The effects of extrinsic reward that affect a user’s continuous intention to use a fitness application

ABSTRACT

Fitness application service providers are offering rewards, such as points to users as incentives for service use. However, it is questionable whether this reward offering is an effective measure for persuading consumers to use fitness applications continuously. This study examines how reward affects continued use of fitness applications. An online survey was conducted on 268 people who actually used the fitness application. Respondents were divided into two groups at random, an extrinsic reward group and a non-extrinsic reward group, to check the effects of the rewards. Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. Factors influencing a user’s continuous intention to use fitness applications will vary depending on whether rewards are provided. For the extrinsic reward group, perceived enjoyment and perceived privacy protection were significant variables to continue use of a fitness application. However, for the non-extrinsic reward group, monetary value was a significant variable. For continuous use of a fitness application, if rewards are provided, it is necessary to emphasize intrinsic factors such as fun rather than extrinsic factors such as savings and cost. On the other hand, without rewards, it is necessary to highlight extrinsic factors rather than intrinsic factors.

KEYWORDS:

• Mobile health
• fitness application
• extrinsic reward
• user acceptance
• customer reward

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2019S1A5A2A01035418)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea [NRF-2019S1A5A2A01035418].