JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Fitness apps like Fitbit aim to advance individuals’ health and wellness by providing personalized activity guidance, activity reports, and a supportive community. Despite their widespread use, sustaining user engagement remains a critical challenge. To ensure effective use of the app, studies on fitness apps have identified factors that affect the user-app relationship. Among these factors, studies have uncovered what these app offer to their users such as exercise guidance and activity status update, helping them reach their ultimate goals.

Objective:

This study aims to contribute to the literature by exploring how personality traits influence what fitness apps offer users, by combining affordance actualization theory with the big five personality traits.

Methods:

The proposition was tested through a survey focused on Fitbit app users by combining affordance actualization theory with the big five personality traits. Measures from existing literature were used to assess these variables. the data were analyzed using structured survey and covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM).

Results:

The findings of our 442-sample reveal distinct affordance actualization patterns based on users’ personality traits. Conscientious users primarily actualize the updating affordance (β= 0.136, P=.011), while their influence on rewards, competing, comparing, reminding, or guidance affordances was not significant. Openness to experience also showed a significant positive effect on updating affordances (β= 0.227, P=.001), but did not significantly influence searching, watching others, or guidance affordances. Agreeable users thrive on comparison (β= 0.213, P=.021), guidance (β= 0.259, P=.003), and encouragement (β= 0.244, P=.011), while their effect on watching others was not significant. Extraverts excel in recognition (β= 0.191, p < 0.001), self-presentation (β= 0.165, P=.002), and watching others (β= 0.167, P=.003), but not in updating affordances. Finally, users with lower emotional stability did not significantly influence any of the hypothesized affordances, with non-significant effects on guidance, reminding, and updates.

Conclusions:

The results highlight significant relationships between certain personality traits and the actualization of specific affordances. Agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness each demonstrate meaningful connections with various affordances, underscoring the role of personality traits in shaping user behavior. These findings emphasize the importance of tailoring fitness app affordances to individual differences rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach. By aligning affordances with users' personality traits, fitness apps can foster deeper and more sustained engagement. Furthermore, these insights contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the interplay between personality traits and affordance actualization, paving the way for further exploration and research in this area.