The Use of Smartphone Fitness Applications: The Role of Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulation

Anna Vinnikova, Liangdong Lu, Jiuchang Wei, Guangbao Fang and Jing Yan
Additional contact information
Anna Vinnikova: School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Liangdong Lu: School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Jiuchang Wei: School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Guangbao Fang: Faculty of Education, Monash University, Melbourne 3800, Australia
Jing Yan: School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 20, 1-17

Abstract: With the popularity of the health and wellness trend in recent years, smartphone fitness applications have become more and more popular. Thus, this study explored factors affecting the behavioral intention to use and the actual usage behavior of smartphone fitness apps from technical, health, and social perspectives by integrating the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). We examined whether perceived usefulness, perceived ease-of-use, social influence, self-efficacy, goal-setting, and self-monitoring predict usage behavior. Based on the survey responses of 1066 smartphone fitness apps users, we revealed that all of the variables, except for self-monitoring, significantly influence usage behavior, while behavioral intention acts as a total mediator between perceived usefulness, perceived ease-of-use and usage behavior. Drawing on the research findings, we suggest that influencing behavioral intention to use a fitness app can be an effective method to increase its adoption. Therefore, app developers need to pay attention to interventions that seek to enhance the usefulness of the app, provide professional counseling, as well as an opportunity for effortless goal setting features.

Keywords: fitness app; UTAUT; SCT; behavioral intention; usage behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/20/7639/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/20/7639/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:20:p:7639-:d:431661

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().