=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2089/5_Haque
|storemode=property
|title=Measuring the Influence of a Persuasive Application to Promote Physical Activity
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2089/5_Haque.pdf
|volume=Vol-2089
|authors=Md Sanaul Haque,Minna Isomursu,Maarit Kangas,Timo Jämsä
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/persuasive/HaqueIKJ18
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==Measuring the Influence of a Persuasive Application to Promote Physical Activity==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2089/5_Haque.pdf
Measuring the Influence of a Persuasive Application to
Promote Physical Activity
Md Sanaul Haque1,7, Minna Isomursu2,3,6,7, Maarit Kangas1,4,7, Timo Jämsä1,4,5,7
1 Research Unit of Medical Imaging Physics and Technology, University of Oulu, Finland
2 INTERACT Research Group, University of Oulu, Finland
3 IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark
4 Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Finland
5 Diagnostic Radiology, Oulun University Hospital, Finland
6 miis@itu.dk
7{md.haque,minna.isomursu,maarit.kangas,timo.jamsa}@oulu.fi
Abstract. A fundamental challenge for employees in the office environment is
the difficulty of being physically active. The long-term effect of physical inac-
tivity can lower work effectiveness and cause health problems. The non-
substantial indication from recent research suggests that persuasive techniques
can create a significant impact on motivating people. This study investigates the
overall influence of using a persuasive application in promoting physical activi-
ty in the workplace, such as office environment. To motivate individuals for
healthier behaviour, we implemented and tested an application incorporating
Self-Determination Theory (SDT). We conducted an eight-week long usability
evaluation of the application, using the UTAUT model. The questionnaires
were based on the factors: Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social
Influence, Facilitating Conditions, Behavioural Intention, and Use Behaviour.
We found that our persuasive application was satisfactory to motivate users for
physical activity promotion.
Keywords: Persuasive Application, Behaviour Change, Motivation, UTAUT.
1 Introduction
The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that 60 to 85% of adults worldwide are
leading inactive lifestyles [11]. It is recommended for every adult to take part in 150
minutes of physical activity per week [2]. Physical inactivity is related to the change
of physiologic processes resulting e.g. in reduced exercise capacity, muscle atrophy,
and altered energy balance [3]. Physical inactivity leads to the risk of obesity, stroke,
type 2 diabetes and mental health problems. Various chronic diseases are caused by
these risk factors that lead causes of death [4]. On the other hand, regular physical
activity prevents modern society diseases, such as heart diseases, diabetes, depression
and cancer [5][6]. The long-term effect of physical inactivity such as long sitting pe-
riods during a day can lower the working progress. However, the workplace has been
recognized by the WHO as a priority setting in promoting health [7]. Technological
Copyright © 2018 held by the paper’s authors. Copying permitted for private and academic
purposes.
In: R. Orji, M. Kaptein, J. Ham, K. Oyibo, J. Nwokeji (eds.): Proceedings of the Personaliza-
tion in Persuasive Technology Workshop, Persuasive Technology 2018, Waterloo, Canada,
17-04-2018, published at http://ceur-ws.org
44 Measuring the Influence of a Persuasive Application to Promote Physical Activity
solutions can be used to support behaviour change, e.g. physical activity through per-
suasion.
Persuasive technology is a term that refers to any interactive computing system de-
signed to transform people’s behaviours and attitudes [8]. Approximately, there are
more than 40,000 smartphone apps which are designed to persuade users to transform
their health behaviours, such as physical activity, diet, and smoking [9]. Even though
there is an ascending number of research publications in the area [10], content analy-
sis of existing mobile apps disclosed the use of theories on behaviour change or per-
suasive technology and contains little evidence-based content [11][12][13]. There is a
need to make better use of theory and evidence when designing mobile application
destined to encourage behaviour change [14][15]. Research has shown little evidence
on theoretical approaches to designing the persuasive technologies [16][17].
This study, therefore, explored how satisfactory and persuasive technologies fol-
lowing theory-driven system design are in increasing physical activity, through foster-
ing daily walking among individuals who are engaged in their office environment. We
aimed to incorporate the psychological Self-Determination Theory (SDT) in the de-
sign and implementation of an app for promoting physical activity [18].
The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) is a widely
used technology acceptance model [19]. It has been used as a list of factors that can
affect integration of technology-mediated communication e.g. smartphones. The aim
to formulate UTAUT was to adopt research and theory with respect to individual
acceptance of the information and communications technology (ICT) into an integrat-
ed theoretical model [19]. Eight models were considered by comparing the usage of
ICT and determinants of intention and later, conceptual and empirical similarities
were analysed to formulate UTAUT [19]. Previously UTAUT model has been applied
to analyse students’ ICT adoption [20] and students’ use of English E-learning Web-
sites [21]. It can be envisioned that UTAUT can be used to analyse the usage and
acceptance of persuasive application to promote physical activity in addressing our
research question. Yet, there is no empirical evidence in the literature on using the
UTAUT model in analysing the effect of a persuasive application to promote physical
activity for the employees. This study aims to fill the gap by answering the main re-
search question: What is the influence of using a persuasive application in promoting
physical activity in the office working setting?
To answer the research question, we designed an Android OS based app named
iGO incorporating SDT and the User-Centered-Design (UCD) process. The app was
used for eight weeks to measure the users’ regular physical activity. The app recorded
the recommended 10 minutes walking after breakfast/lunch. This study was tailored
to motivate employees to boost their physical activity at their office. The results can
support in building a persuasive application for a healthier lifestyle and in motivating
employees to do daily physical activities such as walking and exercise while working
for a long time at the office and sitting idle for a long time.
Measuring the Influence of a Persuasive Application to Promote Physical Activity 45
2 Literature Review
2.1 Motivation
There has been an acknowledgement of SDT [22] in health research particularly in the
context of physical activity [23]. Autonomy support, psychological needs and motiva-
tion explain the physical activity behavioural change process in SDT. Autonomy sup-
port describes individual’s point of view about the social atmosphere for him/herself,
which helps to facilitate choices and requirements, and accepts individual’s option
and justification at the time of selecting choices. Individual psychological needs of
autonomy, competence and relatedness are influenced positively by the higher level
of autonomy support. Autonomy can be derived as “the perceived origin or source of
one’s own behaviour” in the physical activity [24]. Competence helps to “feeling
effective in one’s ongoing interactions with the social environment and experiencing
opportunities to exercise and express one’s capabilities” [24]. Relatedness helps to
feel connected with others [25]. Thus, if the level of self-determined motivation is
greater, that will be the result of these psychological needs. Within SDT, three types
of motivation are recognized: intrinsic motivation, amotivation, and extrinsic motiva-
tion. Intrinsic motivation signifies doing something that is enjoyable or interesting
intrinsically. Amotivation can be described as the state of not being present willingly
to get involved in physical activity. Extrinsic motivation refers to rewarding, i.e. one
will likely do an activity if he/she will get a reward at the end of the activity. Self-
determination motivation with higher level relates to additional physical activity in-
volvement [26][27]. In physical activity context, SDT has not been used in the entire
SDT sequence (Fig. 1) but only in the autonomy support, psychological needs, and
self-determination motivation. Recently the adequacy of SDT has been confirmed for
physical activity [28] but not particularly in the workplace. In this study, SDT is ap-
plied from the workplace perspective to motivate employees to walk/exercise after
breakfast and lunch to achieve positive working hour productivity.
Fig. 1. Our approach of the entire SDT sequence
2.2 UTAUT
UTAUT model had been formulated by integrating eight technology acceptance
models [19]. These includes, the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) [29], Social Cog-
nitive Theory (SCT) [30], the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) [31], the Theory
of Planned Behaviour (TPB) [32], Model of PC Utilization (MPCU) [33], Motiva-
tional Model (MM) [34], the Combined-TAM-TPB [35] and Innovation Diffusion
46 Measuring the Influence of a Persuasive Application to Promote Physical Activity
Theory (IDT) [36]. UTAUT model leverages individual acceptance of individual
research by combining the theoretical technology acceptance models from literature.
It incorporates four moderators to justify for dynamic influences, including age, gen-
der, voluntariness, and experience. According to UTAUT, the use of technology can
be influenced by the four key constructs: performance expectancy, effort expectancy,
social influence, and facilitating conditions (Table 1).
Table 1. UTAUT four key constructs
Four constructs of UTAUT Definition Reference
“The degree to which an individual believes
Performance expectancy that using the system will help him or her [19]
attain gains in job performance”
“The degree of ease associated with the use
Effort expectancy of the system” [19]
“The degree to which an individual perceives
that important other believe he or she should
Social influence [19]
use the new system”
“The degree to which an individual believes
Facilitating Conditions that an organizational and technical infra- [19]
structure exists to support use of system”
Factors performance expectancy, effort expectancy and social influence affect the
users’ behavioural intention. Facilitating conditions and behavioural intention influ-
ence the actual use of the technology [19], such as a persuasive application.
2.3 Benefit of Physical Activity using Persuasive Application
Technology is a useful tool for supporting behavioural change e.g. physical activity
through persuasion. Two types of behaviour (internal and external) influence the
techniques of persuasion. Persuasive applications mostly focus on external behaviour
[37], e.g. a tracker for exercise [38], which is convenient and influencing. Persuasive
applications have been designed for psychological encouragement such as displaying
a virtual garden to persuade emotional connection to the personal level of physical
activity [39]. Promoting physical activities through a persuasive application is a pro-
spective way to support healthier lifestyle in one’s life, e.g. by sending a reminder to
do exercises and monitoring the daily data about the health condition. It is shown that
physical activities increase work productivity [40]. Evaluation of the usefulness of
health applications to encouraging physical activity has been recommended [41].
Measuring the Influence of a Persuasive Application to Promote Physical Activity 47
3 Methodology
3.1 Research Model
UTAUT model was used to analyse the acceptance and use of the persuasive appli-
cation (iGO physical activity promotion app) by employees at their office to promote
their physical activities. According to UTAUT model, the use of a physical activity
app can be influenced by the four factors: performance expectancy, effort expectancy,
social influence, and facilitating conditions (Fig 2). In our case, the curbing effect of
age, gender, voluntariness and experience was not considered. We assume that these
factors do not have a significant effect on the results due to their homogeneous pro-
fessional background and intention for physical activities. We have modified our
research model accordingly.
3.2 Hypotheses
The UTAUT model incorporates the eight-technology acceptance theoretical mod-
els and consists of the core factors of usage intention [19]. Factors performance ex-
pectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence significantly influence behavioural
intention. Factors facilitating conditions and behavioural intention influence the use
behaviour. In our present study, we hypothesise (Fig. 2):
Fig. 2. UTAUT model for a persuasive application in promoting physical activity. Hypothe-
ses (H1-H5) of the study are shown here. UTAUT = Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use
of Technology (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis and Davis, 2003)
H1) Performance expectancy positively influences user’s intention to use persua-
sive application for promoting physical activity;
H2) Effort expectancy positively influences user’s intention to use persuasive ap-
plication;
H3) Social influence positively influences user’s intention to use persuasive appli-
cation;
48 Measuring the Influence of a Persuasive Application to Promote Physical Activity
H4) Facilitating conditions of persuasive application positively influences users’
use behaviours of actual use of a persuasive application; and
H5) Behavioural intentions to use a persuasive application positively influences
users’ behaviours of the actual use of a persuasive application.
3.3 System Design
We designed a persuasive application iGO [18] to encourage workers to exercise
and walk more often during working hours. iGO is a gamified and persuasive applica-
tion that encourages users to perform their regular physical activity. It records their
use behaviour by encouraging self-determination task and by allowing them to save
their individual choices and selections (Fig. 3).
iGO application is based on the proposed system model [42]. This model was a
recipe of the SDT theory, game elements (points, badges and leaderboard), and posi-
tive and motivating outcomes (exercise and weight control). The existing Ryan’s SDT
theory model of health behavioral change [43] was applied to support the proposed
Fig. 3. Print screens of the iGO physical activity app
system model. The approach of the SDT sequence (autonomy support – psychological
needs – extrinsic motivation) was adopted for measuring health behaviour change.
The proposed system model was implemented to a prototype of the iGO application.
The prototype was built using the UCD process [42] and the over-all usability of the
designed prototype was evaluated for a week-long study before the implementation of
the iGO application. The function of the iGO app is simple and personalized due to
users’ recommendation when using the UCD process to develop the prototype.
People can feel demotivated to complete a task enthusiastically, e.g. by messaging
through mobile texting, which had been used to improve self-efficacy of glycemic
control for the diabetic patients [44]. Therefore, alarm/vibration was added as a re-
minder to the iGO application. It starts with an alarm after the breakfast and lunch
Measuring the Influence of a Persuasive Application to Promote Physical Activity 49
recess. Taking a light exercise or walking brings health benefits such as weight loss
[45], suppresses postprandial serum triglyceride [46] and more precisely walking 10
minutes after each meal reduces blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes [47]. Here, the
application will show an option on the main menu to choose “yes” or “no” in terms of
having breakfast or lunch. If a user selects “no” for not having breakfast, then the
alarm will appear again after 10 minutes and will ask user to select option. If user
selects “yes”, then the system will ask for a choice of preference for physical activi-
ties i.e. “physical activity with others” or “physical activity by own”. Time starts to
count for 10 minutes if user chooses “physical activity with others”. Each 5-minute
slot gives 1 point (10 minutes = 2 points). We applied the PBL (points, badges and
leaderboards) game design elements, in order to motivate users to walk for 10 minutes
and earn points towards their goal. Within the physical activity research, it has been
shown that points and badges [48], and leaderboard [48] can persuade individuals to
complete a specific goal. 3000 steps in 30 minutes has been suggested to lead people
for a meaningful exercise [49]. Therefore, we adopted this for every minute equaling
to 100 steps. The accelerometer sensor in the smart device tracks the footsteps of the
user and keeps count of steps (targeting 1000 steps in 10 minutes). On the other hand,
if a user selects “physical activity by own” then the system follows the above function
gain. Users can see a leaderboard as a social interactive display by selecting “view-
points” from the main menu. The leaderboard shows the rank list of the individuals.
Leaderboard has the options to show user profile photo and name. If a user prefers,
his/her name and picture will appear on the leaderboard based on their earned points.
Users can customize their picture and name visibility settings when signing into their
iGO account.
In our previous iGO design [18] users received a nice portrait image if they scored
highest points and the ones who scored less received a portrait image with a fatty
face. After testing the application, users suggested skipping this idea due to privacy
concerns. We upgraded a newer version of the iGO based on users’ recommendation,
and the one on the leaderboard in the 1st position will receive a Gold Badge, the 2nd
will receive Silver Badge and the 3rd will receive a Bronze Badge. In the context of
the users, designing application should be based on the operation of the application
such as what are the functions and how they supported users. The aim of the iGO app
was to collect users’ data and analyse them so that users can receive useful infor-
mation that will make them concerned in using the application [50].
3.4 Data Collection
To evaluate user acceptance, we collected end-user data in relation to the ac-
ceptance and use of the persuasive application to promote physical activity. Partici-
pants were recruited for using the iGO app. The android OS based iGO app was de-
signed for the participants to send reminders to do daily physical activities after
breakfast and lunch and record users’ daily physical activities. After an eight-week
period of using the iGO app, participants filled a questionnaire that was modified
from the question items of [19]. The questions related to performance expectancy,
effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and behavioural intentions
50 Measuring the Influence of a Persuasive Application to Promote Physical Activity
and user behaviour were as follows: (1) “using the iGO physical activity app im-
proves work productivity at office”, (2) “finding the iGO physical activity app is easy
to use”, (3) “colleagues’ and others’ thinking approach on the users to use iGO phys-
ical activity app”, (4) “resources e.g. internet access while using app”, and (5) “in-
tentions to use iGO app in future physical activity and the overcoming physical inac-
tivity during the month while actually using the iGO physical activity app”. The ques-
tionnaires were analysed quantitatively using correlation analyses.
3.5 Participants
To recruit the participants, an invitation email/telephone was sent to participate in
the study to 56 employed/self-employed individuals residing in Finland, UK, Ireland
and Bangladesh. Participants were healthy adults, most of them employed in multi-
national ICT companies. Some of them were self-employed in their own business and
others were fully employed and studying on a part-time. Forty-seven participants
responded to the invitation through email/telephone. Out of those, 31 participants
agreed to take part in the eight-week long pilot study, and the information and consent
form and pre-questionnaire were sent to them. The pre-questionnaires were filled by
28 participants, who formed the study group for the pilot study (Fig. 4). The pilot
study was designed to use the iGO app on their android smartphones for 8 weeks. A
smartphone was issued to them under the returning terms and conditions to those who
did not own an android smartphone. Six participants dropped out due to their profes-
sional reasons and re-location-shifting to new cities etc. Thus, 22 healthy participants
completed the study.
Fig. 4. Flowchart of study participants
Measuring the Influence of a Persuasive Application to Promote Physical Activity 51
3.6 Procedure and Materials
The iGO app was installed on participants’ smart devices (android phones / tablets)
Participants were requested to use the iGO app daily for at least 10 minutes after the
breakfast and lunch while walking during the recession at the office. It was recom-
mended for them to carry the smart device when walking. A total of 20 minutes had
been assigned for each participant to use the iGO app (10 minutes after the breakfast
and 10 minutes after the lunch). A reminder was sent via alarm/vibration to partici-
pants during the breakfast and lunch time to use the iGO app. Their walking after
breakfast and lunch was monitored, and they earned reward points every five minutes
they used the iGO app. A total of 1000 footstep during the 10 minutes was rewarded
by 2 points. Participants could choose to walk with colleagues or walking alone by
choosing options from the app. Participants were instructed to use the iGO app for at
least eight weeks. The participants started to use the iGO app between March-May
2017. A post-questionnaire was sent after 8 weeks when they finished using the iGO
app. The post-questionnaire was addressed to the usability issues of the iGO app and
to observe how motivated the participants’ feel in the context of their working pro-
gress and physical health. We used performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social
influence behavioural intentions, facilitating conditions and use behaviour as factors
to design the UTAUT post-questionnaire. It was used to analyse the effectiveness of
the persuasive application in promoting physical activity. The questionnaire had a 7-
point Likert scale of 1 : 7 corresponding to Completely disagree : Completely agree.
The purpose was to analyse the data of the users and measure the acceptance and
use of the technology (iGO app). Correlation analysis was used to analyse data. If Y is
the independent variable and X is the dependent variable, the correlation is Y = f (X).
Here, in our study, to test the hypotheses we followed the criteria in below.
(H1) Hypotheses 1; Y1: Performance Expectancy = f (X1: Behavioural Intention)
(H2) Hypotheses 2; Y2: Effort Expectancy = f (X2: Behavioural Intention)
(H3) Hypotheses 3; Y3: Social Influence = f (X3: Behavioural Intention)
(H4) Hypotheses 4; Y4: Facilitating Conditions = f (X4: Use Behaviour)
(H5) Hypotheses 5; Y5: Behavioural Intention = f (X5: Use Behaviour)
To acquire more accurate analysis, we used the ANOVA for calculating the range
of correlation coefficient and p-value for each hypothesis to confirm their statistical
significance. Several values are accepted for interpreting the correlation coefficient, R
[51]. Whereas +1 and -1 show perfect positive and negative relationships, values be-
tween 0 and .3 indicate a weak positive and between 0 and -0.3 indicate a weak nega-
tive relationship, values between 0.3 and 0.7 denote (0.3 and −0.7) show a moderate
positive while -0.3 to -0.7 denote negative, and values between 0.7 and 1.0 indicate a
strong positive and between −0.7 and −1.0 shows a strong negative relationship [51].
Moreover, the relationships were considered statistically significant if p<0.05.
52 Measuring the Influence of a Persuasive Application to Promote Physical Activity
4 Results
4.1 Quantitative Results
Participants responded to the question item of performance expectancy between
“Somewhat agree” and “Mostly agree” (mean value M=5.6, standard deviation
SD=0.9), see Fig. 5, participants mostly considering that the iGO app improved their
work productivity. Participants responded similarly in response to the question items
of effort expectancy (M=5.9, SD=0.6), social influence (M=5.5, SD=1.0) and behav-
ioural intentions (M=5.8, SD=1.2) (Fig. 5). Conversely, participants reported between
“Neither disagree or agree” and “Somewhat agree” in terms of facilitating conditions
(M=4.4, SD=1.4) i.e. they could not have enough resources to use the iGO app. How-
ever, the overall satisfaction to use the iGO app to promote physical activity was be-
tween “Mostly agree” and “Completely agree” i.e. participants responded significant-
ly in terms of the user behaviour (M=6.4, SD=0.9).
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
PE EE SI FC BI UB
Fig. 5. Mean and standard deviation of performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy
(EE), social influence (SI), facilitating conditions (FC), behavioural intention (BI), use be-
haviour (UB)
4.2 Research Hypotheses Results
To study the H1, we analysed the correlation between variables performance ex-
pectancy and behavioural intentions (Fig. 2). Correlation between variables effort
expectancy and behavioural intentions were analysed to test the H2. To prove the H3,
social influence and behavioural intentions were analysed. On the other hand, when
testing the H4, the correlation between the facilitating conditions and use behaviour
was analysed to test H5. Users indicated the following result relating to our hypothe-
ses. Performance expectancy positively correlated with users’ intentions to use the
iGO physical activity app (p=.007 R=.561), see Table 2. This implies that when em-
ployees expect a persuasive application to promote their physical activity, they in-
crease their intentions to use the application. Effort expectancy was positively associ-
Measuring the Influence of a Persuasive Application to Promote Physical Activity 53
ated with users’ intentions to use the application (p=.027, R=.470). This indicates that
when users expect a persuasive application to be convenient for them to use, they
increase their intentions to use the application (p=.027, R=.470). This indicates that
when users expect a persuasive application to be convenient for them to use, they
increase their intentions to use it. Social influence positively affected users’ intentions
to use the application (p=.007, R=.558). This indicates that when employees interact
with their colleagues for a suggestion to use a persuasive application, the employees
increase their intentions to use the application. Facilitating conditions did not signifi-
cantly influence use behaviour of actually using the application (p=.361, R=.204), see
Table 1. Behavioural intention positively influenced users’ use behaviour of actually
using the application (p=.019; R=.497) and thus, when users are more intended to use
the application to promote physical activity, they use the iGO application more often.
Table 2. Confirmation of Hypotheses
Hypotheses R P Strength Support
##
H1 .561 .007** Moderate Yes
##
H2 .470 .027* Moderate Yes
##
H3 .558 .007** Moderate Yes
H4 .204 .361 Low No
##
H5 .497 .019* Moderate Yes
*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001, ##0.3< |R| ≤0.7, ###0.7< |R| ≤1.
The overall results of the hypotheses support UTAUT model except the factor fa-
cilitating conditions. In some cases, users were not having reliable internet access
from their mobile phone network provider or WIFI access in their offices. From the
developing side of the app it was acceptable since anyway the app was accessible
using internet connection. We can conclude here that facilitating conditions were
satisfactory for the development of the application but not for the existing workplace
environment of the users. However, facilitating conditions can be solved by upgrading
the app. Furthermore, users should be informed that the iGO app shall be supported
by the facilitating conditions.
4.3 Limitations and Further Research
We measured the influence only through the subjective experience of the partici-
pants with questionnaires instead of actually measuring whether the app had an effect
for doing more exercise or not. Based on the confirmation of the hypotheses, the iGO
physical activity app needs still to be upgraded to fulfil the requirements of facilitat-
ing conditions, such as having the option to use the iGO app when they are offline.
54 Measuring the Influence of a Persuasive Application to Promote Physical Activity
The iGO installed in the smartphone should be able to keep the record of offline activ-
ities and update the record into the data server when online. As an example, social
media network Facebook has the similar option that the system update user’s status
when the internet is available. The sensor to track the physical activities were also not
compatible with all the smartphone models, i.e. it was working only on those which
has the built sensor. More options for the users (option to walking more than 10
minutes) and offline activities for the users might be useful. The number of the drop-
outs was comparatively low. Only six out of 28 participants dropped out during the
eight-week study, which suggests that the design of the iGO app was a rather success-
ful approach using psychological theory SDT. Anyway, most of the participants were
busy with their personal and professional lives, which may explain the dropouts. Total
participant number to take part in the pilot session was still limited, and the statistical
strength would increase with a higher sample size. A larger number of participants
might demonstrate the specific effects of the persuasive application in more accuracy.
This is a work-in-progress paper. Initially, we tested the usability issues such as the
effect of the persuasive application in terms of users’ physical activity promotion at
their workplace. Next, we will measure and analyse weight management and the psy-
chological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness of the users.
5 Conclusion
This paper examined the influence of persuasive application in encouraging the
physical activity of the employees at their workplace during the office hours. To do
this, SDT was selected to design and build a physical activity app iGO. SDT runs
explicitly as a psychological level of analysis, finding reasons of users’ motivation,
their emotions, thoughts and reactions. SDT confirmed healthy environment to im-
prove the intrinsic motivation of the users by fulfilling their psychological needs of
autonomy, competence and relatedness. After building the iGO physical activity app,
we conducted an eight-week pilot study. Participants used the iGO app just after their
breakfast and lunch breaks to monitor their physical activities e.g. walking and exer-
cise. After the eight-week period, the participants filled out a post-questionnaire form
that was modified based on the UTAUT model, which combines eight theoretical
technology models from literature. All factors of UTAUT appeared to work well in
terms of technology acceptance except the facilitating conditions. This was mainly
due to internet connection, which may suggest an updated version of the iGO app.
The overall effect of the persuasive application iGO was positive in the context of
user’s satisfaction in promoting physical activity at the workplace. Further study to
analyse the iGO app by measuring the psychological needs of SDT will gauge the
effectiveness of the persuasive application to encourage physical activity and to im-
prove work productivity.
Measuring the Influence of a Persuasive Application to Promote Physical Activity 55
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