VAM), with perceived comfort as a key factor. We collected a total of 486 valid samples and employed Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to analyze the data. The results indicate that both UTAUT2-related factors (hedonic motivation (HM), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI), and facilitating conditions (FC)) and comfort-related factors (perceived comfort (PC), material comfort (MC), ergonomic design (ED), and technology integration comfort (TIC)) have significant direct or indirect effects on consumers’ adoption intention (IA). In contrast, performance expectancy (PE) and perceived cost (PCo) do not significantly impact perceived value (PV). This study highlights the unique psychological mechanisms underlying the adoption of smart sportswear, underscores the critical role of comfort in shaping consumer intention, and extends existing technology acceptance models by incorporating multidimensional comfort constructs. These findings offer novel theoretical insights and provide practical guidance for user-centered design and future development of smart sportswear.