Exploring the factors that support adoption and sustained use of health and fitness wearables

ABSTRACT

The Internet of Things (IoT) and, particularly, wearable products have changed the focus of the healthcare industry to prevention programmes that enable people to become active and take responsibility for their own health. These benefits will only materialise, however, if users adopt and continue to use these products, as opposed to abandoning them shortly after purchase. Our study investigates how the characteristics of the device, the context and the user can support the adoption and the sustained use of health and fitness wearables. We find that the factors that support the former differ from those that support the latter. For instance, features that signal the device’s ability to collect activity data are essential for adoption, whereas device portability and resilience are key for sustained use.

KEYWORDS:

• Internet of Things
• wearables
• technology adoption
• consumer behaviour
• health and fitness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ana Isabel Canhoto

Ana Isabel Canhoto is Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Oxford Brookes University. She researches, writes and advises organisations on how technology changes the interactions between organisations and their customers. She chairs the Academy of Marketing’s Services Marketing and Customer Relationship Management special interest group. Prior to joining academia, she worked as a management consultant in the telecommunications industry and as a portfolio manager at a leading media and entertainment company, among others.

Sabrina Arp

Sabrina Arp holds an MSc in Marketing (Distinction) and she is an alumna of Oxford Brookes University. She is now working in the project management department of a marketing agency in Germany.