An Application of Goal Content Theory to Examine How Desired Exercise Outcomes Impact Fitness Technology Feature Set Selection

Oct 17, 2026

Uploaded by Damian

Fitness technologies exemplify personal informatics by pairing sensor devices with apps that collect, analyze, socialize, and manage health and wellness data. Limited evidence exists on what motivates adoption or how technology use translates into wellness outcomes. This study tests whether exercise goals relate to fitness technology feature set use and whether feature use links to psychological well-being measured as subjective vitality. Intrinsic goals align with progress-tracking features, while controlling social features relate to social extrinsic goals, with social features predicting higher vitality.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages30

Reading Time1 h 16 min

AccessFree to download

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Received: 19 January 2017 Revised: 29 November 2018 Accepted: 8 December 2018 DOI: 10.1111/isj.12233 RESEARCH ARTIC L E An application of goal content theory to examine how desired exercise outcomes impact fitness technology feature set selection Tabitha L. James1 | Jason K. Deane1 | Linda Wallace2 1 Department of Business Information Technology, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 2 Department of Accounting and Information Systems, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia Correspondence Tabitha L. James, Associate Professor, Department of Business Information Technology, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech, 1007 Pamplin Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061 . Email: [tajames@vt.edu](tajames@vt.edu) Abstract Fitness technologies are a prominent example of the societal trend towards personal informatics. These technologies pair devices that have various embedded sensors with one or more apps to allow for the collection, analysis, socialization, and management of individuals' health and wellness data. We have limited insight into what drives the use of fitness technologies or how they may contribute to wellness outcomes. To address this gap, our study examines how exercise goals are related to fitness technology feature set use and how the use is associated with a measure of the exercisers' psychological well‐being (ie, subjective vitality) . We find that intrinsic exercise goals (eg, enjoyment or competence) are associated with the use of features that allow users to collect, analyse, and inform their exercise progress. Body‐focused extrinsic exercise goals (eg, appearance) are also associated with the use of such features but are negatively associated with features that socialize exercise. The social extrinsic exercise goal is associated with the use of more controlling features that can provide external pressure from the technology or other people. The social features of fitness technologies are associated with higher levels of subjective vitality. Our findings indicate that exercisers who have goals where measuring progress may be desired (eg, losing weight and training for a marathon) are more likely to be drawn to the data management aspects of fitness technologies, whereas using fitness technologies to socialize exercise may add an element of enjoyment that is Info Systems J. 2019;1–30. [wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/isj](wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/isj) © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1 attractive to some users and may lead to increased well‐being. KEYWORDS fitness technology, goal content theory, self‐determination theory, theory of affordances, wearables 1 | INTRODUCTION With the explosion of small form factor computing devices that have various embedded sensors (eg, accelerometers and barometric altimeters), such as Fitbits and Apple Watches, society has entered an era where it is possible that individuals are carrying around at least one data capture device, in addition to their smartphone, for most of their day. Data capture devices paired with apps collect, store, and format for display the users' sensor (and logged) activity that can then be used for their own purposes or shared with others through apps, messaging, social media, etc. Such bundled personal technologies have enabled the “quantified self” and “lifelogging” trends, more recently referred to as personal informatics (Epstein, Kang, Pina, Fogarty, & Munson, 2016; Patel, Asch, & Volpp, 2015; Rapp & Cena, 2016; Ware, 2013), where people collect, store, and analyse the data (eg, financial, video or social media diaries, exercise, health, and nutrition) that they generate throughout their day. One of the more prominent early examples of quantified self technologies are fitness technologies (eg, Fitbit and its app) . We define fitness technology as any combination of hardware1 and software that enables the collection, storage, analysis, socialization, and management of

FAQs

What question does the study address about fitness technologies?

It examines how exercise goals relate to the selection and use of fitness technology feature sets and how that use connects to subjective vitality, a measure of psychological well-being.

How do intrinsic and body-focused extrinsic exercise goals relate to feature use?

Intrinsic goals are associated with features that help users collect, analyze, and inform progress. Body-focused extrinsic goals show a positive link to such features but a negative association with features that socialize exercise.

What role do social features of fitness technologies play in well-being?

The study finds that social extrinsic goals are associated with more controlling features, and that social features are associated with higher levels of subjective vitality.

Oct 17, 2026

Uploaded by Damian