Behavior change through wearables: the interplay between self-leadership and IT-based leadership

Christiane Lehrer,Annamina Rieder,Reinhard Jung,U. Yeliz Eseryel

doi:10.1007/s12525-021-00474-3

Christiane Lehrer, Annamina Rieder + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-021-00474-3

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Abstract

Physical inactivity is a global public health problem that poses health risks to individuals and imposes financial burdens on already strained healthcare systems. Wearables that promote regular physical activity and a healthy diet bear great potential to meet these challenges and are increasingly integrated into the healthcare system. However, extant research shows ambivalent results regarding the effectiveness of wearables in improving users’ health behavior. Specifically important is understanding users’ systematic behavior change through wearables. Constructive digitalization of the healthcare system requires a deeper understanding of why some users change their behavior and others do not. Based on self-leadership theory and our analysis of narrative interviews with 50 long-term wearable users, we identify four wearable use patterns that bring about different behavioral outcomes: following, ignoring, combining, and self-leading. Our study contributes to self-leadership theory and research on individual health information systems and has practical implications for wearable and healthcare providers.

Highlights

IntroductionPhysical inactivity is a global public health problem
Responsible Editor: Edith MaierThis article is part of the Topical Collection on Digital Healthcare ServicesPhysical inactivity is a global public health problem
We argue that self-leadership theory is valuable for investigating socio-technical phenomena, in which the interplay between individuals’ self-leadership strategies and information technology (IT)-based leadership strategies leads to behavioral outcomes

Summary

Introduction

Physical inactivity is a global public health problem. In 2016, 23% of men and 32% of women aged 18+ years were physically inactive (World Health Organization 2016). These figures have steadily increased over the last two decades (World Health Organization 2018) and are significantly higher in high income countries compared to low income countries. Non-communicable diseases impose a significant and growing financial burden on already strained healthcare systems. Non-communicable diseases take up a significant share of the total health budget (at least 25%) and cause significant economic losses (Vandenberghe and Albrecht 2019)

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