Running on a social exercise platform: Applying self-determination theory to increase motivation to participate in a sporting event

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Highlights

  • Technology acceptance model and self-determination theory explained two user groups' exercising behavior and motivation.

  • Perceived usefulness and attitude had positive relationships with behavioral intention for exercisers and spectators.

  • For exercisers, relatedness and perceived playfulness had a positive impact on attitude.

  • For spectators, autonomy and relatedness had a positive impact on perceived playfulness.

Abstract

Running is one of the most popular physical activities. With the development of technologies, there have been mobile applications (e.g., Nike + Running) designed to track exercisers' running data (duration, distance, and heart rate). To increase exercisers' and potential exercise group users' (spectators) motivation to run, this study designed a mobile running application, Gatherun, based on self-determination theory. Gatherun is a real-time, interactive mobile application for 2 groups of users: exercisers and spectators. Exercisers can create a new race event or participate in an existing race. When exercisers are running, which is virtualized as an avatar in the system, spectators can watch exercisers' running performance and provide audio feedback. The objective of the study was to investigate how intrinsic motivations (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) affect exercisers and spectators' perceptions using real-time interactive mobile running applications. The technology acceptance model was adopted to assess both user groups' attitude and behavioral intention using the system. The results found that the social interaction between exercisers and spectators increased both groups of users' relatedness, thus indicating that the system is useful. The relatedness of using Gatherun also increased users' autonomy motivation. Perceived usefulness and attitude had positive relationships with behavioral intention for both user groups. Result differences were also found between the 2 user groups. The study can have implications on the future development of persuasive technologies to improve users' exercising habits.

Introduction

With advancements in technology, an increasing number of people are using technological products to monitor and manage their personal health and to promote the formation of exercise habits (Lin, Mamykina, Lindtner, Delajoux, & Strub, 2006; Padilla, Ochoa, & Margain, 2016). The most popular technological gadgets for this purpose include wearable devices, such as smartwatches and smart clothing, and smartphone applications. Based on a 2015 statistical analysis of the Statista website, health and fitness-related applications belong to the top 15 most downloaded categories in the Apple App Store (Statista, 2015). These applications use the built-in functions of smartphones, such as GPS technology and the accelerometer, microphone, media player, and camera, to accurately measure physiological responses during exercise and to identify personalized physical activities, such as stair climbing, bicycle riding, walking, and running (Bort-Roig, Gilson, Puig-Ribera, Contreras, & Trost, 2014). These functions enable smartphone applications to monitor physiological parameters, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, falls at older ages, and physical activity (Ashrafian et al., 2014; Recio-Rodríguez et al., 2014). Currently, many smart phone applications, such as Nike + Running, Runkeeper, and Endomond, have functions that can help people improve their running habits. These mobile applications can record a runner's route and heart rate during exercise. The applications can also notify the user, through the voice function, of the kilometers that have been completed and whether there has been progress in the runner's performance. The applications can also provide encouragement and motivation to the runner when the user's performance has deteriorated. During each run, such mobile applications record information and rank the user's performance against that of friends who are also using the same application to provide motivation for the user to run more and use the application more. Therefore, the introduction of technological products can enhance people's awareness of their physiological health and improve their exercise habits.

In addition, many smartphone fitness applications enable the user to share physiological data and running routes with family and friends through social media platforms, such as Facebook, after exercising. Studies have found that when people publicly declare their goals, they tend to achieve them (Hollenbeck, Williams, & Klein, 1989; Locke & Latham, 2002). There are many reasons behind this phenomenon. The fact that users gain social support through sharing is one of them. Therefore, some exercisers use social support as well as the social pressure that they obtain through sharing their physical activity information to motivate themselves to exercise more. Furthermore, “spectators” who receive social media posts can feel as though they are also participating in the exercise by following the information provided by exercisers and interacting with them. This may even lead to spectators being more engaged in physical activity. Prior studies have verified and showed that exercise has a positive effect on behavior change. The present smartphone fitness applications, which are designed for workouts, sports training and weight management, etc., not only allow users to obtain a better understanding of their physical health through data compilation but are also convenient tools for observing user behaviors and constantly monitoring the status of their users in order to assess their condition. Thus, to create a more effective mobile application, it is necessary to develop a theoretical framework for behavior change and intervention and to incorporate more empirical evidence (Higgins, 2016).

Many studies have indicated that social media use and social interaction mechanisms can reinforce exercisers' motivation to exercise. Lin et al. (2006) designed the game Fish'n’Steps. In the game, as the user's running steps increase, the body of a fish in a fishbowl also grows. The user can compare his or her fish with other fish (belonging to other users of the application) to gain exercise motivation. Mueller et al. (2010) designed the application Jogging over a Distance. Through voice communication, this application allows exercisers in 2 different places to feel they are running together in the same location. The system makes judgments based on the users' heart rates and lets each user know whether the other exerciser is behind, on par with, or ahead of the user, thereby creating a feeling of running with another person. As exercisers can chat with each other over fitness applications, users of such apps report enhanced social interactions. To address users' concern that the activity information they share on social media may bore spectators or may be viewed by some as boasting about mediocre performance, Munson and Consolvo (2012), in their study, restricted the information shared from the application GoalPost on Facebook to only specified followers. Users reported that when the information they shared on Facebook received “likes”, they felt as though others were cheering for them.

Currently, most exercise-related applications allow information to be shared on social media after exercise. In recent years, however, more studies have focused on the real-time sharing of physical activity information on social media. In accordance with incentive theory (Killeen & Fetterman, 1988), when positive reinforcement is provided immediately after a behavior that needs to be reinforced, the person who exhibited the behavior has more motivation to perform this behavior. As such, the BioShare system designed by Curmi, Ferrario, and Whittle (2014) enables exercisers to share real-time information about their physical activities on social media while also allowing spectators to provide instant positive feedback to reinforce the exercisers' activities. The application Race By Hearts, developed by Sonne and Jensen (2014), allows stationary bicycle riders in the gym to instantly share physiological information while exercising. Research shows that instant sharing of physiological information reinforces social relations, enhances exercise motivation, and makes physical activities more entertaining. Last, an application developed by Curmi, Ferrario, Southern, and Whittle (2013), Heartlink, lets runners instantly post information related to exercising, such as heart rate, percent of exercise accomplished, running distance, and speed, on social media websites for spectators to view. For every 5 “likes” that spectators provide on the social media interface, the exercisers feel a vibration from a wearable device, an indication of support from spectators. Research results indicate that this mechanism causes exercisers to feel like they are being watched and helps enhance their level of activity. In summary, both real-time sharing and after-exercise sharing of information about exercisers' physical activity on social media provide exercisers with feelings of social support and increase exercisers’ motivation and willingness to engage in physical activity.

To study the impact of spectators with regard to sharing sporting information on social media, Young (2010) observed microblogs such as Twitter to examine how instant sharing of information can change girls' exercising behaviors and promote the development of good health habits. The research indicated that sharing personal information about physical activity among friends provides encouragement and positive feedback for those participating and facilitates collaboration and mutual support. Sharing helped change the girls' habits and motivation with respect to sport activities. The application Heartlink developed by Curmi et al. (2013) allows spectators to feel as though they are closer to the exercisers, even though the two parties are in different places. In addition, instant sharing of exercisers' physiological condition allows spectators to feel that they belong to the same group as the exercisers. Nevertheless, previous research, such as Lin et al. (2006), Mueller et al. (2010), and Munson and Consolvo (2012), mainly focused on exercisers' motivation and behavior. Although Curmi et al.‘s studies (2013; 2014) touched on both exercisers and spectators, the primary focus was on the effect of spectator presence on exercisers' performance. Thus far, little research has investigated the correlation among social support, the use of technology, and motivation to participate in physical activity for both exercisers and spectators.

With respect to providing exercisers and spectators with more motivation to participate in physical activities, Fogg (2009) observed that for someone to execute an action or achieve a goal, the following requirements must be met simultaneously: the person must (1) be motivated, (2) have the ability to achieve the goal, and (3) be motivated to execute the action. Motivation has been used as a viable approach to change users' attitudes and behaviors. Self-determination theory (SDT) is one of the most prominent theories used to understand people's intrinsic and extrinsic motivations (Ryan & Deci, 2000). According to SDT, one's motivation can lie on a spectrum from amotivation to extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. As the internalization of motivation increases, one's motivation can change from amotivation to intrinsic motivation.

Ryan and Deci (2000) stated that intrinsic motivation is based on 3 psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Autonomy refers to a person's sense of control over his or her own choices. Competence refers to a person's sense of knowledge and skills required to achieve a goal. Last, relatedness refers to a person's sense of community and psychological connection to others, which can influence decision making. When one's needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are met, one has positive psychological well-being and motivation to achieve a goal. In contrast to intrinsic motivation, or doing an activity for the inherent satisfaction of the activity itself, extrinsic motivation is one's expectation of attaining separable outcomes from completing an activity. According to SDT, extrinsic motivation can vary based on autonomous regulation and can be categorized as external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and integrated regulation. External regulation involves behaviors performed solely for an external reward or to satisfy external demands. Introjected regulation involves performing behaviors but not fully accepting them. Identified regulation is when one consciously values a behavioral regulation to the point that it is accepted as personally important. Last, under integrated regulation, the regulation aligns with one's other values and needs, but the motivation for the regulation involves attaining separable outcomes.

Given that SDT is a well-established and recognized theory, it has been successfully implemented to determine how intrinsic motivation can increase a person's willingness to exercise and participate in physical activity. Teixeira, Carraça, Markland, Silva, and Ryan (2012) conducted a systematic literature review on the relationships among exercise, physical activity, and SDT. The results showed that autonomous regulation is important in fostering physical activity. Competence satisfaction can positively predict participation in physical activity in a large range of samples and settings. Overall, past studies have demonstrated that SDT provides supportive evidence for understanding exercise behavior and motivation. Regarding motivation for exercise and participation in physical fitness, SDT holds great promise for advancing our understanding of the positive and negative effects of motivation, particularly the autonomous (i.e., self-determined) motivational orientation, which is confirmed to have a positive effect on exercise intentions and behavior (Niven & Markland, 2016; Werner, Dickson, & Hyde, 2015). For this reason, Tsai et al. (2016) utilized the characteristics of social media and SDT (Ryan & Deci, 2000) to design suitable social exercise features and develop a mobile social exercise platform, Gatherun, that enables exercisers and spectators to interact through social media to enhance exercise motivation. The aim of the app is to encourage those who do not exercise or do not regularly exercise to participate in physical activities, thereby transforming this group of people into potential exercisers and ultimately self-driven exercisers who regularly participate in physical activities.

The technology acceptance model (TAM), which is an information technology/systems theory that models how users come to accept and use a technology, was first proposed by Davis (1989) and Bhattacherjee (2001) and is based on the theory of reasoned action (TRA) (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) and the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991). The TAM replaces many of the TRA's attitude measures with two technology acceptance measures: perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU). Moreover, the actual usage of a new technology/system is complex and involves making choices under conditions of uncertainty, users' attitudes toward usage and intentions to learn to use the new technology prior to initiating efforts directed at use. Thus, behavioral intention (BI), which is a factor that leads people to use a technology, and attitude (A), which is a general impression of the technology and positively influences BI, were added to form the TAM. That is, the TAM includes 5 variables: external variables, PEOU, PU, A, and BI. The TAM theorizes that an individual's A and BI toward a new system are determined by two beliefs: PU and PEOU. External variables could impact users' PEOU and PU of a certain technology. Over the years, the TAM has become the key model for predicting users' attitudes and acceptance of newly developed information technology (Marangunić & Granić, 2015). The strength of the model has been confirmed in numerous studies in a broad range of contexts, including, but not limited to, health informatics, e-learning, e-commerce, activity tracking technologies and mobile social network games (Marangunić & Granić, 2015; Rahimi, Nadri, Afshar, & Timpka, 2018).

The TAM has been further used in related fields, such as the gamification of exercise and social networking services. For example, Lunney, Cunningham, and Eastin (2016) used the TAM to understand users' perceptions of a wearable fitness technology that can track physical activity, such as steps taken, calories burned and workout intensity. Park, Baek, Ohm, and Chang (2014) used the TAM to investigate users' behaviors and attitudes regarding the use of mobile devices and social network games. These and other studies demonstrate the TAM's generalizability to different research areas and its broad applicability to novel technologies and beyond theory to practice. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted to understand people's acceptance of a social exercise platform such as Gatherun. Thus, in this study, the TAM is selected to help us explain exercisers' and spectators' attitudes towards and explore users' willingness to use Gatherun.

Given that different technologies have different characteristics and the aim of each study varies significantly, many researchers combine the TAM with other constructs to investigate how those constructs affect users' attitudes toward and willingness to use technologies. In the current literature, there are many studies that indicate the importance of integrating acceptance and motivational factors to investigate how the design of a technology could enhance users' intrinsic motivation and lead to a positive attitude toward the technology and to the expected behavioral outcomes. For instance, Sørebø, Halvari, Gulli, and Kristiansen (2009) extended the IS continuance theory with SDT from the perspective of teachers' utilization of e-learning technology, and the results showed that a model integrating the IS continuance theory with SDT can be useful for predicting users’ e-learning continuance intentions. Moreover, Nikou and Economides (2017) proposed a combined model of SDT and the TAM that integrated the constructs of autonomy, competence and relatedness from the SDT with the TAM to explore and predict the factors influencing behavioral intention to use mobile-based assessment. Their results verified that there is a relation between motivation and technology acceptance.

As emphasized by Higgins (2016), there is a need for a successful fitness or exercise application based on a theoretical framework for behavior change and intervention that incorporates substantial empirical evidence. Based on the purpose of stimulating interest in and motivation toward exercise participation in the exercise group (e.g., exercisers) and the potential exercise group (e.g., spectators), a social exercise platform, Gatherun, which was developed by Tsai et al. (2016), was selected in this study. The currently popular road race forms the core of the app, and the characteristics of social media and SDT were used to design suitable social exercise features. In addition to exploring how the 3 intrinsic motivations in SDT affect exercisers' and spectators' attitudes and behavioral intentions regarding the use of the Gatherun system, we selected the TAM to help us understand exercisers' and spectators' attitudes toward and willingness to use Gatherun in this study. That is, we applied SDT together with the TAM to create an analytical framework for examining users’ motivation, attitude toward technology and willingness to use a social exercise platform to participate in road running through the Gatherun system. It should be noted that in the original TAM, there is an “external variable” construct that allows researchers to incorporate other constructs into the model. Because the Gatherun app includes interactions between exercisers and spectators, perceived playfulness is thus taken into consideration as an additional external variable.

Section snippets

Hypothesis development

The research model is based on the SDT concepts of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The model integrates concepts from the TAM, including PEOU, PU, A, and BI, as well as an additional variable-perceived playfulness. As the purpose of the study is to investigate both the exercisers' and spectators’ technological acceptance of a social exercise platform, hypotheses are proposed for both exercisers and spectators. The relational framework for the factors examined in this study is defined in

Participants

Considering that most mobile apps target young adult audiences (aged 18 or above), as shown in a recent study (Janssen, Scheerder, Thibaut, Brombacher, & Vos, 2017), the majority of those who use running apps and sport watches are younger than 45 years (64.5%). Thus, participants aged 18–45 years were eligible for inclusion.

In total, 150 participants aged 18–35 years agreed to participate in the study. Participants were divided into pairs, with 1 partner performing the exerciser's tasks and the

Confirmatory factor analysis results for the exercisers

The confirmatory factor analysis results for exercisers are presented in Table 4. The reliability of each TAM factor was tested by the item reliability (Cronbach's alpha) and the item-total correlation. For an item to be considered reliable, the item reliability (Cronbach's alpha) and item-total correlation values must be greater than 0.7 and 0.3, respectively. The results indicated that all factors reached the recommended values. For composite reliability tests to determine whether all items

Discussion

Based on the path analyses for the exercisers and spectators, the 2 groups show significant results for 4 paths. As Gatherun enables exercisers and spectators to interact with each other instantly, the use of this application satisfies both groups' need for social interaction; both groups of users also feel that Gatherun is helpful for enhancing their exercise motivation (H4 is true). In addition, for both exercisers and spectators, user autonomy is affected by relatedness. This result is

Conclusion

This experiment tested the Gatherun system with 75 exercisers and 75 spectators. After the conclusion of the experiment, the participants were required to complete a questionnaire. Path analyses were then conducted for the exercisers and spectators. Four hypotheses were significant for both the exercisers and spectators. Relatedness had a positive impact on PU and autonomy. Additionally, PU and attitude had a positive impact on behavioral intention to use Gatherun. The 2 groups of users also

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Tsai-Hsuan Tsai: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Yung-Sheng Chang: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing - original draft. Hsien-Tsung Chang: Conceptualization, Methodology. Yu-Wen Lin: Conceptualization, Data curation.

Acknowledgement

This work was supported in part by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan, R.O.C., under Grant MOST105-2221-E-182-025-MY2, MOST107-2221-E-182-055-, and MOST108-2221-E-182 -001 -MY2. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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