TOWARDS A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF DIGITAL BIBLIOTHERAPY EXPECTATION AND ADOPTION: EXTENDING UTAUT2 FOR MENTAL WELL-BEING TECHNOLOGIES IN THE MALAYSIAN CONTEXT

Abstract

This conceptual paper develops a framework that theorises expectation formation as a critical pre-adoption process influencing the adoption and sustained engagement of digital bibliotherapy as a mental health intervention in Malaysia. Rising global mental health burdens, combined with stigma and limited access to professional services, have accelerated interest in such accessible, technology-driven interventions. However, existing technology acceptance research has largely emphasised behavioural intention and post-adoption use, while giving comparatively limited attention to expectation during the pre-adoption stage. This is particularly important for emerging digital mental health interventions, where understanding user expectations before implementation can reduce expectation–system misalignment and support more effective design, adoption and long-term implementation. Furthermore, bibliotherapy research has focused predominantly on clinical effectiveness, leaving the processes through which potential users develop expectations before adoption theoretically underexplored. This paper proposes the Digital Bibliotherapy Expectation and Adoption (DBEA) Framework, grounded in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) and informed by Expectation-Confirmation Theory (ECT). UTAUT2 provides the core behavioural determinants of technology adoption, while ECT, though traditionally applied to post-adoption confirmation and continuance, is extended here to justify expectation formation as a distinct, theoretically legitimate outcome at the pre-adoption stage. Within the framework, awareness and acceptance, digital behaviour and user preferences shape expectation formation, which is in turn theorised to influence subsequent adoption and sustained engagement, with communication, accessibility, affordability and cultural sensitivity incorporated as contextual factors shaping these relationships. Malaysia's multicultural, stigma-sensitive and pre-market context serves as an illustrative setting for framework development, although the proposed model may provide a basis for application in other emerging digital mental health contexts. By repositioning expectation as the primary theoretical outcome of the pre-adoption stage, the framework extends UTAUT2 to explain earlier phases of digital mental health adoption, providing a foundation for future empirical validation and for the design of user-centred, culturally responsive digital bibliotherapy platforms.