Competitive orientation as a basis for personalization of competition feature and its contents in mobile applications promoting physical activity

Abstract

New technologies, such as web and mobile applications, propose a promising means for promoting healthier lifestyles. Behaviour change support systems (BCSSs) and persuasive systems are concepts that have been introduced to create a common grounds for studying such new technologies. Previous study has found that competition strategy, commonly used in persuasive systems, is perceived controversially both as motivating and demotivating for users. Furthermore, previous study has found that personalization of the system according to user characteristics can increase system persuasiveness. This thesis is one of the first studies to explore how the psychological construct of competitive orientation can be utilized as a basis for personalizing persuasive systems. More in particular, this thesis is the first study to explore how competitive orientation of an individual should be considered in the design of competition strategy. Two research methods were used: conceptual analysis and analysis of empirical data. Study results suggest that the competitive orientation of a user is one of the factors explaining the perceived persuasiveness of competition strategy. This study proposes that competition strategy should be personalized to match the user’s competitive orientation. Furthermore, this study suggests that the persuasive systems design model should be extended to include a feature of self-competition to leverage the power of the self-developmental aspect of competition to motivate behaviour change.