Predicting future use intention of fitness apps among fitness app users in the United Kingdom: the role of health consciousness

Abstract

Purpose

This study replicates and extends the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) to explain the drivers of future use intention of fitness apps among users. It extends existing theory by investigating continuance usage and adding health consciousness as a driver; an extension, which has implications for future studies on emerging technologies in the health care sector and beyond.

Design/methodology/approach

Building on the UTAUT2, the author built a path model of future app-use intention. A survey involving 591 respondents from the United Kingdom was conducted, and the data was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results of this study confirm that five drivers explain future use intention, namely habit, perceived playfulness, health consciousness, perceived performance and price value. These findings have implications for sports marketing theory and practice, as well as for policymakers, in that health consciousness is important for fitness app adoption, which in turn has repercussions for entire health care systems.

Originality/value

This study makes two main contributions. It extends technology acceptance theory by using a sample of users to explain future use intention of fitness apps and adds the construct health consciousness as a nontechnological element of the continuance usage of fitness apps to the model. The result is a path model that confirms the importance of personal health consciousness and potential generalizability to future health industry technologies with further implications for sports marketing management theory and practice.

Citation

Damberg, S. (2022), "Predicting future use intention of fitness apps among fitness app users in the United Kingdom: the role of health consciousness", International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 369-384. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSMS-01-2021-0013