Gamified Double-edged Sword: Exploring the Different Social Comparison Motives of Mobile Fitness App Users - Research in Progress

Jun Zhang, Qiqi Jiang, Paul Benjamin Lowry, Yongjun Li

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Mobile fitness applications (a.k.a. “apps”) are widely used to manage personal health records. The success of fitness apps hinges on their ability in promoting users’ exercise activities. The gamified design element has been widely employed by fitness apps as an effective approach to motivate users to exercise more. However, the efficacy of different gamified elements in influencing users’ subsequent exercise behaviors is still under debate in both research and practice. In this research-in-progress paper, we anchor the social comparison mechanisms to accordingly design gamification elements and demonstrate the dual impact of gamification on users’ exercise behavior change. In addition, we argue that the improvement of users’ exercise performance hinges on the extent to which users’ dispositional approach avoidance temperament is aligned with user’ gamification-enabled social comparison motives. The theoretical inference will guide a future field experiment by testing the effect of gamification on the users’ exercise performance change.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSIGHCI 2018 Proceedings : Special Interest Group on Human-Computer Interaction
Number of pages5
Place of PublicationAtlanta, GA
PublisherAssociation for Information Systems. AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)
Publication date2018
Publication statusPublished - 2018
EventThe 17th Annual Pre-ICIS Workshop on HCI Research in MIS. SIGCHI 2018 - San Francisco, United States
Duration: 13 Dec 201813 Dec 2018
Conference number: 17
http://sighci.org/index.php?page=pre-icis2018&phpMyAdmin=622c4d141843t506dba2f

Conference

ConferenceThe 17th Annual Pre-ICIS Workshop on HCI Research in MIS. SIGCHI 2018
Number17
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Francisco
Period13/12/201813/12/2018
Internet address

Keywords

  • Fitness app
  • Gamification
  • Social comparison motives
  • Upward comparison
  • Downward comparison
  • Person-technology fit

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